本論文以英國17世紀形上詩人唐恩的詩為研究對象。共分為三章，第一章分析唐恩在《歌與十四行詩集》(The Songs and Sonets)中的愛情觀。第二章分析唐恩的形上派奇想(metaphysical conceit)。第三章以唐恩的兩首《週年紀念》(The Anniversaries)為對象，討論其中包含的宗教觀，哲學觀，及生死觀。 / This thesis intendes to analyze John Donne's poetry. The thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter is devoted to the study of Donne's views of love in the Songs and Sonets. The second chapter is devoted especially to Donne's use of metaphysical conceit. The third chapter is a study of Donne's Anniversaries, two long poems dealing with science, philosophy, life, and death.

Depuis quelques années Cyrano de Bergerac bénéficie d’un regain d’intérêt dans les études littéraires. Toutefois, ce vaste champ bibliographique se centre essentiellement sur les deux romans ou sur le recueil de lettres, sans prendre en compte l’ensemble de l’œuvre d’un écrivain pourtant polygraphe. Le présent travail se propose à la fois de trouver la cohérence d’un geste d’écriture au-delà des variations génériques, et d’analyser la dimension idiosyncrasique d’un style : la singularité de l’écriture cyranienne mérite d’être envisagée hors de tout rattachement à un groupe littéraire ou idéologique (qu’on pense, notamment, aux « burlesques » ou encore aux « libertins »). Les perspectives croisées de la stylistique et de l’analyse du discours permettent de faire émerger une quête permanente de la virtuosité langagière, dont l’écriture de la pointe est le support privilégié.Cyrano écrit pour susciter l’admiration, comme il en convient lui-même : l’ensemble de son œuvre porte la trace de cette aspiration. Toutefois, la recherche obstinée de la fulgurance comporte en soi un coût pragmatique : l’artifice, nécessaire mais risqué, témoigne de la fragilité de l’éclat. / For a few years now, Cyrano de Bergerac has been considered with renewed interest by literary scholars. However the many studies published recently have mainly focused on his two novels or on the collection of his letters, without really taking into account his body of works in its entirety. This study offers both to find, beyond generic variations, the coherence of his writing, and to analyse the idiosyncratic dimension of his style; the singularity of Cyrano’s writing deserves to be considered for itself, without linking it to any literary or ideological movement – be it the “Burlesques” or the “Libertines”.The combined perspectives of stylistics and of discourse analysis reveal a constant quest for linguistic virtuosity, writing conceits being its most used device. Cyrano writes to arouse admiration, as he confesses himself; his whole body of works bears the mark of this endeavour. However, aiming constantly for dazzling wit comes at a pragmatic cost; literary devices are necessary but risky – they bear witness to the fragility of the writer’s feat.

<p>This dissertation focuses on managerial decision making, and specifically explores conditions wherein managers may increase their propensity to escalate commitment towards a failing project. Escalation researchers (e.g. Schmidt and Calantone, 2002) have listed four classes of factors that may impact a manager's propensity to escalate commitment towards a failing project, and have called for research into how exactly these factors impact escalation. In this dissertation, we explore two such factors. The first factor relates to the characteristics of the decision process used by firms to evaluate the project. Here, for example, researchers have looked at whether the manager was also involved in making decisions about the project in a prior period, and Boulding, Morgan and Staelin (1997) have shown that such manager's positive beliefs about the project (formed in a prior period) make a manager more likely to escalate commitment. The second factor relates to project characteristics. Here, for example, researchers have looked at whether or not the project relates to a product that is perceived as new, and Schmidt and Calantone (2002) have shown that managers are more likely to escalate commitment towards a failing project relating to a new product. </p><p>The first dissertation essay uses three experiments to examine how a hitherto unexplored characteristic of the decision process might lead to increasing escalation of commitment. Specifically, building off research into the illusion of control, we examine whether the opportunity to use managerial skill during the decision process makes a manager more willing to escalate commitment towards a failing project. We find that whenever managers act on cues that cause them to think they can use their managerial skill to control some outside factor (even though in reality they cannot), managers overestimate their ability to "control the odds" related to this outside factor. Such beliefs feed forward and lead managers to make suboptimal decisions about the overall project.</p><p>The second dissertation essay looks at how project characteristics might make a manager more (or less) likely to escalate commitment towards a failing project. We explore this issue in the hitherto unexplored real options setting. Real options have emerged as an important part of marketing strategy, and have been used to structure new product alliances, value customers etc. We run a controlled experiment and we examine whether differences in option-structure (which is a project characteristic) impact the propensity to make suboptimal option-exercise decisions. We find that managers are more likely to make suboptimal option-exercise decisions in the case of put options (vis. call options), and - as predicted by the endowment effect literature - this increased propensity to make a suboptimal decision is mediated by/ explained by the psychological ownership construct.</p> / Dissertation

This thesis contributes to a field of Kant’s practical philosophy that has received renewed attention, namely his moral anthropology. While it is true that Kant, in some of his best-known writings, literally says that the fundamental ground of morality must be pure and thus entirely free from admixture with anthropological principles, he nevertheless admits that these “subjective conditions” in human nature that “either hinder or help people in fulfilling the laws of the metaphysics of morals” make up the foundation of all applied ethics. In other words, in order to know if and to which extent human beings are susceptible to moral commands, we need to know our abilities as well as our limitations. Kant wrote several works about these topics and his long-term teaching of anthropology shows that he had a continuing interest in the theory of man. Moreover, it is widely acknowledged that Kant, during the mid-1760s was highly influenced by Rousseau. It is hardly a coincidence that Kant’s first reference to the “unchanging nature of human beings” appeared at the same time as Rousseau proclaimed the need of finding the true nature of man – the unmasked being who has not been damaged by social prejudice. In order to understand man and his moral capacities we need to find his true essence or what really constitutes humanity. Accordingly, a careful examination of the multifaceted characteristics of human nature is needed in order to understand the very concept of a moral being and to account for his moral progress. I will argue that Kant’s early insights about this need runs like a thread through his entire course of philosophy and that Rousseauian ideas actually affect also his critical ethics. They agree that man is sociable, but also suspicious. He has good predispositions but is likewise susceptible to corruption. My analysis will shed light on man’s eternal balance between conflicting forces and on the means needed for the progress towards the vocation of humankind. This reveals the need of knowing oneself and explains why the question: “what is the human being?” ought to be taken seriously.