Thesis advisor: Marina McCoy / Since antiquity, scholars have observed a structural tension within Plato’s Phaedrus. Thedialogue demands order in every linguistic composition, yet it presents itself as a disordered composition. Accordingly, one of the key problems of the Phaedrus is determining which—if any—aspect of the dialogue can supply a unifying thread for the dialogue’s major themes (love, rhetoric, writing, myth, philosophy, etc.). My dissertation argues that “soul-leading” (psuchagōgia)—a rare and ambiguous term used to define the innate power of words—resolves the dialogue’s structural tension. I clarify the conceptual and dramatic features of soul-leading by focusing on the dialogue’s uniquely prevalent use of the semantic network of “leading” and “following.” By continuing to foreground the language and drama of leading and following, I offer a new interpretation of the dialogue as a whole: the Phaedrus is Plato’s articulation of how the soul can be led into communion with reality. Chapter 1 discusses scholarly disputes about the unity of the Phaedrus and proposes that soulleading adequately satisfies the criteria put forward for what would count as a unifying element. I argue that soul-leading unifies the dialogue both thematically and non-thematically; moreover, soul-leading is a theme capacious enough to account for the other principal contenders for unity put forward. Chapter 2 develops the ambiguous character of soul-leading by examining how the dialogue showcases dangerous forms thereof. Love and language are dangerous when they lead the soul toward goods which can never truly fulfill it. In order to clarify how love and language can mislead the soul, Socrates develops a set of accounts of how the soul is led, both internally and externally, in the three speeches on love. If the soul is to be led into communion with reality (the proper end of soul-leading), it must be led internally by the right part of the soul and externally by the right object of desire. Chapter 3 argues that all souls can, in principle, be harmonized and directed in the way that Chapter 2 requires. I show that Plato’s view of philosophy is neither elitist (i.e., some are intrinsically incapable of philosophy) nor naively essentialist. All can come into communion with reality because all are by nature equipped to do so. While Plato recognizes that there are forces which tend to prohibit one from exercising one’s capability of being rightly led, none of them are intrinsic to human nature. Chapter 4 argues that successful soul-leading require neither the leader nor the follower to be already well-disposed to what’s ultimate in order for the pair to come to a communion with what’s ultimate. Plato’s depiction of soul-leading love shows that love can itself promote the formation needed for both leader and follower to come into contact with reality. Love can do so because it is always already bound up reality in its responsiveness to beauty. Beauty itself calls the lover to itself by shining through the beautiful beloved, who acts as a reminder of transcendent Beauty. The lover mediates this same experience for the beloved. Each comes to desire the other as well as Beauty itself. Chapter 5 argues that the drama of the lovers’ formation mythically depicted in the Palinode (Chapter 4) is written into the drama of the dialogue as a whole. In the relationship between Socrates and Phaedrus, we see an enactment of love’s formative role. Likewise, in the relationship between Phaedrus and Lysias, we see an enactment of the dangerous soul-leading discussed in Chapter 2. My focus on leading and following also allows me to show the thematic significance of the drama’s setting. Chapter 6 articulates the metaphysical conditions under which one can be led into communion with reality. Transcendent Beauty invites us into communion with itself and makes possible our ascent by providing us with divine guides and images which can transport us from our ordinary experiences to the true beings. Beauty accomplishes its work—leading us in a “divine dance” where we follow the gods up to Beauty and back down to each other—through images. When we handle images of reality rightly, they lead our souls into communion with reality. Further, when we have come into communion, we’ll be inspired to be co-workers of Beauty’s soul-leading work. When we articulate reality in language, we create new images that can serve to lead others toward reality. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.

A collection of poetry.

This dissertation examines aspects of both the consumer (the "give") and the server (the "take") sides of restaurant tipping. On the consumer side, I address both why, and how much, people tip in restaurants. I also examine a policy issue related to the recent Supreme Court decision in United States v. Fior d'Italia. These issues are addressed via a combination of theoretical, empirical, and experimental analysis. On the server side, I use survey data collected from several restaurants to address the issue of labor market discrimination based on beauty. Specifically, do more attractive servers earn higher tips than less attractive servers? I argue that a tipping data set offers several advantages over data sets used in previous studies of the beauty wage gap. This dissertation was funded by a National Science Foundation Dissertation Enhancement Grant (NSF #427347). / Ph. D.

Punk rock is about music, rebellion, anarchy, and style. How can this be translated into architecture? Can a building possess these qualities? What would a "rebellious" building look like? How will it change our conceptions of "beauty?" / Master of Architecture

Fairy tales as a form of social acculturation can subvert and/or perpetuate potentially harmful social norms. In this essay, Chris Anne Wolfe’s lesbian romance novel Bitter Thorns (1994) and the film Shrek (2001) are analysed as adaptations of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, with a focus on the extent to which they challenge and/or reinforce three fairy tale norms: women as tradeable objects, heteronormativity and idealised beauty. Both these texts can be seen as subversive, Bitter Thorns in how it challenges heteronormativity and Shrek in how it challenges the norm of idealised beauty. This subversion, however, is limited, as both texts do more to perpetuate fairy tale norms than to challenge them. They both reinforce the idea of women as objects for trade, Bitter Thorns perpetuates the norm of idealised beauty, and Shrek advocates heteronormative relationships and the dominance of heterosexual masculinity.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Technology: Somatology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / Background Internationally medical professionals have become increasingly aware of services that somatologists offer as adjunctive interventions. These include pre-surgery preparative and post-surgery maintenance treatments to enhance client recovery time and experience. This practice has led to the increasing utilisation of aestheticians/somatologists in medical practices internationally. In turn, the demand for aesthetic procedures has sparked great interest amongst medical professionals, more specifically dermatologists. Conversely, within the South African context, specifically KwaZulu-Natal, Vosloo (2009) revealed a poor response regarding the referral practices between medical professionals practicing non-invasive aesthetic and anti-ageing medicine, and somatologists. Thus a paucity of literature limits our understanding of the role and placement of somatology services, as well as the referral practices and their impact on the client within the medical practice. Aim: To determine whether a professional relationship currently exists between somatologists and medical professionals within the eThekwini area, in order to support the development of effective inter-professional relationships which promote higher procedure success rates and reduced client recovery time. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in eThekwini. A total of 579 questionnaires were issued. The final sample size consisted of 172 somatologists and 21 medical professionals. The response rates were 31% and 81% respectively. A self-selection sampling technique was used. Structured questionnaires were hand-delivered to the participants’ work setting. Data was analysed using SPSS version 21.0. Descriptive statistics were used to describe quantitative data. Correlation and regression analysis were used to determine the relationship between actual dimensions of two variables at a time. Results: Currently 91% of medical professionals refer aesthetic treatments to somatologists through word-of-mouth. High levels of awareness were revealed amongst medical professionals with regards to the somatology treatments/services beneficial in a medical practice. All medical professionals felt that further information regarding the somatology curriculum was necessary. Somatologists preferred to establish a referral relationship with dermatologists. A lower referral relationship (55%) was revealed by this group. Conclusion: Currently, a collaborative relationship between dermatologists and somatologists exists within the eThekwini area. Regulation of the somatology profession is crucial in order to promote this growing relationship.

La pensée de Confucius se centre sur le Ren. Pour beaucoup de sinologues, le Lun-yu n'est rien d'autre qu'un traité d'éthique et de morale. D'autres, y voient le développement d'une vision esthétique du monde. Mais de ces deux concepts, y en a-t-il un qui soit plus fondamental que l'autre dans l'élaboration et la structure de la pensée confucéenne? Ma recherche commencera par une étude approfondie de certains textes originaux du Lun-Yu où apparaît plus clairement la sensibilité esthétique de Confucius, et sur lesquels je me propose de m'appuyer pour montrer comment l'esthétique peut s'offrir comme une clef de compréhension de toute l'oeuvre de Confucius et de toute sa pensée. Nous espérons que le fruit de ce travail permettra de faire progresser la compréhension mutuelle Est-Ouest en même temps que la fécondité du dialogue interculturel. / The thought of Confucius centers on Ren. For many sinologists, Lun-yu is not but a treaty of ethics and morality. For others, they see the development of an aesthetic vision of the world. But, the key to understand Confucius' thought is in the Sense of Moral or in the Sense of Beauty? My research will begin with a study of certain original texts of the Lun-Yu where appear more apparently the aesthetic sensibility of Confucius, and on which I propose that the Sense of Beauty can present itself as a key of understanding of all work of Confucius and all its thought. I hope that the fruit of this study will allow to make develop mutual understanding East-West at the same time as the fecundity of intercultural dialogue

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences. / Department of Communication

Current research on viewing time measures of sexual attraction fail to explore potential confounding variables of viewing time. One viewing time measure, the LOOK, has been shown to be reliable over time and generally correlated with self-reported sexual orientation but has been unable to differentiate between a non-offending group and an offending group of individuals. This study utilizes the LOOK to examine the relationship between viewing time and a potential confounding variable of viewing time, beauty, using two constructs of beauty (facial beauty and full-body beauty). Facial beauty scores were created by measuring the degree of adherence to four universal standards of beauty shown to correlate with subjective estimates of attractiveness (Schmid, Marx, & Samal, 2006). Given the subjective nature of beauty when viewing the whole body, participants of the study rated the beauty of each LOOK image in its entirety. No significant correlation was found between facial beauty scores and beauty ratings, suggesting these are unrelated constructs. Significant correlations were found between facial beauty scores and male viewing time, and between male beauty ratings and male viewing time. These correlations suggest that further research exploring the extent to which estimates of beauty confound measures of viewing time may increase their discriminative ability and could aid in the development of a norm-referenced procedures for screening and diagnosis.

Titel: Leder attraktivitet till produktivitet? En studie av fastighetsmäklares attraktivitet och dess påverkan. Nivå: C-uppsats i ämnet företagsekonomi, inriktning marknadsföring. Författare: Kalle Gudmundsson och Olivia Lundbäck. Handledare: Jonas Kågström. Datum: 2019, maj. Syfte: Tidigare forskning indikerar att attraktiva personer är produktivare än oattraktiva personer. Syftet med denna studie är således att analysera om ”beauty premium” återfinns i säljande yrken och hur den påverkar produktivitet. Vi undersöker huruvida det existerar samband mellan produktivitet och attraktion hos svenska fastighetsmäklare. Vi tar också reda på om “beauty premium” effekterna skiljer sig åt mellan män och kvinnor samt hur en attraktiv och produktiv fastighetsmäklare ut. Metod: Studiens tillvägagångssätt är deduktivt eftersom litteratur och vetenskapliga artiklar använts och analyserats. Studien har ett syfte och frågeställningar som besvaras med en kvantitativ undersökning genom en enkätundersökning. Vidare analyseras resultatet med hjälp av SPSS och även korrelationsanalys, resultatet diskuteras och presenteras sedan dels genom tabeller skapade med SPSS. Resultat & slutsats: Vår studie resulterade inte i ett samband mellan hög attraktivitet och produktivitet. Vi har istället funnit att attraktivitetsbetyg nära snittet kan bidra till högre produktivitet, främst när det kommer till kvinnor. ”Beauty premium” effekterna skiljer sig åt när det kommer till män och kvinnor eftersom mycket attraktiva kvinnor istället påverkas av ”beauty penalty”. Det vi fann gemensamt mellan kvinnor och män är att attraktivitetsbetyg nära snittet har ökad produktivitet och vår slutsats pekar på att detta beror på ”beauty penalty” effekterna. Vi kom även fram till att attraktiva fastighetsmäklare har symmetri i hudstruktur samt ett generiskt utseende medan utseendet på en produktiv fastighetsmäklare är mycket varierat och vi såg inget tydligt samband förutom att de låg nära snittbetyget i attraktivitet. Uppsatsens bidrag: Denna studie är först med att undersöka attraktion kopplat till produktivitet när det kommer till fastighetsmäklare eller säljande yrken. Studiens bidrag är att ge en klarare bild och således kunskap om hur begreppen attraktion och produktivitet påverkar varandra och vilka andra variabler som spelar roll. Förslag till vidare forskning: Genom vår forskning har vi förstått att attraktion kan påverka produktivitet på många olika sätt. För att säkerhetsställa de resultat vi fått fram utifrån vår studie skulle det vara relevant att göra en liknande studie inom andra säljande yrken än fastighetsmäklare. För att skapa mer förståelse kring dessa begrepps samband, skulle en liknande studie kunna utföras inom andra branscher. Även forskning som utgår mer ifrån kön eftersom vårt resultat indikerar på att attraktion påverkar olika hos män och kvinnor. Till sist en studie som kan utföras på samma sätt som denna studie, men med mer fokus på ålder och dess påverkan.