DEDICATION To my mother and father. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would have been impossible were it not for the generous assistance of many people. I would first like to acknowledge the hard work of my dissertation committee. I would like to thank the head of my dissertation committee, Professor Clement Fatovic, for his patient and steadfast guidance throughout this project. He has served as an example of both scholarly and pedagogical integrity. I would also like to thank Professor

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... y Gould for his pragmatic advice on academic matters. I think I have absorbed and internalized his grounded humility and anti-foundationalist approach to teaching and scholarship. I would like to thank Professor Ronald Cox for his unwavering support of not only this project but also his support of and concern for the graduate student body. His solidarity with students is an inspiration for my own work. I would also like to thank Professor Bruce Hauptli for his dedication to this project and for his detailed, insightful, and constructive feedback. I am especially grateful for his eagerness to tackle the philosophical content of the project and his enthusiastic encouragement throughout the whole process. Moreover, if it were not for the direct and constructive criticism of Professor Paul Warren this dissertation would have never taken the shape it has. His disagreements with the scope of the project helped me sharpen my aims and better understand exactly what I was up to.