Dissertations / Theses: 'Realism'

1

Hansen, Carsten Martin. "Semantic realism and the anti-realist challenge." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1991. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.332961.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

2

Pearson, Philip. "Realism and anti-realism." Thesis, University of Leicester, 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/2381/27715.

Full text

Abstract:

Michael Dummett has proposed a means of characterising a range of traditional philosophical disputes. This method is intended to highlight the similarities which exist between these disputes and by this means to facilitate their solution. Within the characterisation each dispute is regarded as a conflict between proponents of different theories of meaning. This proposed characterisation, its validity and usefulness, form the main topic of consideration within this thesis. An exposition of the realist/anti-realist characterisation is presented which attempts to summarise the important features of Dummett's writings on this' topic. Subsequently attention is given over to a critical appraisal of this approach. The appraisal falls into two phases. The first of these is parochial in the sense that the topics discussed are internal to the framework of the characterisation. In the second phase the characterisation is viewed from further back and the relationship between it and its Wittgensteinian origins are examined. The first phase of the appraisal initially centres around issues which have arisen within the literature. One feature which emerges at this stage is that certain concepts which are central to the characterisation are in need of more precise specification. Further concerns regarding the specification are uncovered as the assessment extends beyond the published literature. In the second phase Wittgenstein's work on privacy is reviewed in some detail. It is concluded from this phase that some of the main disputes intended to be covered by the characterisation are in fact forestalled by Wittgenstein's work. Also it is suggested that the intended adoption of Wittgenstein's approach to meaning, within the characterisation, runs counter to Wittgenstein's intent. Overall it is concluded that the proposed characterisation is in need of better specification but that even if this is achieved, the approach to meaning which is being advocated is one which may not be sustainable.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

3

Abela, Paul R. "Empirical realism : Kant's contribution to the realist/anti-realist debate." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.357307.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

4

Mathews, Peter David 1975. "Strategies of realism : realist fiction and postmodern theory." Monash University, Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, 2001. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/8656.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

5

Smith, Steven. "Metaphysical realism and moral realism." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.358535.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

6

Esteba, López Joaquin. "La sindicació de les arts plàstiques a Catalunya durant la Guerra Civil (1936-1939). Institucions d’operacions ideològiques i polarització entre l’art d’avantguarda i el realisme." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Girona, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/667199.

Full text

Abstract:

This thesis is focused on conceptions of the avant-garde and realism during the Spanish Civil War in Catalonia from two main mainstays: the conception of the nationalism implicit into the conflict itself, and the mandatory unionisation artists had to follow, from the summer of the 1936. The need of alphabetizing the current civil society had was met by those two mainstays. How did them allow the artist to create from freedom? Since the widening of aesthetics in fields such as politics based on the dichotomy: committed art/ commitment of art, the position of the artist in front of realism, neo romanticism, "wided aesthetics", and the Avant-garde is analysed. In which way the political question is related with the anti-fascist Popular Front and the Spanish revolution is synchronized on the theoretical basis of realism and avant-garde?
El focus de la present tesi el posem en la concepció del realisme i de l'avantguarda durant la Guerra Civil espanyola a Catalunya des de dos grans pilars: la concepció del nacionalisme implícit en el conflicte i la sindicació obligatòria dels artistes plàstics des de l’estiu de l’any 1936, que van suposar la institucionalització de la cultura en la seva necessitat d’alfabetització de la societat civil del moment. De quina manera aquests pilars van permetre una llibertat estètica per part de l’artista? Des de l’eixamplament de l’estètica en àmbits com la política en base la dicotomia art compromès / compromís de l’art, analitzem la posició dels artistes davant del realisme, el neoromanticisme, l’art d’avançada, les Avantguardes. De quina manera la qüestió política relacionada amb el Front Popular antifeixista i la revolució espanyola es sincronitza en la fonamentació teòrica del realisme i de l'avantguarda?

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

7

Premadasa, V. N. "Reality and realism in virtual architectural reconstruction." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2005. http://oleg.lib.strath.ac.uk:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=21605.

Full text

Abstract:

Computer-aided modelling and visualisation techniques have found widespread use in architectural practice as tools to illustrate proposed buildings and environments. The same techniques have also been utilised to aid in the interpretation of the architecture of the past, principally by recreating, in a virtual environment, structures which either no longer exist or which have been substantially altered or damaged over the years. However, much interest in this area has been focused on creating visually alluring images with a strong public appeal, with rather less emphasis given to illustrating the uncertainty that usually underlies any attempt at reconstructing the past. This thesis consists of a critical analysis of the way in which the computeraided visualisation techniques are commonly perceived and employed by researchers in architectural history and archaeology, with the 11th century church of Sant Vicenc de Cardona in Spain being used as a case study. The main issues raised are then discussed, both in terms of current trends and possible future directions, with a view to identifying a general approach to the illustration of uncertainty in virtual architectural reconstructions.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

8

ITALIA, SALVATORE. "Truth and reality in Jürgen Habermas' Pragmatic Realism." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11584/266692.

Full text

Abstract:

The present work is divided into three sections. The first (only in Italian) is an analysis of some of the main philosophical issues about the notions of reality and truth. The second section provides both a historical reconstruction and a theoretical discussion of the notion of truth in the philosophy of Jürgen Habermas. It shows how Habermas' approach to truth changes during the years. In the '60s (chapter one) he maintains a weak kind of realism, connected to the idea of transcendental and natural interests at the basis of an emancipatory, interpretative-practical and descriptive-technical attitude. During the '70s Habermas enhances the role of communication, thus coming to a “consensualist” theory of truth, where truth is linked to justifications obtained in discurses inspired by an ideal speech situation (chapter two). Finally, he has recently come to a realist turn, linked to a “Janus-faced” theory of truth (chapter three). The third section aims to assess whether and how this last formulation is a realist approach to truth. Such an evaluation will unveil the hiding place for the theoretical problems affecting Habermas' realist turn: the notion of objectivity.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

9

Hall, Bryan. "Kant, realism, and anti-realism (Immanuel Kant)." Diss., Connect to online resource, 2005. http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3178361.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

10

Kent, Samuel. "On Revolution and Realism: A Structural Realist Theory of Revolution." Thesis, Boston College, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/2993.

Full text

Abstract:

Thesis advisor: Paul Christensen
Revolutions have been a neglected subject in Structural Realism. Nevertheless, they have profound impacts in the International System, ranging from immediate state-unit behavior deviation to long-term altering of the balance of power. Revolutions can be explained within the Structural Realist paradigm as a structural contradiction between state and society that depresses state capabilities, allowing it to succumb to intra-territorial competition. Accordingly, revolution can be considered a mechanism for reconstituting state-unit power
Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2013
Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Political Science Honors Program
Discipline: Political Science

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

11

Koo, Bon-Hyuk. "A realist reply to historically motivated anti-realism about science." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2015. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.688346.

Full text

Abstract:

This dissertation attempts to provide a realist position about science that is defensible against anti-realist arguments motivated by the history 'of science. It first investigates two versions of Pessimistic Meta-induction (PMI) for anti-realism: the enumerative inductive argument that our current theories will be shown false as the past ones have, and the argument by counterexample (Ladyman 2002) that only require one recalcitrant case that is successful yet false to sever the triad relations between success, truth and reference, undermining the no-miracles argument (NMA). While the first can be answered, the latter calls realists to study the past scientific theories and provide a realist explanation for their successes. The phlogiston theory is chosen as the case study for this dissertation, and it is shown that the phlogiston theory enjoyed various successes including novel predictive successes, and that a comparison between the theory and our contemporary chemical theory reveals a significant amount of continuity. Then the realist accounts to respond to PMI are examined, starting with attempts to restore referential continuity by means of devising an appropriate theory of reference, with varying degrees of success. The dependence of PMI on reference, and that realism is not hinged upon the issue of reference but that of approximate truth, make this particular approach superfluous to defending realism. Realist accounts with the 'divide and conquer' strategy are then assessed, starting from Psillos (1999) to epistemic structural realism (ESR), ontic structural realism (OSR) and Chakravartty's semirealism, some faring better than others. However, Kyle Stanford's 'trust' argument is presented to show that all the realist accounts that use the' divide and conquer' strategy are susceptible to the charge of being ad hoc in selection over the theoretical constituents. In response to the' trust' argument, I present my own realist account: objective blind realism (OBR). It is a minimal realist position, which appeals to NMA for approximate truth of genuinely successful scientific theories but does not attempt to locate which parts of the theories are approximately true. Potential objections to objective blind realism are explored and answered.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

12

Salerno, Joseph Roy. "semantic anti-realism, quasi-realism and logical revisionism /." The Ohio State University, 1999. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1488192119263037.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

13

Tiiro, A. (Arttu). "Effect of visual realism on cybersickness in virtual reality." Master's thesis, University of Oulu, 2018. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-201802091218.

Full text

Abstract:

Virtual reality has been developing rapidly and gaining popularity in the past years as new devices and applications have been released. It is utilized in many fields like entertainment, health and science. Virtual reality is characterized by head-mounted devices that can immerse the user to the virtual environment, but it has been found out to cause an undesirable side-effect called cybersickness. Cybersickness has been studied vastly for many years and it has roots in simulators and motion sickness studies. Cybersickness has many symptoms including nausea, headache, eye stress and dizziness. There are many factors that can cause cybersickness, but the root cause is still unclear whether it is caused by a mismatch between visual and vestibular system or by instabilities in posture. With modern devices and applications, visual realism has been developing far from the first wave of virtual reality in the 1990s, but there are not many studies that have been linking it to cybersickness. In this study, three graphical styles with different levels of graphical realism are compared to find out if high visual realism causes cybersickness. Cybersickness is measured with questionnaires that have become the standard in cybersickness studies. Results have been analyzed with quantitative methods. Results of the study indicate higher visual realism causes more cybersickness than lower visual realism. Increased level of detail in high visual realism graphics causes more visual flow and stronger sensory mismatches that causes cybersickness. Reduced details also reduce depth cues in the graphics and does not cause as strong mismatches between visual and vestibular systems.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

14

Howat, Tyler Paul. "Scott Pilgrim's Gaming Reality: An Introduction to Gamer Realism." University of Dayton / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1343318875.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

15

Myles, Robert. "Chaucerian realism /." Woodbridge [GB] : D.S. Brewer, 1994. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb35711956t.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

16

Boyden, Aaron-Dirk. "Reducing realism." View abstract/electronic edition; access limited to Brown University users, 2008. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3318296.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

17

Honey, Michael Graham. "Subjunctive Realism." Thesis, Canberra, ACT : The Australian National University, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/95313.

Full text

Abstract:

I examine a metaphysical theory which accounts for the indeterminism of which quantum mechanics is both cause and symptom. This theory, which I call subjunctive realism, is based on a many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, where the multiple possible results of observations describe branching states of the object system. Our universe is but one branch of a larger “multiverse”: quantum-mechanical observations provide information regarding the area of the multiverse where the observer is located. An account of personal identity which can cope with the demands of the theory is also provided, along with an exploration of some ramifications of the theory for questions regarding quantum theory and personal identity.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

18

Chafim, Fernando 1986. "Estrutura social, instituições e agência na perspectiva do realismo crítico em economia : uma primeira aproximação." [s.n.], 2014. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/286420.

Full text

Abstract:

Orientador: David Dequech Filho
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia
Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T00:00:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Chafim_Fernando_M.pdf: 1383453 bytes, checksum: aaafe1236387548279f7252d7f99140d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014
Resumo: O objetivo desta dissertação é contribuir para uma abordagem pluralista que avance na compreensão da dinâmica entre as entidades sociais e os agentes na vida econômica. Em termos específicos, objetiva-se construir um modelo que forneça uma compreensão refinada da estrutura social, instituição e agência que contribua para o estudo das mudanças estruturais na economia. Para tal, inicialmente adotamos as contribuições ontológicas e metodológicas do Realismo Crítico em Economia para ampliar nossa compreensão de interdisciplinaridade, ciência econômica e das características gerais e abstratas da realidade social. Após discutir o conteúdo dessa abordagem, elaboramos uma ontologia científica, que explicita as propriedades relevantes e específicas de entidades sociais particulares, tais como estrutura social, instituição, convenção, modelo mental socialmente compartilhado, regra social e relação social. Essa mesma ontologia será complementada por uma análise das propriedades dos agentes visando a construção de um modelo teórico que considere simultaneamente as diversas formas existentes de influências sociais sobre as pessoas e vice-versa, sem confundi-las e evitando determinismos por ambas as partes. A seguir, apresentamos uma síntese das principais influências estruturais que incentivam a conformidade, bem como algumas condições sociais que motivam os agentes não só a se desviarem dessas influências, mas a tentar transformá-las através da mobilização de recursos e relativamente de acordo com seus interesses. Por fim, discutiremos as condições específicas de implementação desse tipo de mudança e usaremos o modelo teórico proposto para analisar a mudança empreendida pelos teóricos da agência ao introduzirem o modelo de gestão corporativa conhecido como maximização do valor do acionista
Abstract: The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to a pluralistic approach that adds to the understanding of the dynamics between social entities and agents in economic life. More specifically, we construct a model that provides a refined understanding of the social structure, institution and agency that contributes to the study of structural changes in the economy. In order to do so, we first adopt the ontological and methodological contributions of Critical Realism in Economics. This allows for enlarging our understanding of interdisciplinarity, economics and the general and abstract features of social reality. After discussing the contents of this approach, we developed a scientific ontology that spells out the relevant specific properties of certain social entities, such as social structure, institutions, conventions, socially shared mental models, social relations and social rules. This same ontology is then complemented by an analysis of the properties of agents. This aims at building a theoretical model that simultaneously considers various forms of social influences on persons and vice-versa, without confusing them and avoiding determinism from either side. The next section is a summary of the main structural influences that encourage compliance, as well as of some social conditions that motivate agents not only to deviate from those influences, but to also mobilise resources and try to transform them in a fashion somewhat akin to their interests. Finally, we discuss the specific conditions for implementing this kind of change and use the proposed model to analyse the modification agency theorists bring about as they introduce the corporate management model known as maximizing shareholder value
Mestrado
Teoria Economica
Mestre em Ciências Econômicas

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

19

Stanford, Amanda Theresa. "Outsized reality : how 'magical realism' hijacked modern Latin American fiction." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/7847.

Full text

Abstract:

Creative Portion abstract (75%): Literary Fiction Manuscript Souvenirs of the Revolution Against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, betrayal, sexual deviance, rigid morality and a fatal subservience to moral correctness drives the Montelejos clan: complex and self-serving, innocent and deluded, larger than life, an illustrious family line in its final decline. Mariabella Montelejos, who tries to sell her only daughter for the price of a new carriage during the bloodiest part of the Revolution. Her daughter, Portensia Montelejos, who leaves her mother’s body to moulder in the front room after soldiers come at the point of a gun. Gloria Vasquez, celebrated beauty, practising witch, and tormentor of her step-sister, Teresa: ill, gullible, naive, awoken to her destiny by the surreal birth of her daughter. Paulina, a child who once communed with the holy, made an empty vessel by the abuse of her father – and revered as a living saint as she lies dying in a Pueblano convent. The men of the family, weak and susceptible to the mandates of their dying class, are no match for the machinations of such women. Evil abuser Ebner Collins, paralyzed by a jealous man’s bullet in the middle of the Sinai desert. Hernando Vasquez, cowed into marriage by the longing for his dead wife, Evelyn Cuthbert. Guiermo Fuentes de Solis, cuckolded husband. Jaime Vasquez, who hears voices and lives at the bottom of a bottle, unable to save his cousin Paulina. The Revolution is the beginning of the end for Montelejos, and the miraculous will be its undoing. Analytical Portion abstract (25%): An Outsized Reality: How “Magical Realism” Hijacked Modern Latin American Literature With the publication of Gabriel García Márquez’s Cien Anos de Soledad in 1967, Latin American writing captured the world’s attention. Critics, readers, and imitators rushed to discuss and emulate this astounding novel. A whole genre of literature, “magical realism”, was popularized, and with it, critical discussion of its influences, history, genre limitations, and the sheer “imagination” it brought to the forefront of literary debate. In this thesis I will discuss the problems associated with “Western” critical analysis of Latin American writing, specifically as it seeks to define, without a proper context, the literature which draws life from the history and culture of Latin America and categorizes its literature without the cultural understanding required.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

20

MAZZOLA, DARIO. "THE MIGRANT CRISIS AND PHILOSOPHY OF MIGRATION: REALITY, REALISM, ETHICS." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/2434/589308.

Full text

Abstract:

"The Migrant Crisis and Philosophy of Migration: Reality, Realism, Ethics" is a PhD thesis by Dario Mazzola in the field of Moral and Political Philosophy, Ethics of Migration. The thesis is divided into an introduction, three main sections, two appendixes and general conclusions. The introduction presents the extent, the tradition, and the relevance of philosophy of migration and refuge, on both analytic and historical standpoints. The main body of the thesis is devoted to characterizing and criticizing the migrant crisis, to elaborate a suitable theory to deal with it normatively, and then to defend the right to free movement or open borders in the face of realistic and nationalistic objections. The two appendixes reinforce the argument, while the conclusions resume it and broadly show its implications on methodology and substantial political issues. Chapter one, which constitutes section I, is devoted to the migrant crisis and reconstructs the main problems and dynamics which constitute the phenomenon, mainly by drawing on critical and empirical literature. Chapter II and III, which compose the second section on realism, deal with the tradition of realism and the attempt at elaborating a realistic theory from within migration ethics respectively. Chapter IV and V, the most purely normative component of the thesis, defend the open-borders ideal in the light of the previous presentation of the subject-matter and of the main methodological problems. This is done by reconstructing the critiques to freedom of movement advanced by realists, proponents of freedom of association, and liberal nationalist most relevantly. In conclusion, a threefold ethical arguments defend the right to migration: the presumptive favor for liberty over restrictions, an extended version of the classic open-borders overlapping consesus between main ethical standpoints, and an argument for the integration of the right to free movement with human rights in general. The import and implications of the thesis are read and constrained in the realist(ic) way descrived in section II. Appendix I changes the perspective on the migrant crisis from the abstract to the personal and individual, and does so by showing the relevance of refugee stories to restore empathy and, by doing this, to strengthen social solidarity. Appendix II deepens the thesis that natural law theory would be comprehended within the pro open-borders consensus. In conclusion, with the same qualifications which hold for any other right, and while recognizing its subordination to more fundamental ones such as rights to life or to personal liberty and security, the right to free movement is analyzed, vindicated, and defended, even in the face of the migrant crisis.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

21

Eng, David 1966. "The role of idealizations in the realism/anti-realism debate /." Thesis, McGill University, 1993. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=69579.

Full text

Abstract:

The thesis focuses on what impact the use of idealizations has on the realism/anti-realism debate concerning the fundamental laws of physics. My aim is modest. It is not to present an argument for either the realist or the anti-realist position but rather to show where the debate stands once we have considered recent arguments by Laymon and Cartwright which have made use of the notion of idealization assumptions. My intent is to point out the difficulties of Laymon's argument for realism in the hope of showing what must be accomplished in providing a more convincing argument for realism. I will also suggest that although Laymon's proposal is problematic, it still poses a serious problem for van Fraassen's form of anti-realism, constructive empiricism.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

22

Boyd, Joan. "From realism to magical realism : the American Vietnam War novel." Thesis, University of Ulster, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.551596.

Full text

Abstract:

This thesis argues that changes in the form of the novel in post Second World War America, particularly certain novelists' considerations of realism as a viable mode of expression, have had a profound and lasting effect on Vietnam War literature and have been sustained into the twenty first century by a new generation of writers from ethnic minority groups. It examines prior criticism and points of view concerning the work of a number of established authors and considers the recent opinions on contemporary writers addressing the Vietnam experience for the first time. Where necessary the work will be contextualized with social history. The contribution to knowledge is fulfilled by the inclusion of Mexican- American writing within the past decade and by explaining its place in the overall literary contribution to the American Vietnam War novel. The method of investigation is literary critical analysis of selected novels from 1968 to 2002 as applied to examples of the authors' use of realism and magical realism, their imaginative language, the effect of trauma on literary expression and the manifestation of trauma in memory. When necessary, reference is made to myth criticism. The thesis outlines the tendency to go beyond realism and the forces which contributed to it, and argues that the more recent evolution from realism to magical realism, within the wide range of the Vietnam narrative, has facilitated a potentially more powerful and valid means of expression. The investigation concludes that despite being overtaken by other theatres of war, the conflict in Vietnam still maintains its place in American consciousness and that the recent examples of magical realism offered by ethnic minority writers have made a significant contribution to ensuring that the voices from a wider cultural mix are being added to the literary representations of the Vietnam experience.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

23

Read, March Brett Ashley. "Realism and non-realism in astronomy from Ptolemy to Kepler." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2001. https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/realism-and-nonrealism-in-astronomy-from-ptolemy-to-kepler(76ef691f-f39e-49d5-9f65-a6379a386d35).html.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

24

Le, Roux Evert. "Realism and anti-realism in the work of George Lukács." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21878.

Full text

Abstract:

Bibliography: pages 111-118.
This essay sets out to explore Lukács's views on realism and its polar opposite. anti-realism, in nineteenth and twentieth-century literature. As a Marxist, Lukács's views on literature are closely interwoven with his views of society and and social development. This necessitates first looking at Lukács's theory of society and history as expressed in the epochal History and Class Consciousness. The essay firstly attempts to present and criticize the central Lukácsian concept of concrete totality. Totality, for Lukács, is not a static concept but a dynamically evolving, ever-changing idea. However, he tends to view totality as simply a concept of contemplation. Lukács indicates the proletariat as the subject-object of Western European history.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

25

Huth, Brian R. "MODELS, PERSPECTIVES, AND SCIENTIFIC REALISM: ON RONALD GIERE’S PERSPECTIVAL REALISM." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1397572435.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

26

Newman, Mark Philip. "Beyond structural realism." Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 2006. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3219847.

Full text

Abstract:

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2006.
Title from first page of PDF file (viewed September 5, 2006). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-234).

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

27

Persson, Björn. "Putnam's Moral Realism." Thesis, Högskolan i Skövde, Institutionen för kommunikation och information, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:his:diva-8494.

Full text

Abstract:

Moral realism is the view that there are such things as moral facts. Moral realists have attempted to combat the skeptical problem of relativism, which is that the truth of an ethical value judgment is often, or always, subjective, that is, relative to the parties it involves. This essay presents, discusses, and criticizes Hilary Putnam’s attempt at maintaining moral realism while at the same time maintaining a degree of epistemological relativism. Putnam’s positive account originates in moral epistemology, at the heart of which lies truth, as idealized rational acceptability or truth under ideal conditions. The bridge between moral epistemology and normative ethics stems from Putnam’s disintegration of facts and values. His theory is finalized in the construction of a normative moral theory, in which the central notion is incessant self-criticism in order to maintain rationality. After presenting Putnam’s core thesis, the criticism raised by Richard Rorty, is deliberated upon. Rorty is critical of Putnam’s attempt at holding on to objectivity, because he does not understand how objective knowledge can be both relative to a conceptual scheme, and at the same time objective. The conclusion is that Putnam is unable to maintain his notion of truth as idealized rational acceptability and is forced into epistemological relativism. Putnam’s normative ethics has characteristics in common with virtue ethics, and is of much interest regardless of whether it can be grounded epistemologically or not.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

28

Moretti, Luca. "Putnam's internal realism." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2003. http://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/1015/.

Full text

Abstract:

This work is intended to ascertain whether Putnam’s internal realism is actually a realist doctrine. Putnam has opposed internal realism, which maintains that truth is an epistemic notion (specifically, idealised rational acceptability), to metaphysical realism, which holds that truth is a non-epistemic notion (in particular, a correspondence relationship between sentences and extra-linguistic facts). Putnam has argued that, even if metaphysical realism is untenable, realism is still defensible, for internal realism is a form of realism. In my work, I leave aside the question of the correctness of Putnam’s arguments against metaphysical realism and I directly focus upon internal realism. I first present this position and I set out its realist characteristics: Putnam’s position can be characterised as one that originated in an attempt to develop Dummett’s anti-realist notion of truth in a realist direction. I show that this effort is in part successful. Next, I raise objections against internal realism and I show that, despite its merits, Putnam’s position is not a form of realism. This is so mainly because internal realism may collapse into relativism, which – I argue – is not realism, and because the internal realist cannot explain how the world, which is causally independent of our minds, makes statements true or false. Since Putnam’s probably constitutes the best possible attempt to produce an epistemic view of truth compatible with realism, I conclude that truth conceived as an epistemic notion is incompatible with realism. I finally suggest that realism can be restored if Putnam’s arguments against metaphysical realism can be shown to be incorrect, so that a non-epistemic notion of truth can be rehabilitated.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

29

Gibbons, J. "Against visual realism." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.599371.

Full text

Abstract:

I establish two things in this thesis. First, I argue that visual realism - the beliefs in a world populated by mind-independent, visible things - is false. Second, I show that the only viable form of visual idealism is one that recognises visual awareness to be essentially conceptual in nature, and regards seeing as a kind of thinking. As visual realism is a widely held and defended view, much of the thesis is devoted to exposing its falsehood. It do this by introducing a novel argument - the Argument from After-Images - which draws the conclusion that visual realism is false from the empirical fact that after-images are mind-dependent. It takes five of the six chapters that make up the work to establish that no visual realist can afford to reject any one of the premises of that argument. Along the way, the three main traditions in realistic thought about visual perception are examined: adverbialism (the belief that visual awareness can be non-relational in nature); representationalism (the belief that to be visually aware of anything is to have a mental state which represents the world as being a certain way); and indirect realism (the view that visual awareness of the external world is mediated by visual awareness of something distinct from that world). I show that not one of these approaches has the resources to defuse the Argument from After-Images. Throughout that part of the thesis where I defend the Argument from After-Images, I work with the assumption (shared and required by all versions of visual realism) that visual awareness is relational in nature. If this is true, then the Argument from After-Images shows that the objects of such awareness must be mind-dependent. In my last chapter, however, I argue that the only tenable kind of visual idealism is one that recognises visual awareness to be essentially non-relational in nature. This is established in three steps. First, I argue that the relational account requires that visual awareness be non-conceptual. I then show that this entails a commitment to the existence of indiscriminable differences in visible properties such as colour. Finally, I establish that there can be no such indiscriminable differences. By the end of the thesis, therefore, a considerable amount of ground has been cleared, allowing for an idealistic metaphysics to flourish.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

30

Restrepo, Echavarria Ricardo. "Realism in Mind." Thesis, University of Canterbury. School of Humanities, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/4471.

Full text

Abstract:

The thesis develops solutions to two main problems for mental realism. Mental realism is the theory that mental properties, events, and objects exist, with their own set of characters and causal powers. The first problem comes from the philosophy of science, where Psillos proposes a notion of scientific realism that contradicts mental realism, and consequently, if one is to be a scientific realist in the way Psillos recommends, one must reject mental realism. I propose adaptations to the conception of scientific realism to make it compatible with mental realism. In the process, the thesis defends computational cognitive science from a compelling argument Searle can be seen to endorse but has not put forth in an organized logical manner. A new conception of scientific realism emerges out of this inquiry, integrating the mental into the rest of nature. The second problem for mental realism arises out of non-reductive physicalism- the view that higher-level properties, and in particular mental properties, are irreducible, physically realized, and that physical properties are sufficient non-overdetermining causes of any effect. Kim’s Problem of Causal Exclusion aims to show that the mental, if unreduced, does no causal work. Consequently, given that we should not believe in the existence of properties that do not participate in causation, we would be forced to drop mental realism. A solution is needed. The thesis examines various positions relevant to the debate. Several doctrines of physicalism are explored, rejected, and one is proposed; the thesis shows the way in which Kim’s reductionist position has been constantly inconsistent throughout the years of debate; the thesis argues that trope theory does not compete with a universalist conception of properties to provide a solution; and shows weakness in the Macdonald’s non-reductive monist position and Pereboom’s constitutional coincidence account of mental causation. The thesis suggests that either the premises of Kim’s argument are consistent, and consequently his reductio is logically invalid, or at least one of the premises is false, and therefore the argument is not sound. Consequently, the Problem of Causal Exclusion that Kim claims emerges out of non-reductive physicalism does not force us to reject mental realism. Mental realism lives on.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

31

Rae, Andrew Kenneth McKenzie. "Psychoanalysis and realism." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003035.

Full text

Abstract:

International politics has always been characterised by conflict. This has been true regardless of the political systems in place or of any specific time in the history of humanity. Inter-state conflict exists today despite the fact that the vast majority of the states of the world are members of the United Nations and signatories to various treaties aimed at removing conflict as a means of state action. The realist school of thought argues that the international system is characterised by continual state conflict, caused by competition over scarce resources. The propensity towards conflict is argued to be an essential characteristic of human nature and, as such, human nature is considered to be aggressive and conflictual. Thus, for the realist, inter-state competition, coupled with aggressive human nature, constitutes the primary cause of interstate conflict. This thesis aims to examine two criticisms of the realist position in depth. The first concerns the attribution of human nature to states. This logical progression is problematic because it creates a type of „state-nature‟ that cannot be defended without providing a logical link between the individual, the group and the state. It is therefore an aim of this thesis to provide this link, using methodological individualism, in order to provide a basis for the attribution of human nature to states. The second aim of this thesis is to examine the notion of human nature that is offered by the realists. It is not enough to claim that human nature is aggressive and conflictual merely because conflict has characterised international relations throughout history. Rather, one should examine the individual‟s psychological development, in order to gain an understanding of aggressive instincts apparent in human nature. The thesis therefore examines psychoanalysis in order to attempt an understanding both of human nature, and of the conditions under which human nature may manifest itself in an aggressive, conflictual manner. The intention of this thesis, then, is to provide a defence of political realism, highlighting the shortcomings of the two criticisms outlined above.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

32

Corvino, John. "Hume's moral realism /." Digital version accessible at:, 1998. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

33

Hager, Eric R. "Which moral realism?" Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 2003. http://www.tren.com.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

34

Abela, Paul Richard Spencer. "Kant's empirical realism /." Oxford : Clarendon press, 2002. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb38824632h.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

35

Hager, Eric. "Which moral realism?" Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 2003. http://www.tren.com.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

36

Tiefensee, Christine. "Moral realism a critical analysis of metaethical naturalism." Marburg Tectum-Verl, 2005. http://d-nb.info/987403958/04.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

37

Ekelund, Stefan, and Johan Bengter. "Inlevelse genom realism : En undersökning om relation mellan inlevelse och realism." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-12349.

Full text

Abstract:

För det här kandidatarbetet så har vi valt att undersöka om hur vi kan använda oss av realism för att skapa inlevelse i en virtuell miljö. Vårt mål är att undersöka relationen mellan realism och inlevelse för att skapa en förståelse om hur man kan skapar inlevelse och bygger bättre spelupplevelser. För att undersöka problemområdet har vi skapat en 3D-miljö där vi använder realism som en grund för att sedan diskutera våra val och runt val gjorda i andra spel. Vi kom fram till att det inte finns en perfekt metod för att fullt mäta och definiera inlevelse men vi hittade starka sammanband mellan realism och inlevelse. I slutändan ansåg vi att man alltid bör jobba med realism som en grund när man försöker skapa inlevelse i en virtuell miljö.
For this bachelor’s thesis we have investigated how we can make use of realism in order to create immersion in a virtual environment. Our goal is to investigate the relationship between realism an immersion in order to create an understanding of how to create immersion and build better gaming experiences. To investigate the problem area, we have created a 3D environment where we used realism as a foundation to discuss our choices and the choices made in other games. We concluded that there is no perfect method to fully measure and define immersion but we found strong connections between realism and immersion. In the end we felt that you should always work with realism as a foundation when attempting to create immersion in a virtual environment.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

38

Prenzler, Timothy James, and n/a. "Ideology and Narrative Realism : a Critique of Post-Althusserian Anti-Realism." Griffith University. School of Humanities, 1991. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20051116.101351.

Full text

Abstract:

This thesis defends the potential of the realist form of narrative for contesting, as well as reproducing, ideology. The common form of realism consists of a loose ensemble of conventions. The key components are omniscient, evaluative narration; an empiricist objectivism; the construction of individuals as agents of action and bearers of natural attributes; cause and effect sequencing; conflict leading to resolution; mystery leading to disclosure; and the effacement of these techniques in the interests of illusion. In one critique of realism post-Althusserian anti-realism - these practices constitute ideology both in a general sense - as manipulation - and a specific sense - as transmitters of capitalist presuppositions. A 'social realism' or critical realism, which attempts to invalidate ideology by the presentation of countervailing data, is said to be undercut by its encoding within this alleged inherently ideological form. This critique of realism is based on an unsustainable, formalist, reduction of content to form. The role of observation in knowledge production and the significance of inductively generated propositions are replaced by a sophisticated, but ultimately reductive, discursive determinism. From its conventionalist epistemological premises, post-Althusserian anti-realism ignores the capacity of empiricism to break with preconceptions. By dismissing the convention of accountability to evidence, the critique is forced back onto criteria of internal consistency - a position even more vulnerable to prejudice than empiricism. The thesis then argues that the concomitant view of the subject of narrative realism as a construct of liberal-individualism ignores how realist texts have questioned ideas of autonomy and a fixed human nature. Anti-realist methods have usefully exposed some of the means by which constructions of freedom and self-determination mask the subordination of labour in free -market economies. However, this frequently entails undervaluing gains made under a rubric of human rights. The replacement of human subjectivity with discursive or economic determinism tends to expel dialogue, volition and human needs as factors in the ideational and practical repudiation of ideology. A narrow approach to realism is therefore inadequate for determining the relation of realism to ideology. The alternative position defended here is that realisms relation to capitalism - like that of liberalism and empiricism - is tangential, not homologous. The variability of content in realism makes realist techniques - as abstract form - politically neutral (but claimed by anti-realists to be intrinsically authoritarian). Realist conventions which construct a point of view are open options for making judgements that will vary in empirical rigour and opposition to different ideologies. The thesis sets the authoritarian aspects of realisms attempted manipulation of the reader against the potential in realism for a dialogic plurality of perspectives, the possible defensibility of a point of view, the need for coherence and judgement in political dialogue and action, and the frequency of content-based reader resistance. The realist form is not an absolute of representation, but nor is it a mere reflex of capitalism. By the same token, the anti-realist concept of the anti-ideological function of anti-realist texts imposes a reverse, homogeneous, inherently oppositional role onto politically heterogenous cultural forms. The thesis argues, furthermore, that by rejecting empiricist modes of substantiation and adopting a mechanistic view of ideology, the post-Althusserian critique of realism fails to engage adequately with the theoretical defence of capitalism. The harmony thesis of free enterprise can only be given a pejorative label ideology on the basis of comparative and historical considerations of the performance of capitalism. In practice, the natural tendency of the market to cyclical instability with attendant unemployment, impoverishment and the compounding of class-based inequalities has only been mitigated by extensive government intervention. The thesis concludes then with a case study of Dickenss Hard Times as an example of the above, more effective, approach to capitalist legitimation. Hard Times employs empiricist, semi-fictional, realist techniques to demonstrate the ideological nature of theories of free enterprise. The critical edge of this novel is blunted by a liberal-romanticism that is ambivalent about legal-institutional solutions to social problems. Despite this fault, Hard Times shows some of the possibilities offered by the realist form for viable social critique.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

39

Prenzler, Timothy James. "Ideology and Narrative Realism: a Critique of Post-Althusserian Anti-Realism." Thesis, Griffith University, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/368111.

Full text

Abstract:

This thesis defends the potential of the ‘realist’ form of narrative for contesting, as well as reproducing, ideology. The common form of ‘realism’ consists of a loose ensemble of conventions. The key components are omniscient, evaluative narration; an empiricist objectivism; the construction of individuals as agents of action and bearers of natural attributes; cause and effect sequencing; conflict leading to resolution; mystery leading to disclosure; and the effacement of these techniques in the interests of illusion. In one critique of realism – ‘post-Althusserian anti-realism’ - these practices constitute ideology both in a general sense - as manipulation - and a specific sense - as transmitters of capitalist presuppositions. A 'social realism' or ‘critical realism’, which attempts to invalidate ideology by the presentation of countervailing data, is said to be undercut by its encoding within this alleged inherently ideological form. This critique of realism is based on an unsustainable, ‘formalist’, reduction of ‘content’ to ‘form’. The role of observation in knowledge production and the significance of inductively generated propositions are replaced by a sophisticated, but ultimately reductive, ‘discursive determinism’. From its conventionalist epistemological premises, post-Althusserian anti-realism ignores the capacity of empiricism to break with preconceptions. By dismissing the convention of accountability to evidence, the critique is forced back onto criteria of internal consistency - a position even more vulnerable to prejudice than empiricism. The thesis then argues that the concomitant view of the subject of narrative realism as a construct of liberal-individualism ignores how realist texts have questioned ideas of autonomy and a fixed human nature. Anti-realist methods have usefully exposed some of the means by which constructions of freedom and self-determination mask the subordination of labour in ‘free’ -market economies. However, this frequently entails undervaluing gains made under a rubric of human rights. The replacement of human subjectivity with discursive or economic determinism tends to expel dialogue, volition and human needs as factors in the ideational and practical repudiation of ideology. A narrow approach to realism is therefore inadequate for determining the relation of realism to ideology. The alternative position defended here is that realism’s relation to capitalism - like that of liberalism and empiricism - is tangential, not homologous. The variability of ‘content’ in realism makes realist techniques - as abstract form - politically neutral (but claimed by anti-realists to be intrinsically authoritarian). Realist conventions which construct a point of view are open options for making judgements that will vary in empirical rigour and opposition to different ideologies. The thesis sets the authoritarian aspects of realism’s attempted manipulation of the reader against the potential in realism for a dialogic plurality of perspectives, the possible defensibility of a point of view, the need for coherence and judgement in political dialogue and action, and the frequency of ‘content’-based reader resistance. The realist form is not an absolute of representation, but nor is it a mere reflex of capitalism. By the same token, the anti-realist concept of the anti-ideological function of ‘anti-realist’ texts imposes a reverse, homogeneous, inherently oppositional role onto politically heterogenous cultural forms. The thesis argues, furthermore, that by rejecting empiricist modes of substantiation and adopting a mechanistic view of ideology, the post-Althusserian critique of realism fails to engage adequately with the theoretical defence of capitalism. The harmony thesis of free enterprise can only be given a pejorative label ‘ideology’ on the basis of comparative and historical considerations of the performance of capitalism. In practice, the natural tendency of the market to cyclical instability with attendant unemployment, impoverishment and the compounding of class-based inequalities has only been mitigated by extensive government intervention. The thesis concludes then with a case study of Dickens’s Hard Times as an example of the above, more effective, approach to capitalist legitimation. Hard Times employs empiricist, semi-‘fictional’, ‘realist’ techniques to demonstrate the ideological nature of theories of free enterprise. The critical edge of this novel is blunted by a liberal-romanticism that is ambivalent about legal-institutional solutions to social problems. Despite this fault, Hard Times shows some of the possibilities offered by the realist form for viable social critique.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Humanities
Division of Humanities
Full Text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

40

Bernard, Kaitlin. "Between Reality and Realism: CGI and Narrative in Hollywood Children's Films." Thèse, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/19879.

Full text

Abstract:

This paper addresses many concepts and concerns related to the previously underexplored topic of CGI and narrative in Hollywood children’s films. Through an analysis of scenes from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Golden Compass, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Inkheart it demonstrates that CGI spectacle does not exist in opposition to narrative progression as some scholars have suggested. Instead, by drawing on theorists like Lefebvre and Furstenau (2002), this investigation asserts that belief in fictional realism is paramount to spectatorship. It is shown that CGI can be used in a way that respects realism in the Bazin tradition and continuity editing in order to allow the spectator to believe in the fictional reality of narrative events. This belief is then connected to the emotional engagement of the spectator by drawing on ideas from Smith’s (1994) structure of sympathy. The ultimate goal of this paper is to present a conceptualization of CGI that creates a stronger distinction between reality and film realism than previous literature has suggested.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

41

Lisbôa, Roseny Aparecida Miranda de. "Concepções sobre ciência e natureza: uma investigação das visões filosóficas de professores de física do ensino superior." Universidade de São Paulo, 2015. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/81/81131/tde-17122015-105810/.

Full text

Abstract:

O objetivo deste trabalho é pesquisar e classificar as diversas concepções filosóficas sobre o mundo físico e a ciência em um grupo específico de físicos: professores do Instituto de Física da Universidade de São Paulo. O trabalho começou com a criação de um questionário envolvendo julgamentos ou opiniões sobre alguns assuntos da física, sempre procurando abordar conceitos fundamentais da filosofia da ciência, como verdade, realismo, reducionismo, determinismo, natureza do tempo físico, objetivos da ciência e visões religiosas. De posse desse questionário realizamos entrevistas com dez professores do Instituto de Física da USP e então partimos para as análises dessas respostas. A metodologia utilizada seguiu os princípios da pesquisa qualitativa associada à análise de conteúdo. Isso que nos permitiu o estabelecimento de critérios de classificação para as diversas concepções filosóficas encontradas nas respostas dos entrevistados e a criação de categorias que foram ilustradas com representações diagramáticas. Com esta pesquisa, pretende-se deixar abertos caminhos para que, no futuro, possam ser investigadas conexões com o ensino na sala de aula, os livros didáticos, práticas pedagógicas, estratégias de ensino, novas sequências didáticas, etc. Além disso, espera-se que essa pesquisa possa tornar-se um forte aliado no processo de ensino-aprendizagem de determinados fenômenos, influenciando também a maneira como a natureza da ciência é apresentada e como a Física é ensinada.
The aim of this study is to investigate and classify the various philosophical conceptions about the physical world and science in a specific group of physicists: teachers of the Institute of Physics at the University of São Paulo (USP). The work began with the creation of a questionnaire involving judgments or opinions on some subjects of physics, addressing fundamental concepts of philosophy of science, such as truth, realism, reductionism, determinism, nature of physical time, aims of science, and religious views. With this questionnaire, interviews were conducted with ten professors from the Institute of Physics of USP, and then an analysis of the answers was made. The methodology used followed the principles of qualitative research associated with content analysis. This enabled us to establish criteria for classification for the various philosophical concepts found in the answers of the respondents, and to create categories that were illustrated with diagrammatic representations. We hope that in the future this research can be connected to issues in classroom teaching, textbooks, teaching practices, teaching strategies, new didactic sequences, etc. In addition, we hope that this research can become a strong ally in the teaching-learning process of certain phenomena, influencing the way the nature of science is presented and how physics is taught.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

42

McGonigal, Andrew James Joseph. "The metaphorical problem : realism and anti-realism in the philosophy of metaphor." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2004. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1210/.

Full text

Abstract:

This thesis is concerned with the meaning of metaphors. In particular, it examines a contemporary dispute in the philosophy of language, primarily comprising critical responses to Donald Davidson’s seminal work in the area, which focuses on the question of whether metaphorical utterances, qua metaphors, ought to receive distinctive semantic evaluations. I treat this debate as an instance of a more general form of philosophical dispute, which has been explored in some detail in recent work on the nature of realism and anti-realism. The thesis has five chapters. In the first chapter, I outline, motivate and evaluate two contrasting approaches to realism, proposed by Michael Devitt and Crispin Wright. I argue that neither is wholly satisfactory, but that a modified version of Wright’s approach is likely to be most fruitful in the philosophy of metaphor. In the second chapter, I examine the character of Davidson’s anti-realism, concluding that he is best thought of as an error-theorist about metaphorical meaning. I go on to set out a unified Davidsonian argument for semantic and pragmatic anti-realism about metaphor, and offer a sustained discussion and partial defence of the six premises that such an argument proceeds from. My third chapter outlines a series of common objectives to Davidson’s views, and argues that error-theorists have the resources to address many of these criticisms in a fairly plausible manner. In the fourth chapter, I go on to investigate the realist standing of metaphorical meaning in more detail. I examine the open-endedness of metaphor in the light of Wright’s response-dependent theory of intention, and argue that this approach offers a novel response to certain anti-realist concerns. The fifth chapter concerns the relationship between metaphor and non-conceptual content. I argue that thinking of metaphorical meanings as non-conceptual entails that the non-propositional and limitless character of metaphor does not pose a fatal objection to a pragmatic realist account, contra Davidson. I apply my suggested account to two test cases: metaphors that describe one’s emotional state, and religious metaphors, and argue that in each case, thinking of the metaphors as expressing non-conceptual contents is potentially suggestive and helpful. In that chapter, I also examine the possibility of an robustly realist approach to metaphorical meanings, modelled on the epistemicist approach to vagueness set out in recent work by Timothy Williamson. I demonstrate how the dominant objection to this account can be partially defused, and go on to examine the final standing of the dispute between realist and anti-realist.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

43

Darley, Andrew David. "The computer and contemporary visual culture : realism, post-realism and postmodernist aesthetics." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.259729.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

44

Santos, Daniele Ribeiro dos. "Do realismo sujo ao realismo vazio: um estudo comparativo entre a ficção de Rubem Fonseca e Pedro Juan Gutiérrez." Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, 2007. http://www.bdtd.uerj.br/tde_busca/arquivo.php?codArquivo=212.

Full text

Abstract:

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
A tese analisa a obra de Rubem Fonseca e Pedro Juan Gutiérrez sob o ponto de vista da abjeção, do nojo, do choque e do trauma, suas aproximações e diferenças, partindo das várias noções de realismo até chegar ao realismo sujo, termo cunhado para designar toda uma a geração de jovens escritores americanos e latino-americanos, surgidos a partir dos anos 80. Aborda ainda as estratégias utilizadas por Fonseca (nas décadas de 60, 70 e 80) e Gutiérrez (nos anos 90 e 00) para lidar com a ditadura, respectivamente no Brasil e em Cuba, traçando um breve panorama do cenário literário cubano contemporâneo. Por fim, o trabalho discute o realismo vazio, que se caracteriza pela perda da fé nas utopias. O trabalho se apóia nas categorias teóricas utilizadas por Hal Foster, Julia Kristeva e Mário Perniola.
The thesis analyses Rubem Fonsecas and Pedro Juan Gutiérrezs fiction under the point of view of abjection, disgust, shock and trauma, their similarities and differences, starting with the different notions of Realism and reaching dirty realism expression used to identify a generation of young American and Latinamerican writers that started to publish in the 1980s. It also broaches the strategies to deal with dictatorship in Brazil and in Cuba, drawing a brief map of the contemporary Cuban literary scenario. Finally, the work discusses the empty realism, which is marked by the loss of the faith in the Utopia. The project is supported by the theoretical categories used by Hal Foster, Julia Kristeva and Mário Perniola.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

45

Joseph, Jonathan. "Hegemony and critical realism." Thesis, Online version, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?did=1&uin=uk.bl.ethos.242386.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

46

Wettström, Rune. "Popper - Realism och antirelativism." Thesis, Karlstad University, Faculty of Arts and Education, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-181.

Full text

Abstract:

The aim with this paper is to study Karl Popper’s view on realism and relativism. Further aim is to see whether those ideas have been consistent over the years. The paper argues that Popper since his first interest in philosophy has taken a realistic and antirelativistic attitude. Only his arguments for this position have been developed to meet his critics.

Common sense speaks for realism but can neither be proven nor refuted. However, arguments for realism are among others all the chemical and biological theories that presuppose realism.

Popper also expand his view on the real world to include, besides the material world, also a world of experiences which he calls “world 2” and a “world 3” comprising intellectual products.

He also rejects relativism and for him knowledge is a system of statements or theories put forward for discussion. In a conflict between two opposing hypotheses, one of them could be right or both could be wrong but both could not be right.

The conclusions in this study are based on Popper’s most important works from 1934 to 1990.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

47

Fantina, Richard. "Charles Reade's Sensational Realism." Scholarly Repository, 2007. http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/oa_dissertations/60.

Full text

Abstract:

Sensation fiction, which flourished in England from the 1850s to the 1880s, was viewed by Victorian establishment figures as a threat to prevailing social values. This dissertation focuses on the work of Charles Reade, who along with Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, was among the most well-known sensation novelists. While several novels by Collins and Braddon have been rediscovered by scholars since the 1980s, Reade's fiction remains neglected. With its explicit critique of the emerging regimes of power/knowledge in the fields of medicine, criminal justice, and sexual mores, Reade's work anticipates Michel Foucault's theories elaborated a century later. Although previous readings of Victorian fiction have drawn on the ideas of Foucault in an attempt to identify sensation novels as cultural productions complicit with a developing bourgeois hegemony, I argue that these novels represent a narrative genre that challenges and resists these disciplinary constraints. In addition, Reade's work provides a rare glimpse of alternative sexualities and gender identities in nineteenth-century fiction that can be read in light of feminist and gender theory. This dissertation recovers the fiction of Charles Reade as a body of work that anticipates recent trends in literary and cultural theory and that speaks to us today with an uncanny familiarity.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

48

Gifford, Michael Lee. "Exploring Realism and Truth." Thesis, State University of New York at Buffalo, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10620352.

Full text

Abstract:

This dissertation explores some important interconnections between the notions of Realism and Truth. Recently in analytic philosophy, there has been growing resistance to the idea that we might productively approach the realism issue via a consideration of the nature of truth. Michael Devitt, in particular, has argued forcefully and at length that realism is a metaphysical issue which ought to be settled before the semantical issue concerning the sorts of truth conditions our sentences may have. One goal of this dissertation is to establish that the realism issue may be fruitfully addressed through a study of language rather than metaphysics proper. The bulk of the dissertation is devoted to a careful study of one particular semantic approach to the realism question: That of Michael Dummett's.

The first chapter focuses on the dogmatic views of Michael Devitt. Devitt claims that we ought to "put metaphysics first," that is, answer metaphysical questions before semantical and epistemological questions. He also believes that we ought to put metaphysics first in the sense that our metaphysical conclusions should be given a certain kind of immunity from revision in light of what we may conclude in semantics and epistemology. Hence, Devitt argues, it would be a mistake to settle on an anti-realist conclusion based on the determination that our sentences have anti-realist (epistemic) truth conditions. I argue in the first chapter that Devitt's approach lacks sufficient motivation and furthermore requires us to take on a number of unsavory philosophical commitments.

Those who prefer a metaphysical, as opposed to semantic, approach to the realism issue are under special pressure to explain what exactly the nature of mind-independence is. This is because the metaphysical approach to the realism issue says that the question of realism comes down to the question whether what exists does so mind-independently. The second chapter of my dissertation is devoted to an analysis of the notion of mind-independence. I criticize some common statements of realism in terms of mind-independence and attempt to offer a better version of the view. One major issue of common statements of realism in terms of mind-independence is that they leave it a mystery how we might be realists about minds. I overcome this problem by framing mind-independence in terms of what I call our directed cognitive practices.

The third chapter consists of a detailed study of the anti-realist views of Michael Dummett. Dummett happens to be an anti-realist, but his approach to the realism issue is consistent with realism. For Dummett, the realism question comes down to the question as to what sorts of truth conditions our sentences have. His realist claims that our sentences have truth conditions in such a way that they could be true or false despite our inability to ever come to know whether they were true or false. Dummett's anti-realist claims that our sentences could never have such truth conditions, and instead have truth conditions such that we must be capable, at least in principle, of coming to know the sentences' truth values. I criticize various interpretations of Dummett and respond to some common objections. Understanding Dummett's philosophy requires understanding what he means by the term 'undecidable', since he takes the realism dispute to be a dispute as to whether "undecidable" sentences have determinate truth values. I argue that the best way to understand the notion of undecidability in the context of Dummett's philosophy is as the lack of an effective decision procedure, that is, the lack of a procedure which is guaranteed to deliver an answer as to whether the sentence is true or false in a finite amount of time.

The fourth chapter focuses on the question as to whether a Dummettian anti-realist is under any special pressure to reject classical logic in favor of an intuitionistic logic. I conclude that the Dummettian, who endorses a semantics in terms of proof-conditions rather than truth-conditions, must reject classical logic and instead endorse the logic of the intuitionists. The chapter is largely devoted to criticizing other attempts to discern in Dummett any particular argument for the conclusion that his anti-realist must reject classical logic.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

49

Zhu, Xiaoyu. "Peter Railton's moral realism." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp03/MQ54272.pdf.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

50

Maines, Lauren Ann. "The nature of realism /." Online version of thesis, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/1850/11541.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Realism'

Create a spot-on reference in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and other styles