This dissertation seeks to construct a profile of Thoreau as a mystic. It examines Thoreau's life up to the publication of Walden, using in the main Thoreau's Journal and letters. It elucidates Thoreau's mystical experience and temperament chiefly by paralleling them with the experience and temperament of other mystics. It comments extensively on Walden throughout its chapters in an attempt to clarify Walden's mystical dimension.The Introduction justifies the method of paralleling Thoreau's experience with that of other mystics. It also defines the terms "mystic" and "mystical experience" and briefly argues the appropriateness of regarding Thoreau as a mystic. The Introduction gives special attention to explaining the various aspects of "illumination," the particular mystical state that Thoreau experienced numerous times in his life.Chapter 1 summarizes and comments in detail on many of Thoreau's illuminative experiences. Thoreau could facilitate these experiences either through meditative practice or through the cultivation of a passive, open, receptive condition while on walks in nature. Thoreau's illuminations included experiences of mystical "Silence," incommunicable noetic experiences, experiences of infinity and of flotation in infinity, experiences of calm and infinite self, "illuminative light," transfiguration and sacramentalization of external nature, joyfully reborn self, and other experiences.Chapter 2 shows that Thoreau conceived of his life as a quest for more and more complete mystical experience. Deliberate pursuit of illumination through nature formed one of the means through which he could make progress on this quest. Thoreau sought out certain natural locales, for example, that might catalyze illumination. Efforts of moral self-examination and self-shaping, efforts of character change, formed another means of progress. Thoreau sought to eliminate negative elements from his character and to cultivate non-self-preoccupation, trust, love, imperturbability, joy.Chapter 3 explores the effects on Thoreau of the gradual lessening, starting perhaps in 1841, of the frequency and intensity of his illuminations. The chapter shows that Thoreau shared in a period common in mystical lives called the Dark Night of the Soul, a period of despondency and spiritual deprivation that springs from the phenomenon of declining illuminations. Thoreau's purpose in going to Walden was partly to dispel the Dark Night he was experiencing and to recover the full illuminative state that he enjoyed previously. Thoreau's Dark Night continued past the Walden sojourn, however. Thoreau's Dark Night was rather frequently brightened by illuminations, although Thoreau commonly expressed dissatisfaction with them. The chapter explores why Thoreau came to regard these later illuminations as insufficient. By the time Thoreau published Walden, he had not advanced to Union, the final stage of the mystical life. The chapter suggests that remaining self-preoccupation and an acquisitive approach to the joys of illumination may have been the reason for Thoreau's not passing completely out of both the Illuminative and Dark Night phases of the mystical life and proceeding to Union. Thoreau seemed to be aware of the hindering effects of his remaining self-involvement, however, so he was in a likely way to grow out of this self-involvement.Chapter 4 discusses the possible effects on Thoreau's character of his numerous illuminative experiences. The chapter finds some of these effects to be a deep feeling of self-worth and of personal security, a sense of belonging in the world by rights as an integral part of it, asense of a loving presence that infuses life, self-detachment, inward calm, loving feeling and behavior, joy and zest in living, liberation from material pursuits, experience of the external world as sacramental or paradisal, and the ability spontaneously to poeticize or mythologize daily experience.

This thesis examines the family as presented in the works of J.D. Salinger. Two aspects of the family relationship are examined: how members of the family relate to each other and how they relate to people outside the family. The works used in this study are Nine Stories, The Catcher in the Rye, Pranny and Zooey, and Raise High the Roofbeams, Carpenters and Seymour, An Introduction.This examination reveals Salinger’s shift from a parent-dominated family to a child-centered family as well as the move from a family group which interacts with people outside the family to a family which has little relation to the world outside itself.

The purpose of this study was to trace the development of Lawrence's women from the beginning of his novel The Rainbow to the conclusion of the novel, Women In Love. The analysis is based on Lawrence's promise to do more for women in these novels than had suffrage, and his detailed prescription for what he termed a "unified being" as written in Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious and Fantasia of the Unconscious.The research was planned to determine whether or not Lawrence had actually fulfilled his promise to women in these two novels, and also to determine the theoretical process which he applied to the actions and characters in order to bring about his promised fulfillment. The organization of the study follows chronologically from the beginning of The Rainbow through Women In Love.Since the novels are constructed around a series of confrontations between men and women this study begins with Lydia and Tom Brangwen and follows with their daughter Anna and her husband Will Brangwen. The next major figure is Ursula, daughter of Anna and Will, and finally Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen are the major figures of the last section.With each character Lawrence attempts to show the success or failure of the women in their attempts to be freed from the restrictions of duties of marriage, home, the church, and society which had held them in bondage. With Lydia Brangwen, Lawrence illustrates a fulfilled union between a man and a woman, but more importantly establishes the precedent of the woman taking the lead in the relationship, allowing her to awaken and be a fulfilled being. She is thus a better wife because she also awakens his conscious awareness, and a more complete woman because she is freed to follow a creative life.Finally, through Ursula, Lawrence shows the way to fulfillment, and through Gudrun the way to suffering in the modern age. His menage is a combination of prophecy and mystery. His theory of the woman attaining freedom for the woman while giving this same to the man approaches a religion in that the woman must learn first her connection with the vital forces of life. The results are an absorbing belief in herself as an equal partner in the man-woman relationship.Lawrence issues several warnings to women in his novels which expose the barriers to freedom and fulfillment. The evils of technology and industry, of social pressures, of literal interpretation of religion, of extreme intellectualism, and of art without humanism all present ways in which women are deprived cf that vital force which is rooted in human nature. What Lawrence constructs initially is that theoretical balance of the erotic and mental poles, achieved through sexual fulfillment and the resulting self-fulfillment. His characters dramatize the success or failure of his system. But finally he gives us the impression that the system leads to acceptance of the unknown.The final success of Birkin and Ursula is not a categorical conclusion, but a suggestion that through their mutual and harmonious understanding of each other and of self, they have accepted the promise of life, not the finality. They believe in progression into the ever-fading limits of life, as the rainbow promises. Birkin and Ursula have gone through a resurrection. They see no limits, no longer feel pain or are conscious of domination from any source. They know and understand the world and can now make it work for them, free to love and free to continue life with satisfaction.Lawrence attempts in the beginning to present a panacea for the liberation of women. But in the last part of the novel, Women in Love, the impression is that the ideal is not finite; one must continue even after the promise has been fulfilled. Birkin is still somewhat disappointed that he could not form a relationship--equally satisfying to the human being--with another man, namely Gerald Crich. He feels that it is still possible. Ursula is doubtful. For her, he is enough, and his suggestion of a similar relationship with a man shocks her into stating that she thinks it impossible and perverse. This is the conclusion of the novel and leaves Lawrence and the reader with a question. Is the ultimate brotherhood of man possible, or will he continue blindly to destroy himself?Through his mystical and prophetic novels, Lawrence does attempt to equalize the sexes in a fulfilling relationship. He does believe that there must be that mystical, unconscious union between lovers before they can achieve fulfillment in life. He does believe that sex can be the method whereby human beings find the vital force of sustenence necessary to life. And finally, he believes that the woman must emerge from her nineteenth-century subservience to the will of the male, and must seek through and with him a "new love" for the twentieth century.

In this thesis, I argue that David Hume’s political philosophy is centrally focused on the prospect of social reform. The conception of justice and politics he develops out of his theories of virtue and moral psychology stresses the pervasive effects of institutions on individuals’ abilities to live decent lives and provides criteria for determining the relative success of such institutions. While Hume’s political philosophy has been interpreted as justifying a society’s status quo, I demonstrate that the principles of merit, need, and equality—commonly considered core principles of social justice—each play a vital role in his view of what constitutes a healthy, stable society. In particular, I contend that Hume’s emphasis on institutions guaranteeing equal protection of basic rights, the role of the common good in the moral justification of political institutions, and the material and social circumstances of equality that make the institution of justice possible, suggest that social reform is a central concern of his theory of justice and politics.

Syftet med undersökningen är att analysera hur svensk dagspress framställer Fotografiska museets utställning Burning Beauty med fotografier av David LaChapelle genom hur konstkritikerna framställer konsten och konstnären som person. Undersökningsmaterialet består av artiklar, konst- och kulturtidskrifter, nättidskrifter och radioreportage i Sverige under eller inför utställningen. Jag har genom att närläsa artiklarna undersökt vilka ord och formuleringar som förekommer vid beskrivningen av utställningen, konstnären och konsten. Konstkritikerna framställer utställningen som välgjord och ett unikt tillfälle att få se en konstnärskarriär under ett och samma tak då den innehåller över 250 bilder från 1980-talet fram till 2012. Det är den största utställningen som Fotografiska museet visat och den största utställningen som LaChapelle haft. Den liknas vid en neonlysande regnbåge som följer väggarna på Fotografiska. LaChapelles bilder är ofta fyllda med budskap och detaljer och då Fotografiska visar bilderna i enorma format framgår dessa tydligare menar man. Vad gäller konsten så framställs den som pastischer på kända verk ifrån renässansen och barocken. Kritikerna menar att kända konstnärer som Michelangelo och Botticelli har inspirerat LaChapelles konst. Jag har kommit fram till att kritikerna delvis oreflekterat recenserar bilder från två helt olika typer av produktion utan att särskilja dem. De två olika produktionerna är de kommersiella bilderna innan 2006 och de civilisationskritiska bilderna efter 2006. Han slutade då att ta kommersiella uppdrag vilket har resulterat i en mer civilisationskritisk konst med konstnärlig frihet som följd. Vissa kritiker skildrar hela vidden av konstnärskarriären medan vissa kritiserar de tidigare verken. Den civilisationskritiska konsten har möjliggjort en plats på gallerierna för LaChapelle. Kritikerna är skeptiska inför den civilisationskritiska konstnären och ifrågasätter att han skulle ha ett genuint engagemang i de frågor som LaChapelle lyfter. Han lyfter ämnen som konsumtion, människohandel och religion. Kritikerna anser att han har för stor del av konsumtionskulturen genom sina kommersiella bilder för att kunna kritisera konsumtionskulturen på ett trovärdigt sätt. Genom att studera uppkomsten av vissa kändisporträtt framgår det tydligt att LaChapelle fortfarande 2012 tar kommersiella uppdrag. Skillnaden är friheten i att kunna välja de jobb han vill ha. LaChapelle har som konstnär uppnått stjärnstatus. När han fotograferar kändisar räknas detta som ett kvitto på ytterligare stjärnstatus. Han kan alltså glorifiera kändisar genom att fotografera dem. Detta gäller både i de kommersiella bilderna såväl som i de konsumtionskritiska. Han har uppnått ekonomisk frihet och kan själv välja vilka uppdrag han vill göra. Kritikerna har svårt att koppla honom till de färgsprakande bilder han producerar och till det liv han fört. De framställer honom som en timid och lågmäld 45-åring. Han har sedan länge ansetts vara Hollywoods favoritfotograf och sägs ha levt nattklubbsliv under merparten av sin karriär. Den person som står framför kritikerna under invigningen av Burning Beauty motsvarade inte deras förväntningar.

In recent years there has been an explosion of writing on David Hume. His scepticism, his writings on morality, politics, and religion, have all received substantial attention. What I attempt to do in this thesis is to suggest that his revolutionary contributions in all these fields can be better understood if we consider his attempt to found the sciences on the imagination. What little work there is on the imagination in Hume's writings is almost all concerned with Book I of the Treatise. As regards Book I, I suggest that Hume's overarching problem is to argue that belief is dependent on the imagination, whilst still keeping a contrast with the whims of the 'fancy'. He wants to disabuse us of the idea that we believe on account of reason; but he wants to distinguish the claims of science from the claims of poets. But I also examine why he thinks his explanation of the production of passions support his conclusions about belief. And I argue that his former account guides conclusions found in other genres. So for example, I examine certain essays and letters about politics, and his explanation of religious events in the History of England. Why do men falsely believe that they are distinguished from the animals through possessing reason? On the one hand Hume tries to explain the origin of the sciences; on the other hand, he tries to show how men have come to have a false conception of themselves. A central aim of the thesis is to bring out these themes through showing the use Hume makes of principles of the imagination. I pay special attention to Hume's attempt to argue that Christianity plays a major role in the sustaining of the false view.

One hundred and thirty-four years have elapsed since the death of David Bogue, and one hundred and thirty-two since the publication of his memoir. No detailed study of his labors has appeared since that time. David Bogue (1750-1825) was the theologian of missions during the Great Missionary Awakening. From his academy in Gosport, which, as the London Missionary Society's Seminary, was the first school in that era to give specific missionary training, graduated many of the Society's ablest early missionaries. Bogue's Bible-centered curriculum, and his approach, which emphasized apostolic precedent, produced men who made solid achievements: churches were planted which became self-propagating; the Scriptures were translated into the indigenous languages; and seminaries for the training of native leadership were established. During the next two and one-half years a commission of the World Council of Churches and the International Missionary Council will be engaged in a study of the theology of missions. Therefore, a work on David Bogue is timely.

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