Papers by Robyne K Conway
In the course of this thesis, I will argue that for more than two thousand years the practice of ... more In the course of this thesis, I will argue that for more than two thousand years the practice of virtue enabled the flourishing of communities and societies. Undoubtedly, virtue was the transformational process that enabled individuals to achieve certain highly desirable ends — such as happiness, pleasure or eternal life. As well as caring for the self, virtue cultivated the care of others — stimulating responsibility for family, friends and community and promoting their well-being. However, virtue also transformed individuals into the sorts of people - heroes, politicians, monks and so on - that societies and communities needed to survive or flourish in the face of the social, cultural and political circumstances of the time — and when communities flourished, so did individuals. This inextricable interrelationship existed from the earliest times of Western civilization until some point between the beginning of the Renaissance and the end of the Eighteenth Century. Over these first four centuries or so of modernity, virtue gradually ceased to be the only way of successfully living in a social group and became merely one option, among many, from which individuals could choose. I will argue that the changes we can observe in virtue and virtues over the history were not due to fashion, arbitrary choices or moral errors. Virtues defined what was valuable about a particular society — what communities valued in their people; what people valued in their community; what people valued in themselves and in others. Virtues often correlated to the leadership skills that were pertinent to cultural, social and political circumstances. Traditional virtues were never sacrosanct; they could be reinterpreted, mis-remembered or simply left in abeyance until they were necessary again. The priority — or place in the hierarchy — of particular virtues could shift depending on, for example, whether courage, wisdom or love was most likely to lead to communal success. This thesis raises a number of questions about the focus of contemporary virtue theory on the character, choices and motivations of the individual moral agent, and about the persistence of the notion that virtue should be universal for all times and places. It concludes by examining a number of problems, misconceptions and mistakes that are perpetuated by a lack of attention to the relationship between virtue and societal or communal flourishing. After all, as social animals, we are relational and as such, we continue, to create and sustain communities. By expanding our focus on patterns found in individual character, reasoning and emotions, to include patterns found in societal or communal flourishing, a new understanding of twenty-first century virtue may develop.
A PDF of this MA thesis can be requested from the Library catalogue on the University of Tasmania website (www.utas.edu.au)
During the first five decades of the Tudor period, a perhaps surprising number of English people ... more During the first five decades of the Tudor period, a perhaps surprising number of English people were French speakers, were owners of French books or seem highly likely – due to their activities – to have acquired French language skills. English children and young people were sent to French-speaking courts and households on the Continent, French tutors were employed in England and four ground-breaking French grammars, emulating humanist educational objectives, values and techniques, were published. This thesis examines trends and developments in the teaching and learning of French that repositioned it from a casually received second vernacular, with roots in the Norman Conquest, to a subject studied deliberately and seriously in ways similar to Latin. It also considers questions about the motives for this study of French and the methods and innovations of the grammar writers.
There was nothing simple, straightforward or consistent about England's receptiveness to influenc... more There was nothing simple, straightforward or consistent about England's receptiveness to influence from Europe during the Yorkist and early Tudor periods. 1 English anxiety was regularly reported by continental visitors:
Between the years 1450 and 1750, approximately 72,500 women were formally accused and 45,000 were... more Between the years 1450 and 1750, approximately 72,500 women were formally accused and 45,000 were executed for witchcraft in Britain and Europe. 1 The question of why so many women were accused of witchcraft is bound up with two other questions: why were so many people thought to be witches 2 and why were so many of them old, widowed, poor women. Historians have identified many possible reasons why women were targeted as witches, including: demonology and patriarchal misogyny; social issues of sexuality, conflict, motherhood and charity refused; envy and guilt; economic motivations; and prevailing belief systems. Clearly women accused as witches were often old and poor, had some traditional healing skills and were sometimes bad-tempered but the same could be said of many women who were not accused. Nevertheless significant numbers of accused were married, had businesses or farms, were youngor at least not old per sewere no poorer than their accusers and, of course, one in four of them were men.
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Papers by Robyne K Conway
A PDF of this MA thesis can be requested from the Library catalogue on the University of Tasmania website (www.utas.edu.au)
A PDF of this MA thesis can be requested from the Library catalogue on the University of Tasmania website (www.utas.edu.au)