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Studies in the areas of goal pursuit and well-being suggest that the goals people work toward in their daily lives are important contributors of well-being. However, research to date has focused primarily on aspects of the individual in goal pursuit even though goals are not pursued in isolation. In fact, there is evidence that this emphasis on the individual, particularly salient in Western cultures, has negative consequences at both the individual and community levels. With regard to well-being, data have indicated that it is best represented as two dimensional, including hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. However, the research on personal goals has primarily focused on hedonic well-being of the individual. Overall, hedonic well-being appears to be more related to affective experience, whereas eudaimonic well-being appears to be more comprehensive and related to topics like purpose in life, self-acceptance, and positive relations with others. The theoretical framework of Virtue Ethics posits that social affiliations are essential for human beings to flourish and experience eudaimonia, and this study examines that premise. A two-step approach to structural equation modeling was used to contribute to the extant literature on goal pursuit and well-being by 1) exploring the individual and interpersonal dimensions of goal pursuit and their relationships to hedonic and eudaimonic well-being and 2) exploring the interpersonal dimensions of goal pursuit as a mediator of the relationship between individual dimensions of goal pursuit and eudaimonic well-being. The retained structural model from the two-step approach included Efficacy (an Individual Dimension of Goal Pursuit) and Generativity (an Interpersonal Dimension of Goal Pursuit). Results demonstrated that Efficacy and Generativity were both significantly related to Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-being; however, Generativity was more strongly related to Eudaimonic than Hedonic Well-being. These findings were consistent with the premise of Virtue theory, that those engaged in goal pursuit with or on behalf of others are more likely to experience higher levels of eudaimonic well-being. Future research should include further exploration of the Interpersonal Dimensions of Goal Pursuit and well-being specifically by focusing on improving measurement for the Interpersonal Dimensions of Goal Pursuit, Hedonic, and Eudaimonic Well-being.

The prequel to Plato’s Sophist, the Theaetetus, ends with the unanswered question, what is the logos (discursive account, reasoning) appropriate to knowledge? How can one distinguish it from the logos that lacks knowledge? This dissertation argues that the Sophist, through an inquiry of what the sophist is, is a response to that question. This response consists in three basic claims. First, logos forms the heart of inquiry, that is, the ascent from ignorance to knowledge. That ascent consists in logos repeatedly articulating what one understands at a given moment and then examining that articulation from different perspectives. The dialogue shows how the interlocutors’ initial understanding of the sophist is constantly refuted, refined, challenged, and qualified after being articulated. Second, the cognitive powers of perceiving, judging, and thinking all have the structure of logos, and are presented as stages in the ascent. That is, stage one shows the interlocutors’ perceptions of the sophist; stage two, their judgment of him; and stage three, what they think of him. Each stage gradually approaches knowledge without being identical to it. Finally, this absence of identity suggests that logos is necessary but perhaps insufficient for the ascent to knowledge. The process of inquiry, as shown in the Sophist, gestures towards knowledge as a state of mind that is both internally self-consistent and holds beliefs that allow the knower to be “in touch with” the world (a relation that Plato calls “truth”). Logos is insufficient for knowledge for two reasons. First, while capable of achieving a self-consistent state of mind, it does not guarantee that its results will be true of the world. Nor, moreover, can it replace the personal experience that is equally necessary for knowledge. The dialogue suggests this latter point by concluding with a correct definition (logos) of the sophist that is misunderstood by one of the interlocutors (Theaetetus) due to his lack of experience. These limits of logos suggest that the Sophist presents Plato’s self-critique of both the possibility and desirability of the philosophical dream of grasping the world in its purely “logical” aspects.

The diploma thesis deals with the very topical theme of well-being. Its aims are (1) to explore the personality context of the three most commonly used concepts of well-being - subjective, psychological well-being and self-esteem, (2) to confirm the connection of well-being with personality traits and to contribute to clarifying other personality contexts that the research sounds ambiguous - with values, identity styles, and coping strategies, and (3) find different patterns of relationships of individual concepts of well-being with measured variables, thus confirming the uniqueness of these constructs. The methods used include the calculation of correlation coefficients between individual concepts of well-being and all other variables and the calculation of differences by correlating other variables with all three pairs of well-being concepts. The results largely confirmed expectations. The weakest relationships with personality variables were found in subjective well-being, operationalized as life satisfaction. Life satisfaction was most predicted by stability, commitment, and extraversion. Psychological well-being was most predicted by commitment, stability, extraversion, conscientiousness, and a negative diffusion style of identity. Self-esteem was most strongly predicted by stability, a...

The thesis deals with the personality sources, defined as personality traits by five-factor model, of well-being in the both approaches - hedonic and eudaimonic - and with all its components and dimensions. The assumptions of the research are stronger relationship of personality with the subjective well-being at younger adults than at middle-aged adults and stronger relationship of personality with the psychological well-being at middle-aged adults that at younger adults. The sample consists of 103 respondents at the younger adulthood and 149 respondents at the middle adulthood. The relationships and the comparison between the both age cohorts is analyzed by correlations and multiple linear regression. Results bring the evidence of the relationship between the personality traits with the subjective and the psychological well-being. The personality sources are the strongest at the level of all components and most of the dimensions at the middle-aged adults. The results are discussed with the limits of the research and with the topics of follow-up research.

ABSTRACT THE GROWING DESERT: NIHILISM AND METAPHYSICS IN HEIDEGGER&rsquo / S THOUGHT Duman, Musa Ph. D., Department of Philosophy Supervisor : Prof. Dr. Ahmet inam March 2009, 209 pages In this study, we explore Heidegger&rsquo / s understanding of nihilism as the essential dimension of metaphysics, of metaphysical experience of Being, and in the following, we address his responses to it. Heidegger takes nihilism as rooted in the metaphysical way of thinking, hence metaphysics and nihilism standing in a primordial identity. Such metaphysical way of thinking as a framework in which Being is experinced and articulated, explicitly or implicitly in all areas of Western culture, from art to science, gives us the deep history or movement of Western tradition. Heidegger considers such movement to be presenting an ever growing threat, indeed as something to be consummated in the eeriest possibility of world history, that is, total destruction of human essence as an openness for the disclosure of Being. He points out to this underlying phenomenon with various designations: forgetfullnesss of Being, abandonment of Being, darkening of the world, Gestell and devestation are some of them. In this tradition, Being, from Plato and Aristotle onwards, becomes nothing at all, that is, excluded from any thoughtful consideration, reduced to a mere abstraction. Anything nihilistic, if fully delved into, would prove to conceal at its heart an alienation to the true sense of Being. Therefore, we need to develop a way of thinking outside the dominion of metaphysics, which should not only discover No-thing as the concealment dimension of Being, thus be deeply open to our finitude, but also learn to respond thoughtfully and thankfully to the gift of Being in, through and towards which we ex-sist as human beings. Vis-a-vis the futural potentials of nihilism in this long end of Western history, the futural character of Heidegger&rsquo / s thinking, his search for a new way of thinking that would incipate the other beginning, harbours a strange Tension that is characteristic of his whole philosophy.

Within the psychological literature two main approaches can be identified as influential factors in the increase of well-being, defined in this thesis as Hedonic (SWB) vs. Eudaimonic Well-Being (PWB). One of the key qualities of the human mind is its ability to think about and act upon the future. The first approach emphasises the role of psychological strengths related to the utilisation of foresight and planning in such a way as to influence the consequences of current actions. The second approach focuses on the function of basic personality traits in the setting of goals and mental functioning. To integrate these approaches, this thesis brings together two lines of research: future-orientation and personality traits. Two longitudinal studies investigate the predictive qualities of future-orientated constructs in relation to personality traits, while also focusing on their contribution to the setting and attainment of goals and the perception of well-being. In the first study two cognitive-motivational scales, Hope and Personal Growth Initiative (PGI), were administered to measure two hundred and sixty four participants’ future-orientation. The first aim of this study was to examine the distinctiveness of these two scales in predicting well-being. Results from factor analyses cast doubt on the uniqueness of Hope and PGI, while regression analyses demonstrate Hope to be the strongest, most significant predictor of PWB and SWB. A further aim of the study was to ascertain if future-orientation could account for additional variance in the prediction of well-being, after the influence of the Eysenck’s Personality traits have been controlled for. It was indicated that individuals’ Hope levels do account for residual variance in PWB and SWB. The last aim of the study was to determine if future-orientation could contribute to long-term goal attainment and well-being. The results indicate that participant’s Hope levels did not significantly contribute to long-term goal attainment, however it had a direct, significant effect on long-term PWB. The second study, utilising 117 participants, replicated prior findings that demonstrate Hope, instead of PGI, to be the strongest, most significant predictor of both PWB and SWB. The study also extents prior research by utilising the Big-Five traits in the prediction of PWB and SWB. Factor analyses results indicate Hope to share an underlying factor structure with Openness and Conscientiousness, while PGI share an underlying factor structure with Agreeableness. It was further indicated that participants’ Hope, but not PGI, accounts for residual variance in the prediction of PWB, after controlling for the Big-Five traits. Conversely, Hope and PGI did not account for any residual variance in the prediction of SWB, instead almost 60% of the variance can be attributed to the Big-Five personality traits. Extending the first study, the aim of the second study was to ascertain attainment through independent verification and not participant self-assessment. The results indicate that participants who demonstrate greater levels of Openness and PGI tend to set higher quantitative goals. Although not predictive of goal attainment, participants with greater Openness showed higher performance on the goals. Overall, the results question the distinctiveness of Hope and PGI in the prediction of well-being. It adds to our knowledge of how psychological strengths such as future-orientation can contribute variance to the prediction of well-being after basic personality traits have been controlled for. Finally the results also add to our understanding of how personality traits, as well as, Hope and PGI independently contribute to the setting of goals.

(in english): This master thesis copes with typology approach to well-being. The approach results from the research of Carol Ryff et al. and distinguishes two dimensions of well-being. The first, the hedonic alias subjective well-being (SWB concept by E. Diener) and the second, the eudemonic alias psychological well-being (PWB concept by C. Ryff). In the theoretical part of the thesis, the difference between psychological and subjective well-being is depicted, it represents a typological model, describes variables the analysis-procedure is based on (personality traits, values, and coping strategies) and sums findings that where learned till now. The empirical part of the thesis is devoted to analysis of the relations among particular types of well-being (subjects with high SWB/high PWB, high SWB/low PWB, low SWB/high PWB, low SWB/low PWB) and personality characteristics according to NEO/FFI, values according to PVQ, and coping strategies formulated by Carver. The research ensemble was formed out of 2281 subjects, the undergraduate students. Four groups were created, based on the score of tests measuring subjective and psychological well-being. We always formed the groups for the upper and lower score quantile in given test. This way four groups of subjects raised (subjects with high SWB and PWB,...

In this thesis we dealt with two important theoretical concepts of well-being - subjective (E. Diener) and psychological (C. Ryff). Previous work has demonstrated the conceptual identity of both constructs, but at the same time highlighted their interdependence. The aim of the work was to analyze both concepts of well-being on the basis of their relationship to selected psychological variables: self-esteem, personality traits, coping strategies and basic human values. The research sample consisted of 2368 university students of Masaryk's University in Brno. Using Pearson's correlations, we have described relationships of subjective (SWB) and psychological (PWB) well-being to the mentioned psychological variables. In many cases, correlations suggested similar relationships between SWB and PWB with the variable. We further tested these similarities by the test of the difference between two dependent correlations and found statistically significant differences in the relationships between both concepts of personal well-being and self-esteem, personality traits of extraversion and conscientiousness, coping strategies of active coping, behavioral disengagement, planning, denial, positive reframing, acceptance and self-blame. Moreover, we found statistically significant correlations of PWB with values...

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