The city of Palitana, India, has become the first region known to legally install de facto meat bans, essentially making Palitana a vegetarian city by law. These legal steps seem to be the direct result of social pressure put on local legislators in the form of a mass hunger strike performed by local Jain monks. This thesis is aimed at discussing the background of this case, its connections to a broader general discussion of moral and ethical vegetarianism, and arguments in favor of and against the legal installment of a meat ban in the Palitana case. It is concluded that although the meat ban is ideologically and theoretically speaking ethically justifiable and defensible it is in practice, at least in its current form, not ethically desirable.

We live in a scientific society. Science is all around us. We take scientific principles for granted every time we use technology, such as a car, a computer, or a cell phone. Paradoxically, the scientific literacy of the population is minimal at best. Having a basic knowledge of scientific principles is no longer a luxury but, in today's complex world, a necessity. To increase the scientific literacy of non-science majors, an astrobiology course was developed at the Center for Science and Mathematics Education at The University of Texas at Austin. The course subscribes to an educational philosophy that promotes the significance of teaching science to non-science majors, endorses the importance of multidisciplinary content knowledge, supports the teaching of the nature of science in an implicitly mode, advances the discussion of socio-scientific issues, and includes competent thinking-based teaching strategies using the dynamic discipline of astrobiology. The thesis reviews the problems in scientific literacy, outlines the characteristics of this innovative course, proposes a novel standard - competent thinking - to evaluate scientific literacy and analyzes the results of this course in terms of competent thinking. Data collected provided evidence of an increase of competent thinking skills among the students, especially in terms of self-reflection. Both the first and the second pilot study showed strong evidence that students transitioned from naive to competent thinking arguments. The main study demonstrated that students greatly improve their self-reflecting skills. The final study confirmed improvement in terms of self-reflecting skills, and showed that students gradually improve their arguments based on logic, reason, sophistication, and evidences. Therefore, the results show that this innovative astrobiology course is an effective tool for enhancing competent thinking skills among non-science major students. / text

Tiriamojo darbo tikslas - išanalizuoti gyvūnų teises filosofinių ir socialinių diskursų kontekste, pagrindžiant jas kaip antropocentrinės tradicijos kritikos išraišką. Tyrimo eigoje paaiškėjo, kad gyvūnų teisių teorinę koncepciją galima skirti į dvi kryptis: gyvūnų gerovė ir gyvūnų teisės. Gyvūnų gerovės kryptis reikalauja humaniškesnio elgesio su gyvūnais praktikos, tuo tarpu gyvūnų teisių ideologija reikalauja gyvūnams prigimtinių teisių: į gyvybę ir į laisvę. Praktinis šių koncepcijų įgyvendinimas globaliu mastu prasidėjo tik prieš kelis šimtmečius ir šiandiena tebėra aktualus. Vis didėjantis vegetarų, judėjimų už gyvūnų teises pasaulyje skaičius rodo efektyvią tokių tarptautinių organizacijų kaip PETA prevencinę ir švietėjišką misiją kelti žmonių sąmoningumą ir ieškoti gyvūnų išnaudojimo problemų sprendimo būdų. Deja, mūsų šalyje dar trūksta ir pilietinių iniciatyvų, ir valstybinių institucijų noro spręsti šias problemas. Todėl visuomenė vis dar skeptiškai vertina norą gyvūnams suteikti kokias nors teises, nes įsisenėjusi antropocentrinė pasaulio tvarka kai homo sapiens traktuodamas save kaip didžiausią vertybę ir iškeldamas virš visų kitų būtybių pavertė jas savo interesų tenkinimo šaltiniu. Todėl pagarba ne-žmogaus gyvybei, t.y. pripažinus gyvūno pagrindines prigimtines teises yra suspenduojamas žmogaus veiklos laukas ir gyvūnų eksploatacija trukusi ištisus amžius pripažįstama kaip neteisinga ir nemorali. / The purpose of this work is to analyze the rights of animals in the context of philosophical and sociological discussions and discourses, justifying these rights as an aspect of traditional anthropocentric critique. Research divides the theoretical concept of the rights of animals into two aspects: the “welfare of animals” and the “rights of animals”. The “welfare of animals” requires humane treatment of animals while the “rights of animals” are endowed at birth – to live and to be free. The practice of these two aspects globally started just a few centuries ago and is still relevant today. An increase in the number of vegetarians and the number of animal rights groups show the effectiveness of organizations such as PETA in their mission to educate, prevent animal cruelty, increase awareness, and to search for solutions against animal exploitation. Unfortunately, in our country there is still of shortage of initiative from citizens and willingness from government institutions to resolve animal exploitation issues. Society for the most part is still both skeptical and uncaring if animals have rights because of an ingrained anthropocentric hierarchical view where Homo sapiens esteem themselves with the highest value and raise themselves above other creatures rendering them merely as a resource to fulfill their needs. The honoring of all species with equal value would result in acknowledging animal rights endowed at birth. This in turn must call for a cessation of animal... [to full text]

While human-animal relations have always been part of human cultures the public zoo is a relatively recent phenomenon that reflects very specific elements of Western cultures’ modern ideas about, and relationships with, nonhuman animals. By becoming such a familiar part of popular culture the zoo naturalises these ideas as well as certain modes of looking at and interacting with animals. In this thesis I argue that as literary works contemporary novels provide a valuable defamiliarisation of zoos which encourages the re-examination of the human attitudes and practices that inform our treatment of nonhuman animals. Through my analysis of J.M. Ledgard’s novel 'Giraffe', Diane Hammond’s 'Hannah’s Dream', Lydia Millet’s 'How The Dead Dream', Valerie Martin’s 'The Great Divorce' and Ben Dolnick’s 'Zoology' I explore the inherently anthropocentric social construction of nonhuman animals in human discourses and the way the novels conform to or subvert these processes. I demonstrate that nonhuman animal characters are constructed through a process of identification which involves naming, recognising the existence of their emotions and mediating their nonhuman forms of communication. Anthropocentric tendencies both aid and hinder this identification, for example the human valuing of sight over the other senses that sees eyes become important literary symbols and the gaze a crucial part of interaction and attributing meaning. Gaze and observation are also fundamental to the concept of the zoo where human treatment of nonhuman animals is represented in visual terms in the relationship between powerful spectator and disempowered object. Drawing on texts from multiple disciplines I argue that the anthropocentric nature of socially constructed nonhuman animals in human discourses means that any study of these animals is actually concerned with the human ideologies and processes that create them; as a site of captivity that markets wildness and freedom the paradoxical nature of the zoo provides the literary setting for an exploration of these themes.

The thesis sets out to consider the role of the Christian Church in the context of the emergent ecological crisis. The essential context for such a study is twofold. First, within the Australian Church there is clearly a dominant emphasis on an anthropocentric mission strategy, and consequently it will be argued that such a position is inadequate. Second, it will be argued that it can almost be taken as a “given” that the ecological or environmental crisis facing life on planet Earth is immediate and critical, and covers a range of well-documented categories – global warming, extreme weather events, degradation of the soil, and other factors. The loss of bio-diversity is gathering pace, while the threat to iconic features such as the Great Barrier Reef is very real. Even just from a pragmatic or humanitarian point of view, it seems important for the Christian Church to be part of a global response. From that background the thesis proceeds in three essential stages. The first issue is the identification of a sound ecological theology, or ecotheology. From the background of a large and increasing volume of literature, a range of both human-centred and eco-friendly theological positions is considered, concluding with an argument in favour of theistic biocentrism, but acknowledging that a responsible Christian environmental response may emerge from other theological positions. Thus, the thesis proposes that in addition to the scientific evidence, there is a compelling theological argument for Christian action in caring for the environment as God’s creation, and this represents a clear rationale for eco-mission. In the second part, the issue that is considered is the range of existing theologies of mission. This literature has tended to be strongly anthropocentric and very weak in the ecological area; however, there is an increasing volume of literature demonstrating a shift in emphasis towards an enhanced awareness of an ecological dimension, and in identifying that trend the thesis seeks to develop an eco-mission theology. However, there is still a perception in many congregations and denominations that ecology is not really part of the Church’s agenda. While practical action guidance models are not common, this thesis aims to challenge such a perception, and to change the culture of apathy and non-involvement in building on a foundation of ecotheology and a theology of eco-mission. Third, the thesis then explores the range and extent of Christian eco-mission, beginning with a study of how that is practised in England, and continuing with a comparative study of emerging eco-mission activity in Australia. Thus, it addresses the fundamental question as to why Christian denominations (and, by implication, local congregations) are not more actively involved in ecological mission, and explore possibilities for that position to be changed. The thesis is set within a practical theology paradigm, and employs a qualitative methodology. This involves a series of interviews supplemented by written comments and personal observations, from which dominant themes will be drawn and analysed. Thus the thesis is designed to help the Christian community to understand the seriousness of the situation as well as the biblical and theological rationale for appropriate action in “the greening of mission” and the establishment of an Australian eco-church model. In grasping the ecological aspects of its divine charter in caring for God’s creation, the Church may operate with greater confidence alongside other concerned people and groups in the community.

The thesis sets out to consider the role of the Christian Church in the context of the emergent ecological crisis. The essential context for such a study is twofold. First, within the Australian Church there is clearly a dominant emphasis on an anthropocentric mission strategy, and consequently it will be argued that such a position is inadequate. Second, it will be argued that it can almost be taken as a “given” that the ecological or environmental crisis facing life on planet Earth is immediate and critical, and covers a range of well-documented categories – global warming, extreme weather events, degradation of the soil, and other factors. The loss of bio-diversity is gathering pace, while the threat to iconic features such as the Great Barrier Reef is very real. Even just from a pragmatic or humanitarian point of view, it seems important for the Christian Church to be part of a global response. From that background the thesis proceeds in three essential stages. The first issue is the identification of a sound ecological theology, or ecotheology. From the background of a large and increasing volume of literature, a range of both human-centred and eco-friendly theological positions is considered, concluding with an argument in favour of theistic biocentrism, but acknowledging that a responsible Christian environmental response may emerge from other theological positions. Thus, the thesis proposes that in addition to the scientific evidence, there is a compelling theological argument for Christian action in caring for the environment as God’s creation, and this represents a clear rationale for eco-mission. In the second part, the issue that is considered is the range of existing theologies of mission. This literature has tended to be strongly anthropocentric and very weak in the ecological area; however, there is an increasing volume of literature demonstrating a shift in emphasis towards an enhanced awareness of an ecological dimension, and in identifying that trend the thesis seeks to develop an eco-mission theology. However, there is still a perception in many congregations and denominations that ecology is not really part of the Church’s agenda. While practical action guidance models are not common, this thesis aims to challenge such a perception, and to change the culture of apathy and non-involvement in building on a foundation of ecotheology and a theology of eco-mission. Third, the thesis then explores the range and extent of Christian eco-mission, beginning with a study of how that is practised in England, and continuing with a comparative study of emerging eco-mission activity in Australia. Thus, it addresses the fundamental question as to why Christian denominations (and, by implication, local congregations) are not more actively involved in ecological mission, and explore possibilities for that position to be changed. The thesis is set within a practical theology paradigm, and employs a qualitative methodology. This involves a series of interviews supplemented by written comments and personal observations, from which dominant themes will be drawn and analysed. Thus the thesis is designed to help the Christian community to understand the seriousness of the situation as well as the biblical and theological rationale for appropriate action in “the greening of mission” and the establishment of an Australian eco-church model. In grasping the ecological aspects of its divine charter in caring for God’s creation, the Church may operate with greater confidence alongside other concerned people and groups in the community.

The intention of this study is to investigate the human/animal-relation as a power relation in Sara Lidman’s novel The Tar Pit (Tjärdalen, 1953). With regard to the contemporary theory of posthumanism and its critique of the centrality of “the human” in the humanities, the aim is to seek and produce more-than-anthropocentric knowledge. Using queer and feministic theoretical concepts concerning dichotomy and hierarchy voiced by Yvonne Hirdman, Val Plumwood, Greta Gaard and Ann-Sofie Lönngren, this study gets to grips with anthropocentrism as a structure of power. In literary scholarship animals are often expected to serve as metaphors, and thus, the possibility of animals signifying “actual” animals tend to be overlooked. This study’s objective is therefore, using a text interpretation modelled by Eve Kosofsky Sedgewick and a method proposed by Ann-Sofie Lönngren, to focus on the surface of the text. In the analysis of The Tar Pit it appears that animals is attributed “low status” in relation to the human and that the humans ascribe animals with instrumental value. The power relation between humans and animals in the novel is based on the split between “the human” and “the animal”, and also the notion that humans constitute the norm and are hierarchically superior. Furthermore the analysis show that transgressive activity between categories “human” and “animal” is illustrated as something wrong and the concept of “the animal” and “animality” is displayed as an imperative function in telling the story of The Tar Pit. Finally the analysis depicts examples of animal acts of resistance against the prevalent order of things.

Magister Theologiae - MTh / Contemporary ecological concerns are addressed in a wide range of disciplines, including Christian theology. This task is addressed especially in Christian ecotheology which may be approached from within all the traditional theological sub-disciplines. This research project will contribute to discourse in Christian systematic theology where various aspects of the Christian faith are revisited in the light of ecological concerns. One such aspect is the Christian doctrine of sin (hamartology) with specific reference to an understanding of the nature of sin. In ecotheology sin is re-described in various innovative ways, for example in terms of anthropocentrism, domination in the name of differences of species, consumerist greed and the alienation of humans from the earth community. This project will investigate, more specifically, the contribution made by Dietrich Bonhoeffer to a Christian understanding of the nature of sin. The question that will be addressed here is how Bonhoeffer‟s positionmay be assessed in the light of contemporary Christian discourse on hamartology and ecology.

This thesis focuses on explaining why group encounters with rural landscapes in Scotland are deemed to be positive for mental wellbeing. The relationship between greenspace and human wellbeing is a phenomenon that researchers across multiple disciplines are grappling with, though little research engages qualitatively. This thesis clarifies, ethnographically, why some people make excursions into rural spaces and why these excursions are believed to be positively transformational and associated with mental wellbeing. It outlines motivations for engaging in excursions from urban central Scotland to areas in rural Scotland. My research explores the intangible, ineffable and ephemeral experience of case study groups in ‘natural’ rural landscapes and what is relevant in the relations between the self and non-human in these circumstances. This thesis describes how and why group interactions within ‘natural’ space is adopted as a positive self-transformation strategy. It considers the ‘nature experience’ as relational between the self, the social and place - with what constitutes the social as ambiguous within case study interaction. This project was multi-sited: I travelled with my case study groups to rural spaces around the lowlands, highlands, and islands of Scotland. Case studies were multiple and diverse: A community living initiative, a youth development project, a mental health initiative, a forestry management project, and a loose community of artistic, neo-shamanic and psychotherapeutic practitioners. To remain responsive to my research communities and their activities I have developed a framework for a serendipitous ethnography which is outlined within the thesis. This project adopted a transdisciplinary research strategy, engaging with a theoretical framework spanning psychotherapy, psychology and eco-psychology, sociology, philosophy, human geography, anthropology and outdoor education as well as landscape and performance studies. This transdisciplinary thesis contributes to understandings of human and nature connectedness providing an account of cognitive, social and cultural experience. Primarily, this research was concerned with the self, the perception of the ideal and ought self in relation to motivations to journey in this manner and the self as part of a group and within the landscape as a dynamic and relational subject. I have considered the sense of self within these experiences as a metaphorical liminal site. I have discussed the group collectively as a site of dynamism and thus liminality. I then argue that this allows for the way that the landscape is perceived to be a site of liminality. With this we see the importance of temporality and structure, or indeed anti-structure, within these excursions as something which aids in the perspective that they are transformative. I have considered notions of perceived affordance and how this changes throughout experience with the increasing ability to associate ideas and abstract experience within one’s personal narrative. I explain how each group differs in how they perceive the rural landscape as something to instrumentalise, personify or anthropomorphise. With this comes an exploration of complex anthropocentric mindsets and the influence of these ways of thinking on experience. I suggest that individuals choose to journey to ‘natural’ rural environments to self-verify an aspect of their ought or ideal self with a desire to re-imagine the self through engagement with others. In self-verifying one’s ideal or ought sense of self, finding a sense of belonging within a group and believing oneself to be doing something good in relation to the ‘natural’ rural space, individuals and groups experience a sense of personal and social transformation.

Le décryptage du génome humain autorise désormais une manipulation du vivant humain. Mu par un souci de perfection, l'homme exploite aujourd'hui ce qui participe à son essence même, son génome. La diversité intraspécifique humaine s'en trouve perturbée, la vulnérabilité génétique de notre espèce augmentée. Or, si notre humanité, élément fondamental de notre singularité, se construit à partir de notre code génétique, elle peut aussi être défaite par l'application systématique à l'homme des biotechnologies. Sont concernées non seulement la survie de l'humanité comme communauté humaine, mais aussi, en chacun d'entre nous, la persistance de l'humanité de l'homme. L'espèce humaine, centre névralgique de notre humanité, doit dès lors être préservée. Elle est en effet cette unité vivante de nature rationnelle qui, dotée de son propre dessein d'où résultent les vies particulières, unit les générations dans l'espace et le temps et sous-tend l'homme. Le droit se trouve donc investi d'un rôle pour lequel il n'était sans doute pas préparé : préserver la nature humaine elle-même. L'analyse du droit positif relatif à l'utilisation du génome humain nous révèle combien la protection de l'espèce humaine est insuffisante. Cette carence du législateur nous contraint à penser d'autres voies, plus efficaces, pour préserver notre humanité contre les risques générés par une manipulation irréfléchie de notre génome. Pour ce faire, l'espèce humaine, pont intergénérationnel véhiculant l'essence de l'homme, doit être appréhendée, non comme objet de droit, mais comme sujet de droit. Il faut en outre repenser le concept de responsabilité à l'aune de celui d'altérité. / Decoding the human genome now authorizes a manipulation of human life. Driven by a desire for perfection, the human being now operates what is involved in his very essence, the human genome.As such, diversity within human species gets disturbed and genetic vulnerability increased. Therefore, if our humanity, the essential element of our singularity, is shaped according to our genetic code, it can also be broken by the systematic application of biotechnology to humans. These might include not only the survival of mankind as a human community, but also, in each of us, the persistence of human element.The human species, the key point of our mankind, should therefore be preserved. It represents a sensible living unity with its own design which gives birth to multiple lives of individuals, unites generations in space and time and subtend the human being. Law is thus facing a new challenge: to preserve the human nature itself. The analysis of positive law on the use of the human genome reveals that the protection of the human species is very insufficient. This failure of the law makes it necessary for us to think of other ways, more efficient, to preserve our mankind against the risks caused by reckless handling of our genome. To do this, the human species, inter-generational bridge carrying the essence of man, must be understood not as an object of law, but as a subject of law. We should also rethink the concept of responsibility with respect to the otherness.