Abstract

The three paragraphs that compose this abstract respectively describe the subject of my dissertation, how the account that holds it together takes us closer to reality , and my method. ;My dissertation deals with things that are fundamental to our view of the world because of their bearing, directly or indirectly, on how we think about it and how it could be for us, things like time, space, thought itself and meaning. It also deals with things in nature or in art that--in how they are, how they may be regarded , and what is involved in their making or creation--best illustrate how our basic concepts may be broadened. These basic concepts are of things like time, space, thought and meaning. ;There are three ways in which my account takes us closer to reality: first, it helps generate the broadest possible basic concepts that form the framework through which we regard the world, thus allowing more of the world to come through than would a framework replete with narrow concepts; second, my account regards works of nature and art themselves with the intention of doing them the greatest possible justice; and third, my account tries, in how it is organized, to achieve the following cumulative effect: not only does it allow more of the world to come through, but a deeper level of its meaning as well, such that the final illustrations become not only works of art regarded for their own sake while doing them justice, nor yet works used to show how much broader some of our basic concepts are than we often seem to assume, but works in which the deeper level of meaning of the world--the distillation and portrayal of which is my ultimate aim--is exemplified and embodied. Such works of art are particulars and yet, in what they embody, attain universality