This study attempts to offer an ecological interpretation of Genesis 1: 1-2:4a in view of the question as to what extent this passage bears footprints of anthropocentrism, on the one hand, and/or ecological wisdom, on the other hand. Extant ecological readings of this text tend to either recover its ecofriendliness, or they criticise the text on the basis of its dominion and subdual language in Genesis 1:26-28 which seems to go against the grain of ecological sensibilities. In resonance with revisionist readings, this study shows that the only way to mollify the dominion language of Genesis I :26-28 is to read this section as part of the whole Priestly creation account. Elements of the exilic context and many literary features of Genesis I: l-2:4a present humans as a member of a world of interdependences. Hence, accusing Genesis I: l-2:4a of lying at the root of modern indifference towards nature, is not the whole story. / Old Testament & Ancient Near Eastern Studies / M. A. (Biblical Studies)

This diploma thesis deals with the environmental education of young people and it highlights its importance for the transfer towards the sustainable society. It emphasizes the need to get into the core of the problem, which is the emotional alienation of present-day people from the nature and environment. In the theoretical part it proves the existence of many various attitudes towards the world and the possibility of environmental education to bring students to those less self-centred and more considerate. It then presents the basis of environmental education, its development and mainly its trends reflecting today's need to focus on environmental sensitivity and personal responsibility of each individual. It shows that both areas are possible to cultivate in lessons of civics and social sciences, which provide significant space for the integration of environmental education. These subjects stress the need to educate students in the way which would help them to acquire skills of both responsible citizens of the society and considerate inhabitants of this beautiful planet. The practical part therefore suggests concrete ways for integration of environmental education into the subjects of civics and social sciences which would lead students towards sustainable living in the society and in the whole of...

The thesis is a contribution to the study of designations of the human body in the Czech language and is based on contemporary theories and methods of cognitive and cultural approaches to language. It focuses on that part of reality which is called noha / nohy by members of Czech linguistic community. First, two terminological perspectives from which the leg / legs can be seen were comapared: the natural perspective of the linguistic picture of the world and the scientific medical perspective. The medical perspective tends to categorize parts of the body very precisely, it also analyses deep structures of the leg / legs. In contrast the natural perspectives only the surface of the leg / legs and distinguishes those categories which are significant for humans and their existence in the world. In the main chapter we attempt to define the meaning of the Czech noha / nohy and of parts of the leg / legs by analysing definitions in Czech monolingual dictionaries, etymology of words, derived words and compounds, synonyms and especially phraseology. Based on the analysis of these sources we determined the systemic connotations and connected semantic profiles. We set down four semantic profiles: 1) appearance of leg / legs; 2) leg /legs as a part of the human body; 3) leg / legs as a means of movement...

Diploma thesis Figurativeness of denominations in a partnership based on a questionnare survey deals with a discourse of figurative denominations in partnerhips. Firstly, the position of partnership denominations within the field of onomastics is defined and a general language characteristics of these denomations is presented. Further on, the main ideas from cognitive linguistics are presented, especially the conceptual metaphor theory which has been the basis for an analysis and interpretation of partnership denominations. These have been divided into several semantical groups in the context of which the partnership denominations are being analysed.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:29:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jose Roberto Marques.pdf: 1493238 bytes, checksum: 68155ed6a1788a73a554d9c3b32e9cdb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-10-07 / The environmental matter is a topic present in any line of discussion. It is a result of the laws of Biology, Chemistry and Physics, once we can not ignore that next generations quality of life is submitted to them, so, protecting the environment is really valuable. The current environmental degradation has many of its effects deferred to a time we can not precise. This process arises from the inevitability, at the moment, of satisfying the needs of the present generations and allowing them to harvest the benefits of their right to development. In order to do so, it must be considered that the environmental resources are limited and there are no conditions to assure for how long they will serve men. In such context, the role of Law is important, in charge of balancing the environmental preservation and the economic growth, without ignoring the necessary benefit that shall result from it to human being. This scenery constitutes what is called sustainable development. With such a purpose, the operators of Law, when interpreting juridical laws, must consider, first, the laws of nature, adjusting the legislation to them. Then, considering the constitutional orders observing the acknowledged social rights and the individual s dignity principle one has to interpret the rules so that the result favors the collectivity and, as much as possible to do such adjustment, promote the sustainable development. Considering that sustainability only can be ascertained a long time after the action, looking back to the past, the caution in the administration of the environmental resources available (Legislative, Executive and Judiciary Powers activities, each one performing its role), must guide all public and private politics, applying the principles of prevention, precaution and polluter pays / A questão ambiental é tema de qualquer pauta de discussão. É uma decorrência das leis da Biologia, da Química e da Física, pois não se pode ignorar que a qualidade de vida das futuras gerações está submetida a elas e, assim, o cuidado com relação ao meio ambiente é muito valioso. A degradação ambiental provocada atualmente tem muitos de seus efeitos diferidos para época que não sabemos precisar. Esse processo decorre da inevitabilidade, no momento, de satisfazer as necessidades das atuais gerações e permitir que colham os proveitos do direito ao desenvolvimento. Para tanto, deve ser considerado que os recursos ambientais são limitados, e não se tem condições de assegurar até quando servirão ao homem. Nesse contexto, é importante a função do Direito, encarregado de equilibrar a preservação ambiental e o crescimento econômico, sem se descuidar do necessário benefício que deve advir para o ser humano, constituindo, esse cenário, o que se chama de desenvolvimento sustentável. Com essa finalidade, os operadores do Direito, na interpretação das leis jurídicas, devem considerar, primeiramente, as leis da natureza, a elas ajustando a legislação. Depois, atentos aos mandamentos constitucionais com observância dos direitos sociais reconhecidos e do princípio da dignidade da pessoa , cumpre interpretar as normas de forma que o resultado favoreça a coletividade e, no quanto for possível fazer esse ajuste, promova o desenvolvimento sustentável. Levando-se em conta que a sustentabilidade somente pode ser apurada muito tempo depois da ação, voltando-se para o passado, a cautela na administração (atividades dos Poderes Legislativo, Executivo e Judiciário, cada um dentro de suas funções) dos recursos ambientais disponíveis deve orientar todas as políticas públicas e privadas, notadamente com aplicação dos princípios da prevenção, da precaução e do poluidor-pagador

This thesis examines the writing of Wei An苇岸 (1960-1999), a contemporary Chinese nature writer, from an eco-critical perspective grounded in deep ecological view. Urged on by China’s environmental crisis and social problems, and influenced by Western literature and his own life experience, Wei An developed his own deep ecological life philosophy. He respected every creature’s intrinsic value, appreciated the beauty and wonders of nature, advocated the Land Ethic and practiced vegetarianism. He highly treasured the agrarian civilization and objected to modern industrialization, in which he saw very little of any value. Meanwhile, Wei An’s ideas contain questionable aspects like the exaggeration of the defects of modernization and idealization of rural living. Although filled with weak aspects, Wei An’s ecosophy is a faint but significant voice in contemporary Chinese literature and society, and reflects important changes happening in contemporary China.

This thesis examines the writing of Wei An苇岸 (1960-1999), a contemporary Chinese nature writer, from an eco-critical perspective grounded in deep ecological view. Urged on by China’s environmental crisis and social problems, and influenced by Western literature and his own life experience, Wei An developed his own deep ecological life philosophy. He respected every creature’s intrinsic value, appreciated the beauty and wonders of nature, advocated the Land Ethic and practiced vegetarianism. He highly treasured the agrarian civilization and objected to modern industrialization, in which he saw very little of any value. Meanwhile, Wei An’s ideas contain questionable aspects like the exaggeration of the defects of modernization and idealization of rural living. Although filled with weak aspects, Wei An’s ecosophy is a faint but significant voice in contemporary Chinese literature and society, and reflects important changes happening in contemporary China.

The thrust of this thesis proceeds from two main presuppositions. The first is that the Old Testament wisdom books are generally ignored or not given enough attention in the studies about water and water-related phenomena. The second is that the romantic perspective on elements of the natural world is dominant in eco-theological studies. To highlight this twofold problem, a sample survey into the works of the scholarly biblical dictionaries, encyclopedias, books and articles as well as ecotheological studies is offered in the second chapter of this thesis. In an attempt to (partly) address this problem, this study argues that, firstly, despite a scarcity of scholarly interest in water and water-related phenomena in the Old Testament wisdom books, this body of literature contains a rich variety of references to water and water-related phenomena. Secondly, it is shown in this study that an overly-romantic view of nature does not do justice to the richness, complexity, and variety of portrayals of elements of nature in the texts themselves. In this sense, this study aims at retrieving ecological wisdom from particular texts that give voice to both the life-giving and life-threatening potential of water and water-related phenomena in the Old Testament wisdom books. The exploration is facilitated by elements of the historical-critical and literary approaches through an ecological framework informed by four of the six eco-justice principles of the Earth Bible Project. The thesis suggests that scholars who attempt ecological readings of the Bible will gain more if they also take less favoured texts into consideration. The exploration of water and water-related phenomena in the Old Testament wisdom books, therefore, goes beyond what studies on water or water-related phenomena have hitherto done. Furthermore, a study on both aspects of water as a life-giving and life-threatening entity demonstrates that an eco-friendly view of nature does not do justice to the biblical texts themselves. This will be seen through the third, fourth, fifth and sixth chapters. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / D. Th. (Old Testament)

This dissertation investigates how a symmetrical approach to archaeology can be applied to identify the properties and effects of the non-living, abiotic materials. And to reconfigure the relationship between humans and non-human objects, bridging the divide between what has been termed ‘cultural’ and ‘natural’ and thus placed in different ontological realms. This is examined by studying the practices surrounding “boulder graves”, from the Late Bronze Age - Early Iron Age (approx. 1000 – 0 BC) in Kättsta, Ärentuna parish in Uppland, Sweden. The boulders tend to be studied from an anthropocentric point of view, in which they are seen primarily as passive objects, interpreted only for what they represent. The objective of this research, however, is to gain new insights into the agency of boulders, and how they contributed to the practices carried out adjacent to them. The dissertation is based on a case study where a thematic analysis is performed, focusing on the properties and characteristics of boulders, their affordances, the distribution of finds and their interrelations, and the effects their relations generated. The results show that the boulders themselves contributed in human-stone relations and were vital in the formation of the grave-like features they became part of. It is argued that a symmetrical, non-anthropocentric approach to these features will broaden our view on materialities in the past, affording ontological as well as ecological implications.

This study attempts to offer an ecological interpretation of Genesis 1: 1-2:4a in view of the question as to what extent this passage bears footprints of anthropocentrism, on the one hand, and/or ecological wisdom, on the other hand. Extant ecological readings of this text tend to either recover its ecofriendliness, or they criticise the text on the basis of its dominion and subdual language in Genesis 1:26-28 which seems to go against the grain of ecological sensibilities. In resonance with revisionist readings, this study shows that the only way to mollify the dominion language of Genesis I :26-28 is to read this section as part of the whole Priestly creation account. Elements of the exilic context and many literary features of Genesis I: l-2:4a present humans as a member of a world of interdependences. Hence, accusing Genesis I: l-2:4a of lying at the root of modern indifference towards nature, is not the whole story. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / M. A. (Biblical Studies)