Renaturalising : Lacan's ethics and Nietzsche's critique of platonism

‬This thesis examines how Lacan's ethics of psychoanalysis might contribute to our understanding of Nietzsche's critique of Platonism.

Giorgio de Chirico and the idea of enigmatic imagery : the innocence of becoming

My paintings emerge from within a context best explained by reference to Nietzsche's perspectivism. That is an intellectual attitude that deprivileges rationalism and accommodates scepticism or unknowing as an acceptable starting point From this standpoint art/language can be seen as being in a state of becoming rather than as representing a state of being. This thesis aims to demonstrate, not only by a philosophical encounter with Giorgio de Chirico's work: ie. his use of myth, his Nietzschean perspectivism and his enigmatic interpretation of figuration, that the most helpful context and understanding of my work can be realied. De Chirico's art, like Nietzsche's philosophy seeks in its processes to explore the possible unity of Dionysian aesthetic force with the Apollonian. Neither Nietzsche nor de Chirico considered within a post-Socratic world that this unity was realizable. Nevertheless they both share in their respective art forms a need to represent the relentless struggle to enact the disjunction of the two aesthetic forces in a secular world. The artist’s enigmatic imagery is characterized by a consideration of appearance and reality and it is for this reason that the work was selected as a model for investigating the nature of enigma. His use of seemingly straightforward, ordinary images suggests a sense of accessibility, yet at the same time they are irreducible to knowing and my own image-making was greatly expanded by investigating these concerns. I am not arguing that de Chirico was influenced by Nietzsche but instead that Nietzsche's philosophical point of view and his use of poetic language to express these views lay in discovering the qualities and substance of the Dionysian spirit As well as working within a Nietzschean world-view set out in The Birth of Tragedy, de Chirico has also drawn on the Italian unification, specifically the Risorgimento and the lineage of these political and mythical figures were endemic to his art and they interface the with his use of the Apollonian-Dionysian disunity first explored by Nietzsche. The focus of the exegesis will be to present the poetic and philosophical use made of the latter in de Chirico’s art It is anticipated that this philosophical encounter with the aesthetic, social and political world of de Chirico will, not only assist in interpreting his life's work anew, but will also provide a context in which my paintings of enigma might be interpreted.

Rope dancer : a novel and accompanying essay

The thesis combines a novel and a critical essay. The novel tells of a group of people in Melbourne, some of whom write, party, have sex, take drugs, go climbing and die. The essay discusses four aspects of the novel: climbing fiction, Nietzsche in literature, place and fiction and character as hero.

Perfecting nature : Friedrich Nietzsche's ideal and politics of cultivation

What I have called the Ideal of Cultivation is a fundamental ethical principle of civilisation, originated by aristocratic warriors in Greek antiquity who held that the true purpose of humanity is to perfect nature

It was then professed that individuals and even entire peoples could consciously develop and improve themselves in a way that was thought to obey the original lawful impulses of nature, a process which was likened to those of agriculture and animal husbandry.

Subsequently the cognate idea of a politics of cultivation arose which deemed that society should be organised specifically to produce more virtuous or perfect human types. Given their fundamental association with Hellenism both ideas have been revisited constantly in the intellectual history of the west, and most notably during the great secular periods, the Renaissance and Enlightenment when active attempts were made to retrieve the ideals of antiquity. Both ideas were particularly pervasive in the German enlightenment, the Aufklärung, and were assimilated by the succeeding Romantic generation.

In nineteenth century Germany, when interest in these ideas was quickly waning, the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche acquired an unswerving attachment to them and made the service of them his life's work.

The intention of this essay is to trace methodically the appearance of the Ideal of Cultivation in Nietzsche's philosophy and politics, and to outline his responses to a world which was abandoning the principles in which he deeply believed. This essay should be regarded as a case study in the long history of a fundamental ethical idea rather than one about the philosopher Nietzsche.

Defending Nietzsche from Heidegger's Nietzsche: an analysis and critique of Heidegger's understanding of Nietzsche's ontology and epistemology

Daniel Connell's thesis analysed Martin Heidegger's ontological and epistemological critique of Nietzsche in his later writings. It argued that Heidegger's understanding of Nietzsche is flawed, and presented an alternative account of Nietzsche's ontology and epistemology.

De Chirico and Walker in light of Nietzsche and Guattari: the enigma of partial bodies in illogical spaces

If one concedes that the Freudian unconscious is inseparable from a society attached to its past, for example, its phallocentric traditions, Guattari’s alternative model dealing with "the production of subjectivity" offers a new perspective (1995: 11). From this vantage point, it is possible to map the way "every individual and social group" models the creation of subjectivity, a subjectivity "composed of cognitive references as well as mythical, ritual and symptomatological references" (1995: 11).

Letting go without a fight : decolonization, democracy and war, 1900-94

Does the type of regime really make no difference to the likelihood of violent conflict over basic issues of stateness such as separatism and decolonization? Can democratic peace theory be successfully applied when dealing with the national identity or stateness question? This article extends the application of the democratic peace to the process of decolonization. It examines conflict between imperial states and their colonies during the process of decolonization and investigates the question of whether democracy affects the likelihood of conflict. The central finding is that, contrary to the implications of some prominent theories of state formation and democracy, democratic imperial states are significantly less likely to go to war with their colonial possessions in the process of achieving independence. Further, the authors find only a monadic, not dyadic, democratic peace effect. The regime type of the colony does not have a significant effect on the likelihood of war. It is the nature of the regime of imperial states, rather than that of colonies, that is a significant factor. In addition, the predominant source of this effect appears to be the institutional constraints placed on executive action within democracies, rather than the influence of mass politics or the effects of political competition. Regarding power-related factors, power parity between sovereign and colony makes conflict more likely (a colonial power-transition effect), but imperial decline actually makes war with colonies less likely. Sensitivity analysis reveals that a number of other hypothesized effects cannot find robust support. Simulations are used to assess the magnitude of the effect of regime type pre- and post-independence. Overall, the article contributes to theory development by investigating different institutional aspects of democracy and by distinguishing monadic and dyadic effects.

Nietzsche's perspectivism and problems of self-refutation

Nietzsche's perspectivism has aroused the perplexity of many a recent commentator, not least because of the doctrine's apparent self-refuting character.  If, as Nietzsche holds, there are no facts but only interpretations, then how are we to understand this claim itself?  Nietzsche's perspectivism must be construed either as a facts or as one further interpretation - but in the former case the doctine is clearly self-refuting, while in the latter case any reasons or arguments one may have in support of one's perspective are rendered both impotent and superflouos.  The unpalatable consequencs of Nietzsche's perspectivism are further highlighted by considering its effects on Nietzsche's treatment of the fundamental laws of logic, such as the principle of non-contradiction.  Finally, Nietzsche's perspectivism, if not self-refuting, at least seems to be refuted by his own writings, where he confidently puts forward various doctines and critiques, thus indicating that he does not think of his own beliefs as being true merely in a perspectival sense.  There is every reason, i conclude, to be perplexed about Nietzsche's perspectivism.

Nietzsche as 'Europe's Buddha' and 'Asia's superman'

Nietzsche represents in an interesting way the well-worn Western approach to Asian philosophical and religious thinking: initial excitement, then neglect by appropriation, and swift rejection when found to be incompatible with one’s own tradition, whose roots are inexorably traced back to the ‘ancient’ Greeks. Yet, Nietzsche’s philosophical critique and methods - such as ‘perspectivism’ - offer an instructive route through which to better understand another tradition even if the sole purpose of this exercise is to perceive one’s own limitations through the eyes of the other: a self-destruktion of sorts. To help correct this shortcoming and begin the long overdue task of even-handed dialogue - or contemporary comparative philosophy - we will be served well by looking at Nietzsche’s mistakes, which in turn informed the tragic critic of the West of the last century, Martin Heidegger. We may learn here not to cast others in one’s own troubled image; and not to reverse cultural icons: Europe’s Superman, and Asia’s Buddha.

"Our fingers were never idle" : women and domestic craft in the Geelong region, 1900-1960

This thesis is an exploration of women's domestic crafts in the Geelong region, between 1900 and I960, Through analysing oral testimony and the women's handicraft artefacts, the nature of the domestic production of handicrafts and the meanings the makers have constructed around their creations and their lives is illuminated. The thesis is organised around the themes of work, space, the construction of femininity, memory, time and meaning. The thesis argues that until recently, the discipline of history has privileged the experiences of men over those of women. It challenges the trivialising of women’s handicrafts. It also argues that within the restrictive social structures around them and within the confined nature of their situations, the women of my study asserted themselves to transform their environments and to improve their situations through labour in the home. In ‘making do’, recycling materials and creating functional and decorative needlework items for their homes and families, the women were often finding solutions to pressing practical and economic problems. Doing handicrafts was rarely just a passive way of filling in time. Rather, making and creating was for these women a multi-layered activity that similtaneously fulfilled a complex range of needs for themselves and their families. A multiplicity of deeply personal, aesthetic, familial, social, practical and economic needs were met in the making of domestic craft artefacts, whose symbolism reflected the values and meanings of the women's cultures, homes and families.

Public libraries in Ballarat : 1851-1900

This thesis analyses the development of the Ballarat East Free Library (1859), the Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute Library (1859) and the City of Ballaarat Free Library (1878) within the broader context of public librarianship in Victoria between 1851-1900. Mechanics’ Institute libraries and free libraries represent the major derivatives of a nineteenth-century library model that emphasised the pursuit of lifelong learning, private reading and the enjoyment of genteel recreational facilities. The circumstances that led to the formation of an Institute and a free library in Ballarat in, 1,859 provide a unique opportunity to analyse the public library model for two reasons. These libraries were established in a remarkable goldfield city that enjoyed a number of economic and cultural advantages and secondly, the Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute Library and the Ballarat East Free Library experienced such spectacular growth that by 1880 they were two of the largest public libraries in Australia. However, it is argued that this growth cycle could not be sustained due to a combination of factors including low membership levels, limited funding for recurrent expenditure purposes, and heightened dissatisfaction with the book collections. Libraries began to stagnate in the late-1880s and the magnitude of this collapse in Ballarat, and throughout the colony, was subsequently confirmed with the publication of a national survey of Australian libraries in 1935. The ‘Munn-Pitt’ report found that public libraries had provided a better service in 1880 than at any other time in the next six decades. Four conclusions are drawn in this comparative analysis of the Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute Library, the Ballarat East Free Library, and to a lesser extent, the City of Ballaarat Free Library, between 1851-1900. Firstly, is it shown that the literature places considerable emphasis on the formation of public libraries but is far less critical of the long-term viability of the public library model as it evolved in Ballarat and throughout the colony in the nineteenth century. Secondly, whilst Ballarat and its library committees benefited from the city's prosperity and the entrepreneurial zeal of its pioneers, these same library committees were unable to overcome the structural flaws in the public library model or to dispel the widespread belief that libraries were elitist organisations. As a consequence, membership of the major libraries in Ballarat never exceeded 4% of the total population. Thirdly, it is acknowledged that an absence of records relating to book borrowing habits by individuals limits is a limiting factor, but this problem has been addressed, in part, by undertaking a comparative analysis of collection development policies, invoices, lists of popular authors and books, public comment and the book borrowing patterns of a number of comparable libraries in central Victoria. These resources provide a number of insights into the reading habits of library patrons in Ballarat in the late-nineteenth century. Finally, this thesis focuses on the management policies and practices of each library committee in Ballarat in order to move beyond the traditional explanation for the demise of nineteenth-century libraries and to propose an alternative explanation for the stagnation of public libraries in Ballarat in the mid-1880s. The traditional explanation for the demise of colonial libraries was the sudden reduction in government funding in the 1890s, whereas this thesis argues that a combination of factors, including the unresolved tensions with regard to libraries collection development policies, committee and municipal rivalry, and increasing conservatism, had already damaged the credibility of Ballarat’s libraries by the mid-1880s. It is argued that the intense rivalry between library committees resulted in an unnecessary duplication of services and an inadequate membership base. It is also argued that the increasingly conservative, un-cooperative and uninviting attitudes of these library committees discouraged patronage and as a direct consequence, membership and daily visitor rates of the free and Institute libraries in Ballarat plummeted by 80% between 1880-1900.