Descartes’s Meditations on First Philosophy, regarded by many as his masterpiece, has been the subject of significant philosophical debate since its publication in 1641. Yet the Meditations is remarkable not only for its philosophical ideas but also for the style in which it was written. Two of the most notable stylistic elements of the Meditations are the use of temporal markers—a significant departure from analogous philosophical treatises of the same period—and the fact that the text is written in such a (...) way as to invite readers to subsume themselves into the role of the narrator, so as to experience its arguments for themselves. Many commentators have hinted at the importance of the narrator. But there has been little attempt at a sustained engagement. The function of the text as a series of days of meditation has also been insufficiently explored. In order to further investigate the roles of time and narrative within the Meditations, this thesis uses various reading methods provided by narrative theory, with particular focus on Monika Fludernik’s experiential model of narrative. Fludernik’s model allows for a clearer articulation of the role readers play in enacting meaning, and the way in which readers will in a sense “author” a text on their own terms. Reading the Meditations as an experiential narrative also illuminates significant issues to do with Descartes’s distinction between geometric and discursive argument, his conception of time, the specific expression of the Cogito in the Meditations, and the “reorientation” at the heart of the text—which I am calling a sort of conversion. The conversion at the heart of the Meditations will be explored in parallel with Saint Augustine’s Confessions and Saint Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, two texts which—like the Meditations—can be thought of as experiential narratives designed to bring about some kind of conversion. I argue that such an experiential reading, drawing on the roles of time and narrative in the text, offers to enrich our understanding of the Meditations. (shrink)

This thesis considers the space of encounter between the quantum mechanical ontology of limited universal holism and the legal system. This space of encounter is identified through an examination of two premises. The first premise is that the ontological structure of limited universal holism has significant legal philosophical and socio-­‐legal implications. The second premise is that the loci of commitment within the ontology of limited universal holism epistemologically coheres with the core ontological notions that underpin the Preamble of the Universal (...) Declaration of Human Rights of 1948,1 specifically the notions of equality, universality and inalienability. Both premises are affirmed in the course of analysis undertaken in this thesis. In addition some novel contributions are posited. Some of the ontological elements of limited universal holism when deployed as heuristic tools show, inter alia, coherence between the way socio-­‐legal constructivists conceptualise the law and the wave-­‐particle duality of quanta. In respect of the second premise, epistemological coherence is shown between the ethos that underpins modern human rights and the loci of commitment within the ontology of limited universal holism. This coherence improves the epistemic stability of monist perspectives on which deep equality may be framed. The thesis concludes with some suggestions for future research. Two particularly exciting areas for future research are uncovered in the course of the analysis. First is the coherence between the work in this thesis and the jurisprudential paradigm of Wild Law. Second is the potential for the monist ontology of limited universal holism derived from scientific research to cohere with many diverse wisdom and ethno-­‐cultural traditions and in so doing increase the epistemic standing of monist ontologies. (shrink)

This paper presents how a 2015 public space design competition, made available to students of landscape architecture in Australia and New Zealand, provided an opportunity for investigations to be carried out into the experiences, values, and the importance of hangout places in public settings. Following successful and enriching partnerships with Indigenous communities as part of previous design studio teaching and research activities we developed a brief for our current landscape architecture students from the University of Canberra and the University of (...) Melbourne to explore the notion of hangouts, inclusive of Indigenous perspectives. With support from the Local Eden Aboriginal Land Council from the South Coast region of New South Wales and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, we formulated a design brief that involved students spending five days camping at an Aboriginal site of significance known as the Haycock Point Culture Camp. Located at the northern end of the NSW Ben Boyd National Park, the Culture Camp site is a space that has been, for some time, purposefully set aside for the local Aboriginal community to share, celebrate and transmit their knowledge. Consisting of a set of separate family camping sites, each connected to a central meeting place, the campground is located within walking distance of bush foods as well as fishing and diving spots that have been important to the local Aboriginal people for generations. And while the Culture Camp serves as a modern-day hangout, where Aboriginal families typically travel to on weekends and holiday periods, the archaeological record and oral accounts indicated that the site h as been occupied for thousands of years. Indeed, the site represents an old hangout location. Through the act of "hanging out" at the Culture Camp with our students, and by learning about the use and history of the site through the insights of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal knowledge holders, we explore in this paper how the knowledge gained through the experience helped to inform and inspire design thinking about hangout places in both regional and urban contexts. This paper features design concepts developed by students, along with critical reflections on how the fishing, sketching, bushwalking, storytelling, and other camp activities imbued their design approaches with meaning. (shrink)

This article explores Descartes's philosophy of time as articulated in the 'non-endurance doctrine' in the Third Meditation. I argue that what has been overlooked in prior readings of this doctrine is acknowledgement that it is articulated by a fictional character within a fictional span of time. The text, therefore, expresses a temporal reality, as well as articulating a temporal theory. I explore the temporality of the text, and the fictionality of the narrator, through the lens of Monika Fludernik's theory of (...) experiential narrative. (shrink)

For decades, people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender have expressed dissatisfactions with the mental health services provided to us. Previous researchers, the majority working within the disciplines of psychiatry, medicine and psychology, have used representational models of thought and conventional research methods to produce interpretations of how stigmatisation and discrimination towards those who are different ‘from-the-same’ normative sociocultural standards also affect LGBT people within mental health services. Research recommendations and problem-solving practice guidelines developed on the basis of (...) representational approaches are typically presented as the iterative obverse of the issues described. Yet,according to LGBT people, problems with mental health services persist. Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari argued that difference ‘in-itself’ could be used to drive social justice-inspired change, and they created rhizomatic philosophical precepts as an expansive antidote to what they saw as the arborescent, or self-limiting nature of ideas rooted in representational thought. This qualitative study has used the creative power of difference ‘in-itself’ and the rhizomatic precepts to develop an unconventional non-fascist engagement between twenty mental health nurses as participant- collaborators in the production of a baroque rhizomatic assemblage of our ideas. The study folds ‘lines of flight’ about difference awareness and knowledge gain through training and education into ideas about how organisational leadership and policy development are needed to support culturally competent practices. This study has implications for the development of sustainably inclusive mental health services for LGBT people. For the first time, the views of mental health nurses regarding our practices with LGBT service users and our ideas about how to develop service environments inclusive of cultural difference are presented. A reflective assessment of the usefulness of taking a rhizomatic research approach is also provided. Our ideas provide strategies on which to base structural decisions in the design and development of educational curricula, organisational policy and nursing practice standards. Further development of the rhizomatic approach is required. This will include consideration of the impact of participating as collaborators on individual participants’ future practice. Also, as this study involved only twenty nurses in two states of Australia, it is recommended that further research be conducted into refining the approach to incorporate an electronic or onUline capability. This could involve professional nursing organisations and enable more mental health nurses across a diverse range of practice environments and geographies to participate in an immanent and nursing-inclusive expansion of the multidisciplinary research and practice development discussion focused on achieving equity for LGBT people in mental health services. (shrink)

This article explores the relation between experience and ‘know-how’ as a ‘tacit’ form of knowledge and the role of enthusiasm in the production of ‘know-how’, and engages with the problem of the transmission of ‘know how’. Why is the transmission of ‘know-how’ a problem? If ‘know-how’ is a tacit form of knowledge, then there are difficulties imagining how it is transmitted through the media without becoming an ‘explicit’ form of knowledge.The author turns his attention to the humble ‘how to’ article, (...) as its primary purpose is the transmission of ‘know-how’. He teases out the way ‘know-how’ is developed through experience and then suggests that instead of transmitting ‘know-how’ itself, the ‘how to’ article presents the conditions of experience through which a reader or viewer can develop ‘know-how’. (shrink)

In this fascinating new book, Affrica Taylor encourages an exciting paradigmatic shift in the ways in which childhood and nature are conceived and pedagogically deployed, and invites readers to critically reassess the naturalist childhood discourses that are rife within popular culture and early years education.Through adopting a common worlds framework, Reconfiguring the Natures of Childhood generates a number of complex and inclusive ways of seeing and representing the early years. It recasts childhood as:messy and implicated rather than pure and innocent; (...) situated and differentiated rather than decontextualized and universal; entangled within real world relations rather than protected in a separate space.Throughout the book, the author follows an intelligent and innovative line of thought which challenges many pre-existing ideas about childhood. Drawing upon cross-disciplinary perspectives, and with international relevance, this book makes an important contribution to the field of childhood studies and early childhood education, and will be a valuable resource for scholars, postgraduate students and higher education teachers. (shrink)

This Field Study Report represents a preliminary inquiry or prolegomenon to a Philosophy of Music Education in Australia. My concern here is with the nature and function of music in Australian education, especially of young people. I am not concerned with the technical details of education and training in the musical art itself: my aim is rather to distinguish and account for public and professional attitudes towards music in Australian education, by identifying their philosophical sources and social determinants. The Introduction (...) begins with a general historical background, including detailed references to the important developments of the past decade that have dramatically altered the role and raised public awareness of music in Australia. Chapter I, 'The Politics of Music in School and Society' argues that the philosophy of music education derives from two classical sources: Plato, the inspiration for music educators in totalitarian societies; and Aristotle, for education in the liberal democracies. A recent review indicates that these two philosophies are still key positions in the field. Chapter II, 'The Tradition of Music in Australian Education' shows how the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, with Locke's utilitarianism, have influenced music education since colonial times, and how British pedagogical traditions have been modified by adaption to a new society and ethos. Chapter III, 'Music in Contemporary Australian Education' reviews recent empirical studies of the subject, showing, the persistence of traditional attitudes and basic problems. Chapter IV, 'The Right to Music: Aims and Methods' reports the empirical part of this Field Study - recorded interviews and discussions with adults and children involved in Australian music education and associated activities. These were the subject of a series of eight radio programs, first broadcast nationally by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, November 1979 to February 1980, subsequently rebroadcast twice, and now published on cassette Chapter V, 'The Right to Music : the Broadcast Series' consists of cassette recordings of the broadcast discussions, together with minimally edited transcriptions of the text. In my Conclusion, 'Philosophy of Music Education in Australia: the Three Traditions', I offer a preliminary analysis of contemporary Australian attitudes towards music in education as revealed by the broadcast discussion. I conclude that, while Australian music educators have been untrained philosophically, their attitudes towards music in education derive, in the main, from Plato, Aristotle and Locke. (shrink)

This field study was based on experiences as a teacher and parent in an alternative, progressive early childhood school: The Co-Operative School, O'Connor, ACT. The data for the study was recorded during 1978, 1979, 1980; the first three years of the school's existence as a Government school. The development and educational progress of fourteen girls and boys, aged from five to eight years in 1978, was followed. The philosophy, policies , organization, curriculum content, teaching strategies and general milieu of the (...) school were examined. The aim of the study was to analyse the philosophy of the school, as set out in the constitution, and to see how it related to curriculum and teaching strategies. Issues of freedom and choice within a compulsory school environment were examined in relation to the stated aims of the school: the underlying reason for this examination was the problem caused by the gap which existed between philosophy and practice, which caused the experiences of the children in the school, to often be at variance with stated aims. The developmental needs of children in the early childhood age group, and the personal variables they brought to the learning situation, were related to the school environment. Social learning theory was utilised, as a perspective from which to provide a unified conceptual basis, for planned interventions in teaching and learning. The importance of modelling, self-expectation, feelings of self-efficacy and competency, were related to the community, the curriculum content, and teaching strategies of the school. Decision-making strategies were examined for their relevance to consensus-based processes and a co-operative style of community management. Consideration was given to the provision of a cohesive environment, in which adult members of the community could participate freely in autonomous learning experiences with children. The area of conflict resolution and the incidence of aggressive behaviour in the school were explored, and techniques for successful negotiation of differences were suggested. Areas of the curriculum which have traditionally been difficult for alternative schools to implement to the satisfaction of all community members were examined. Areas such as: goal-setting and m o t i v a t i o n of children; basic skills in early childhood; transition to mainstream education; the effect of emergent lifestyle values; the provision of equal opportunity for girls and boys; and the importance of co-operative learning strategies. The study ends with reflections on the place of alternative, progressive schools in the 1980s, and the need for such schools to exist to provide an educational choice for parents and children in the future. (shrink)

An original project for a taxonomy of organisation-technology became over time an exploration of some of the meanings and contexts of technology. The exploration began with the critique of selected instances of landmark theorising and empirical research on the technology concept. The critique raised issues in epistemology and methodology which caused this writer to address the philosophy of the social sciences and the philosophy of technology at certain points: the question of technological determinism; language and metaphor; ideology; construct validity. Chapters (...) One and Two of this thesis reflect the quest for connections in meta-theory, as the remaining chapters reflect the quest for meanings and contexts of technology in organisation and society. The case studies of landmark theory and research on technology led into more of a generic enquiry into the nature and claims of a contingency theory of organisation and management. An analysis of landmark cases and of contingency theory suggested that a formalist or empiricist approach to technology and organisation had produced no clear conceptualisation of technology, nor of any other contextual or performance factors. No panacea for organisation-design has emerged from this quarter. A rather broader arena of the division and re-combination of labour was then approached. Analysis suggested that technology and the division of labour are not mere surrogates of managerial control but arenas continually contested by organisation and society participants. They are not givens with resident characteristics to be read out but occasions of choice ongoingly negotiated. Whereas the thesis began with notions of a static and cognitivist taxonomy it developed into a study of certain images of technology, with the valencies of technology deriving from its various contexts of meanings and matrices of values. The thesis concludes with the view that formalism of much contemporary organisation-theory needs to be amplified by a broadly phenomenological understanding. (shrink)

This thesis considers aspects of Piaget's and Kohlberg's theories of the moral development and education of children. It takes into consideration an old but valuable study of the development of character in children. As a possible alternative model to that provided by Kohlberg we suggest the inclusion of the Philosophy for Children programme into schools. Prior to the elaboration of this proposition we critically analyse certain philosophical concepts put forward by both Piaget and Kohlberg. Our aim here has been to (...) suggest that there are underlying philosophical weaknesses which have a hidden but important impact on the acceptability of aspects of their work. We express our concern at the acceptance of Kohlberg's work in schools and point out why this is unsatisfactory. We put forward what we take to be an acceptable position in introducing moral education into schools and we put forward an approach where this can take place within the context of a broader educational programme and which includes the Philosophy for Children programme. (shrink)

This book presents a down-to-earth explanation of topical and newsworthy law-and-justice dilemmas. Written for readers interested in public affairs and current events, as well as those grappling with ʻbig pictureʼ issues in law and government as students, professionals or concerned citizens, this book serves as an introduction, a critique, and a thought-provoking read all in one. Vividly illustrated with Australian and international examples, it tells lawʼs stories, exposes lawʼs myths, and delves into major law-and-justice questions which affect us all. Some (...) of the questions the book addresses, include: Should Australia become a republic or stay a constitutional monarchy? Is the legal system in crisis? Should Australia have a bill of rights? Is native title legally dead in the water? Can the law decide which conjoined twin should be saved when only one can live? Can someone in pain lawfully end his or her life with medical assistance? Does Australiaʼs involvement in the war against terrorism threaten democratic freedoms and international law? Should companies have social obligations legally imposed on them? (shrink)

Television has been demonized as the cause of the moral decay of our society. Its content is derided as vapid. However, what we watch on television is often philosophically complex. This book examines news, cartoons such as South Park, advertisements, and soap operas and identifies complex moral dilemmas and arguments in them. It argues that we should apply analytical and philosophical skills directly to what we watch and shows how it can be done. In the final chapter, the way in (...) which the news has been overtaken by the private lives of public figures is traced to a breakdown of the public-private divide. (shrink)

This thesis arises out of a critique of the way language is decontextualized and presented from a reductively linguistic viewpoint in foreign language instruction. In particular, it focuses on the weaknesses of the broad approach known as Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and highlights the disparity between its theoretical assumptions and practical applications. With this in mind, the thesis identifies and explores three foundational premises that should be considered as part of an attempt to design a theoretically coherent framework for foreign (...) language instruction. By applying three sets of principles based on these premises, the thesis goes on to outline such a framework. After providing a background to the study, the first consideration is the nature of cultural and communicative performance. The study turns to sociological concepts regarding cultural organization and production, in order to better conceptualize how 'culture' can be understood in the context of foreign language learning. The second part of this area focuses on meaning and communication in order to undermine current treatments of 'language' in foreign language pedagogy. The second area of interest is that of learning and thus considers a number of theories of how people learn. The focus here is on learning-in-general rather than learning languages specifically. What emerges from this are a number of principles that should be borne in mind when creating conditions favorable to language learning. Finally, one largely overlooked area in foreign language learning and applied linguistics more broadly, is how the field of foreign language pedagogy constructs and legitimizes its practices, as well as suppresses its foundational theoretical assumptions in its activities (including research, methodology and teaching). A chapter is therefore devoted to this issue, and a set of principles is formulated in order to ensure that the design of any instructional framework is honest and ethical. Thus furnished with the triangulation of principles, an attempt is made to outline how a learner-focused, ethical pedagogical framework that stresses culture might look. This thesis is theoretical in nature and relies on arguments and positions from diverse and less commonly considered academic fields in foreign language instruction. Its main theoretical inspiration comes from concepts and claims generally considered 'poststructural' or 'postmodern'. However, there is no exclusive devotion to any particular author or theory. It is hoped that this thesis can make a genuine, if not controversial, contribution to the field of foreign language teaching by initiating a dialogue concerning the (lack of) philosophical and epistemological reflexivity in the field. (shrink)

In this thesis I outline a view of primary legislation from a systems perspective. I suggest that systems theory and, in particular, autopoietic theory, as modified by field theory, is a mechanism for understanding how society operates. The description of primary legislation that I outline differs markedly from any conventional definition in that I argue that primary legislation is not, and indeed cannot be, either a law or any of the euphemisms that are usually accorded to an enactment by a (...) parliament. I cite two reasons for such a conclusion. The primary reason for my conclusion is that I see primary legislation as being an output of a particular subsystem of society, while the law is the output of another subsystem of society. I argue that these outputs are the discrete products of separate subsystems of society. I argue that primary legislation should be viewed as a trinity. The first state of this trinity is that, upon enactment, primary legislation is a brute fact in that it is but a thing and the only property of this thing is that of being a text. The second state of this trinity is that following the act of enactment, the thing enacted will be reproduced and this reproduction is a separate thing that will sit in some repository until used. The third state of this trinity is that, upon use, this thing that is primary legislation will be transformed into an object and the user will attribute such functions and attributes to that object as are appropriate to the context within which the object is used. The thing has therefore become an object and an institutional fact. The second reason for my conclusion that primary legislation is not a law relates to the fact that the thing that is primary legislation is a text and the only function of a text is that it is available to be read. That is to say, of itself, a text is incapable of doing anything: it is the reader who defines the status of the text and attributes functions and attributes. Upon use, primary legislation thus becomes a censored input for future action and one of these actions may be some statement by a court of law. I assert that the view of primary legislation that has been accepted within the body politic is the product of the discourse of a particular subsystem of society that I have designated 'the legal practice', and I outline why and how this has occurred. Outlining a view about primary legislation also necessitates outlining a view as to the nature of the law. I assert that the law is a myth and I see this myth as a product of the discourse of the legal practice. I have asserted that although it is the judges that state the law, such statements flow from the discourse of those who practise the law. (shrink)

This thesis sets out a theoretical premise for design research into the space of the designer, working inside the design system or context. The designer is understood as actor, as active agency looking inwards in a comprehensive way to examine where ideas are located and then, how these new insights or perspective might be meaningfully introduced. In order to develop this research, personal journal writing is employed as to develop an understanding about how the designer/actor can actively engage with being (...) at once participant, and observer, of their own design practice. A series of design case studies are carried out, where the role of the designer as actor is critically examined through forms of personal journal writing. What this entails is the establishment of a form of autopoetic system for writing in several voices of the self, and self-as-other working in, and through as design project case studies. I critically evaluate these journal case studies to inform my understanding about the design of dialogic visual communication, where multiple perspectives of self, and self-as-other may be interwoven into the visual design artifact. As a result of conducting this research, I propose the existence of what I term the 'conversational self' as a means for developing new knowledge and knowing through conversational story-telling as design research. My research introduces the 'conversational self' as a generalisable theory for design research which addresses the ways in which the designer might effectively engage with the workings of personal tools and patterns of practice, thus building greater objectivity through recognition of local contexts, and the role of the designer as actor and as a situated self within the design process. My research findings describe a space for the 'conversational self' as the coming together of three linked knowledge systems for creation and learning. I describe this theory as 'agency-centred' design for research about design and experiential knowledge contexts through research into the development of project case studies where individual styles and approaches to learning and thinking which are recognised and valued as implicit tools of and for design practice. Firstly, the conversational journal writing format which I develop situates the designer/ researcher as both participant and observer within their design decision-making. As a result of the uses of the journal format as a practice-based research methodology through case studies, I observe the effect of producing what I term an 'autopoetic' (Maturana and Varela) self-producing system, which enables me to introduce both rational and intuitive content that works in my journal through a range of thinking styles and journal forms. My research strategy involves the writing of several concurrent and interacting levels of internal conversation across 'I', 'You', 'Me' and 'We' as parallel and interactive experiential voices of self through uses of a journal format where a range of experiences are documented as design project narratives. The conversational contexts which this approach offers provide a means for introducing multiple perspectives from self, and selfas- other (as designer, author, subject, agent, person) to explore topics and social knowledge themes through a range of creative conversational learning contexts (Pask, Glanville). In the course of developing this approach I draw on theories about personal constructs (Kelly, Thomas and Harri-Augustein); the self as forms as agency (Archer); about experiential learning and knowledge creation through learning conversations (Baker, Jensen and Kolb) ; and social knowledge as networks, flows and exchange processes (Boisot). Secondly, as a finding from my usage of this journal format, I propose the workings of what I describe as my 'unity of self' system construct as an enabling and generative system for working with social knowledge and the 'self' as forms of agency through internal conversations. Margaret Archer's theory describes the social self as forms of causal agency active in everyday social and experiential contexts. In my case studies I trace the internal dynamics and interactions of 'voices' of self in the journal text, which I evaluate as the workings of conversational levels and layers which engage with a range of details and perspectives for each project using written and non-verbal forms. The design case study projects each describes a particular context for design practice; including institutional, corporate, experimental, and personal design projects. In using this methodology for journal writing, I show how I am able to explore the social interplays of personal/public and individual/collective frameworks for design practice contexts. Thirdly, through my evaluations of the design project case study journals, I observe the emergence of topics and themes in each project around my understanding of the role of context for defining the social and experiential 'materials' (Schon) of the situation. The topics noted from conversations in design case inform what I term my 'contextual field' as the third learning system in my findings from this research. This 'contextual field' is a kind of topical map which provides signposts for working with social and experiential contexts, to design 'ecological narratives' (Krippendorff) as forms of language which are crafted as intentional and strategic design approaches, as responses to the research process of internal reflection about the materials of the situation (Schon) Through usage with my journal format, and unity of self construct, my contextual field topical map provides a framework for developing topics and themes for internal conversations to inform my design production in both 'service' and 'hand' craft project contexts. What results are rich use case studies documented as forms of conversational story-telling where new knowledge emerges as questions and possibilities around the design of visual artifacts and service contexts. (shrink)