<p>I argue in my dissertation that the Marxist ethical claim against capitalism could be bolstered through: 1) a recognition of the inaccurate human ontology that capitalist theories of entitlement presuppose, 2) a reconceptualization and replacement of that old paradigm of human ontology with a concept that I call “organicism” and 3) a normative argument for why this new paradigm of human ontology necessitates a new political economy and a new way of structuring society. I use the debate between Robert Nozick and G.A. Cohen as a launching point for my case.</p> <p><br></p> <p>In his book, <i>Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality</i>, G.A. Cohen argues that Robert Nozick’s “entitlement theory” is unable to produce the robust sense of freedom that libertarians and capitalist proponents aggrandize. According to Cohen, the reason for this is due to the limitations and consistency errors produced by the libertarian adherence to the “self-ownership principle.” (the moral/natural right that a person is the sole proprietor of their own body and life). Namely, that the pale freedom that the proletariat enjoys within capitalism is inconsistent with the Libertarian’s own standard for freedom. So, Cohen argues for the elimination of the self-ownership principle. My project picks up where Cohen’s leaves off, claiming that the consistency errors don’t lie in entitlement theory’s use of the self-ownership principle (it is important that we don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater). Rather, the errors lie in the principle’s metaphysics - specifically in the ontology of the human being. The self-ownership principle is only faulty because it presupposes an impossible self. I show that entitlement theory heedlessly presupposes the self (or a human ontology) as a “rational, autonomous, individual.” I then deconstruct each of these three features (rationality, autonomy, and individuality) to show that this picture of the human being is not necessarily incorrect, but it is incomplete.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Although we are indeed rational, autonomous, individual creatures, these are only emergent characteristics that merely arise after the organic and socially interconnected aspects of our selves are nurtured. I encompass these latter features of our selves under the heading: “organicism”. So, my contribution is to provide a different ontological foundation of the human being – “organicism” – to replace the Enlightenment grown: “rational, autonomous, individual”. I draw heavily from Karl Marx’s philosophical anthropology, and G.W.F. Hegel’s theory of the unfolding of Geist/Spirit, with a little inspiration from Aristotle and ecological theory to construct “organicism” – a pancorporealist, naturalistic materialism. It is the theory that the human being is, in essence, an organic creature, inseparable from nature, but <i>through </i>the nurturing of these material, organic, symbiotic relationships (with other humans and with the ecosystem) that these “super”-natural capacities of rationality and autonomy arise along with and because of a <i>full</i> self-consciousness.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Finally, I infer the normative implications of this ontology of subjectivity. This organicist conception of the self has transformational effects on our notions of property and the way we structure society. So, I contend that organicist ontology then serves as the foundation for a normative theory of political economy that sees the flourishing or health (broadly speaking) of the organicist human as the primary ethical goal. I speculate on an alternative political economy that can provide the robust sense of freedom that Nozick’s entitlement theory (capitalism) was lacking because it actually produces the <i>conditions</i> necessary for rationality, autonomy and individual freedom.</p>

Waking up in a world where everyone carries a miniature supercomputer, interaction designers find themselves in their forerunners dreams. Faced with the reality of planetary-scale we have to confront the task of articulating approaches responsive this accidental ubiquity of computation. This thesis attempts such a formulation by defining computation as a strange material, a plasticity shaped equally by its technical properties and the mode of production by which is its continuously re-produced. The definition is applied through a methodology of excursions — participatory explorations into two seemingly disparate sites of computation, connected in they ways they manifest a labor of care. First, we visit the social infrastructures that constitute the Linux kernel, examining strangle entanglements of programming and care in the world's largest design process. This is followed by a tour into the thorny lands of artificial intelligence, situated in the smart replies of LinkedIn. Here, we investigate the fluctuating border between the artificial and the human with participants performing AI, formulating new Turing tests in the process. These excursions afford an understanding of computation as fundamentally re-produced through interaction, a strange kind of affective work the understanding of which is crucial if we ambition to disarm the critical accidents of our present future.

Erika Cudworth's Developing Ecofeminist Theory provides a helpful foundation for a non-essentialist, properly intersectional ecofeminist account of oppression, marginalization, and domination, but her rejection of what she refers to as "postmodernism" appears to be based on a misreading of Judith Butler. I attempt to provide a synthesis of Cudworth's framework with Butler, particularly through the use of Karen Barad's agential realism, in order to provide possibility for new alliances between ecofeminism and other anti-oppressive frameworks. I then examine what it might look like to do ecofeminist praxis, given the complex view of agency, ontology, and intersectionality rendered by such a synthesis. I draw from bicycling as an example from which to extrapolate what it means to resist oppression, and then draw from the Philosophy for Children movement to consider what such resistance might look like within the classroom. This dissertation thus attempts to move from theory to practice, recognizing that "the real world" is both always at hand and also subject to performative deconstruction.

Temporality has been given attention in HCI research, with scholars arguing that temporal aspects in function-oriented graphical user interface are overlooked. However, these works have not adequately addressed practical approaches to manifest time in the design of such. This paper presents an approach for implementing temporal metaphors in the design of graphical user interface. In this design research, I materialize temporal metaphors into material qualities, in order to manifest time into the design of graphical user interface and shape the experiences of such designs. I argue that the design of temporal metaphors may express traces of time in graphical user interface differently from contemporary designs. I discuss implications and significance of unfolding experience over time. In conclusion, this design research, by articulating the experiences of its design works, sheds new light on the meanings of expressing temporal metaphors in the design of graphical user interface.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Although social comparison has been studied for over 60 years, little research has been done to determine the effects it has on the workplace. Moreover, the explosion of social networking sites and their potential impact on the workplace have been largely overlooked by organizational researchers. Therefore, this study will attempt to evaluate the effect social comparison, specifically through social media, has on work relevant outcomes such as one’s job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and entitlement, moderated by materialism (relevance) and job expectations (attainability) of the referent other. Participants selected from an alumni database of a large Midwestern University were asked to view a manipulated Facebook newsfeed page and then complete a brief survey (N=290). A hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to assess the hypotheses. Results, implications, and limitations are also discussed.

The thesis deals with the Czechoslovakian philosophy in the nineteen-sixties. It focuses not only to its historical description but intends to enter its philosophical thinking from inside and analyse its principal categories. Especially it focuses on the category of work and examines its various formulations, developed in different theoretical perspectives of Czechoslovakian philosophers. This allows distinguish these perspectives in their similarities on one hand and differences on the other. The thesis notably focuses on so called "Hegelian movement" and its evaluation of category of work. This movement, which is in fact the Czechoslovakian variation to the philosophy of praxis, formulates the category of work in its philosophical meaning, i. e. as an ontological category decisive for an origin of the reality and human being. It was originally Hegel, who developed this meaning of category, and Czechoslovakian Hegelian movement continued in developing his ontology adopted through Marx. The Czech philosophers enriched it with aspects of socialistic humanism. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first part explains historical conditions of philosophical scientific performance in Czechoslovakia. The second interprets the texts of Czechoslovakian Hegelian philosophers and their expositions of category...

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An African Perspective on Poverty Proverbs in the Book of Proverbs: An Analysis for Transformational Possibilities. This thesis contributes to the emerging global scholarly discussion on prioritising the practical relevance of biblical interpretation, particularly in Africa. Taking poverty as a case study, this thesis employs the notion of the popular social origin of proverbs to critically analyse the subject in the Book of Proverbs. A social anthropological approach, historical-critical methods, rhetorical criticism and contextual exegesis are used to analyse proverbs regarding the poor in the Book of Proverbs and African proverbial material. On one hand, the investigation reveals that many Western scholars take their cue from the `official' social context of the Book of Proverbs. However, the impact of an unconscious subjectivity owing to the Western secularising influence on their studies into poverty has posited a conservative status quo in the way the Book of Proverbs addresses it. On the other hand, an investigation of similar traditional African proverbial material on the poor reveals a holistic transformative possibility. Its life-centred dynamism is located in an integrative worldview that comprises mutual assistance, collective responsibility, family, community, social, political, religious and economic networks as one whole. Because cultural parallels exist between the society of ancient Israel and traditional African societies, the thesis argues the use of the African proverbial performance context in the interpretation of proverbs concerning the poor in the Book of Proverbs. The result of such cross-cultural application highlights the possible transformative social, economic, political and religious supportive networks essential to a viable and sustainable holistic development of society. Consequently, such a holistic approach to poverty may enable Bible readers to make meaning and empower the will of African Christians to rise practically to the challenge of poverty eradication in all spheres of their lives. A caution also to the universal church is to be found in the fact that the Book of Proverbs made an essential contribution to the transformation of the social, economic, political and religious life of Israel. Approaching the Book of Proverbs in terms of a popular context is a fact that can no longer be simply ignored. / Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies / D.Th.