This qualitative analysis examines Wal-Mart managers‟ perspectives of the strategies that the U.S. corporation has implemented in order to increase its sales and profits at more than 4,000 stores in local U.S. communities. Two theoretical paradigms are specifically used: glocalization and grobalization. The former refers to cultural adaptation; the latter means standardization. The ultimate goal of the researcher is to identify the dialectical tensions between those two current forms of globalization. In-depth, face-to-face, qualitative interviewing of ten Wal-Mart managers in Central Florida allowed the researcher to actually comprehend managers‟ perspectives, gather fresh data, and construct a final product to enlighten readers on the current Wal-Martization of the United States. Throughout the data reduction process, four key themes surfaced as the most relevant to the initial research questions: (1) Awareness of Glocalization as Key to Success, (2) Grobalization Strategies Implemented, (3) Centralization as a Pattern of Grobalization, and (4) Organizational Socialization. Overall, it was found that Wal-Martization is a process that requires complex strategies and efforts to match the contemporary conditions of globalization. Meeting the needs of local Wal-Mart stores varies from one geographical location to the next. While, by definition, grobalization is a reversal of the meaning of glocalization, this study has revealed that part of Wal-Mart‟s phenomenal success is to be both grobalizing and glocalizing. Wal-Mart offers its customers the opportunity of consuming locally (e.g., Hispanic products, Mediterranean food), globally (e.g., universal U.S. merchandise), or both simultaneously (like products and traditions found in Orlando stores). In this sense, both glocalization and grobalization are effective for the successful Wal-Martization of U.S. communities

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This dissertation explores the problem of how knowledge is possible, given that knowledge is necessarily rooted in the reality of the knower. The Kantian critical philosophy defeats Humean skepticism by demonstrating the a priori necessity of certain categorical functions at the root of all human cognition, but ultimately results in merely shifting the problem of certainty to these same functions. Ernst Cassirer’s Philosophy of Symbolic Forms seeks to extend the critical philosophy of Kant beyond the limits of theoretical thinking, and thereby broadens the functional foundations of cognition to include all symbolic modes of thinking in a unified system of human cognition. However, this expansion of the system of knowledge only serves to further highlight the fundamental problem of how knowledge of any sort can be a “symbol” of reality, when the symbolic form that produces that symbol always involves the mediation of reality in some way. This general problem is described throughout Cassirer’s writings in terms of a dialectic of spirit (Geist) and life (Leben), which, he argues, is the fundamental dialectic to which all other oppositions in the history of metaphysics can ultimately be reduced. In the present work, the nature of this dialectic is described and tied to the general problem of knowledge within any systematic critical philosophy, as seen in Cassirer’s philosophy as well as the works of Peirce, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein. Through this discussion, Cassirer’s own esoteric conception of a monadic metaphysics will be revealed, and the key importance of freedom as a solution to this dialectic will be drawn from his interpretation of earlier philosophers, particularly Nicolaus Cusanus. / Philosophy

In this philosophical work I explicate Nishida Kitaro's dialectics vis-à-vis Mahayana non-dualistic thought and Hegel's dialectical philosophy, and furthermore in terms of a "chiasmatic chorology." Nishida's work makes ample usage of western philosophical concepts, most notably the terminology of Hegelian dialectics. Nishida himself has admitted affinity to Hegel. And yet content-wise the core of Nishida's thinking seem close to Mahayana Buddhism in its line of thought traceable to the Prajñaparamita sutras. The point of my investigation is to clarify in what regard Nishida's dialectic owes allegiance to Hegel and to Mahayana and wherein it diverges from them. Moreover to what extent is Nishida's appropriation of Hegelian terminology adequate in expressing his thought? The work explicates the distinctive aspects of Nishida's thinking in terms of a "chiasmatic chorology" to emphasize the inter-dimensional and placial complexity of the dialectic. In summary two overarching concerns guide the work: 1) The relation of Nishida's dialectic to its forebears -- Mahayana non-dualism and Hegelian dialectics --; and 2) The distinctness of that dialectic as a "chiasmatic chorology." The work concludes that while Nishida, in his attempt to surmount the dualism of Neo-Kantianism, was led to Hegel's dialectic, the core ideas of his dialectic extend beyond the purview of Hegelianism. Contentwise his dialectic is closer in spirit to Mahayana. While Nishida admits to such commensurability with key Mahayana doctrines, his thought nevertheless ought not to be confined to the doctrinal category of "Buddhist thought" both because of its eclectic nature that brings in elements drawn from western and eastern sources, thereby constituting his work as a "world philosophy"; and because of its creative contributions, such as the formulation of basho and its explication in dialectical terms. What cannot be expressed adequately in terms of Hegelian dialectics is the concrete chiasma of what Nishida calls his "absolute dialectic." Moreover its founding upon the choratic nature of basho not only escapes the grasp of Hegel's self-knowing concept but extends beyond previous formulations within Buddhism. / Religion

It is my intention through this thesis to investigate the structural condition of collage as a culturally relevant approach to understanding architectural meaning and designing architectural form within the context of the urban environment. Meaning in architecture, as it emerges both implicitly and explicitly within the framework of this condition, will be analyzed as it relates to contemporary cultural and historical conditions. In terms of process and product, collage is construed with meaning through juxtaposition and context. A collage does not convey an essential meaning, as its meaning arises through the deliberate techne - the act of its making, and not through reflection on any pre-existing qualities, as there are none. The whole of a collage does not merely encompass an accumulation of elements, but embraces a greater totality through a fragmentary synthesis. While synthesis denotes a constructive process, it also signifies a dialectic relation. The dialectic relation embodied in collage can be understood in terms of inclusivity and exclusivity of meaning. This thesis investigation originates from the premise that the architectural act can never be fully understood in terms of its architecture alone. To ignore the greater social, cultural, and historical framework that sustains both the maker and the made is to deny architecture its full depth of meaning, whether that meaning is ideological, transparent, or bound within a chain of signifiers. This is not to imply that the social deterministically constitutes architecture, as both undoubtedly reciprocate influence upon one another; the maker and the made leave their indelible impression upon the sphere of relations which surrounds them. However, it is ultimately within this sphere - this larger social context - that an architectural form embodies meaning. / Master of Architecture

This thesis explores the origin and expression of dialectical thought in the life and writings of the American modernist Laura Riding. Within a biographical framework, I trace the steps by which it became the defining characteristic of her poetic, literary and critical works. A few have noted Riding's dialectical manner; none have appreciated its centrality. This is the first detailed study. An introductory outline of the origin and definition of dialectic provides a working theoretical context for the study that follows. Riding was born Laura Reichenthal in New York City, 1901. Her father, a Jewish émigré, was a committed activist for the left and included Riding in his campaigning at a very young age, immersing and educating her in the political and philosophical radicalism thriving in New York's Jewish communities of the era. There she internalised the revolutionary dialectics that would inform her aesthetic practice. Breaking with her father in her teens, she abandoned politics for literature. As Laura Riding - the name she adopted in 1927 and with which her literary writings continue to be associated - she moved to London and began collaborating with Robert Graves, relocating with him to Majorca in 1929. Producing poetry, fiction, criticism and experimental philosophico-literary works, she became a formidable presence within European literary modernism. Many aspects of her work are dialectical. Paradox, inversion and negation are perennial textual features. Key events in her life were also experienced as dialectical. Her insistence upon 'death' as an inverted sigil of unmediated vitality points toward a negatively dialectical mode of thought. In this regard, the theories of Theodor W. Adorno prove invaluable. Adorno provides a unique lexicon of terms - 'constitutive subjectivity', 'administered world', 'true object' - with which to draw out Riding's dialectical subtleties. Reading them alongside Adorno's negatively dialectical theory of modernist art and aesthetic praxis, certain aspects of Riding's writings are illuminated and, in some respects, they correspond. After a suicide attempt in 1929, Riding's perspective changed. Before it, her point of view was positioned within institutionally determined 'reality', and 'truth' beyond it was adumbrated by dialectical means. Afterwards, she believed herself transfigured: the embodiment of immediate, consciously apprehended noumenal objectivity. But the written word remained recalcitrant toward her attempts to inscribe this newfound positive 'truth'. This frustration contributed to her abandonment of poetry at the end of the 1930s. Re-emerging in the 1960s as Laura (Riding) Jackson, her disavowal of poetry and exploration of 'truth-potential' in language utilised dialectical approaches derived from her earlier experiences and writings.

Depuis une trentaine d’années environ, les études sur la réfutation, ou elenchos (ἔλεγχος), se sont multipliées. Cet engouement n’est pas étranger à la publication d’un article de Gregory Vlastos, intitulé « The Socratic Elenchus », dans lequel sont abordées des thèses qui tranchent avec les théories généralement acceptées jusqu’alors. Or, il est intéressant de noter que Vlastos a complètement écarté l’Alcibiade de son étude, le jugeant apocryphe, et ce, même si les arguments apportés par les tenants de l'inauthenticité de l'Alcibiade sont loin d'être convaincants. Dans le cadre de ce mémoire, nous comptons mener une analyse détaillée du texte de Vlastos et de l’Alcibiade, en nous attachant particulièrement aux questions suivantes : qu’est-ce que l’Alcibiade nous dit de l’elenchos? Que nous apprend-il de nouveau? En quoi ces révélations originales viennent-elles invalider ou confirmer les théories de Vlastos ou notre conception traditionnelle de la réfutation socratique? Le premier chapitre s’intéressera principalement aux thèses présentées dans la dernière version de « The Socratic Elenchus », parue en 1994 dans Socratic Studies. Nous en ferons un résumé critique et nous intéresserons aux réactions de différents commentateurs. Le deuxième chapitre se concentrera quant à lui sur l’Alcibiade. Nous proposerons une analyse de ce dialogue en nous concentrant principalement sur le thème de l’elenchos, puis confronterons les principales thèses de Vlastos aux résultats de notre analyse. Notre mémoire montrera que la description de l'elenchos donnée par Vlastos ne correspond pas à celle fournie dans l’Alcibiade. / For about thirty years, studies on refutation, or elenchus (ἔλεγχος), have multiplied. This interest has been stimulated by the publication of an article by Gregory Vlastos, The Socratic Elenchus, in which an original and controversial theory of the elenchus is presented. It is interesting to note, however, that Vlastos rejected Plato’s Greater Alcibiades from his study, judging it inauthentic, even though the arguments presented by the supporters of its inauthenticity are rather unconvincing. In this master’s thesis, a detailed analysis of Vlastos’ article and the Greater Alcibiades will be conducted. Special attention will be given to the following questions: what the Greater Alcibiades can tell us on the elenchus? Can it tell us something new? If so, will this new knowledge confirm or invalidate the theories of Vlastos or the traditional conception of Socratic refutation? The first chapter focuses on the thesis presented in the last version of the article “The Socratic Elenchus”, published in 1994 in Socratic Studies. A critical summary of the article shall then be presented in addition to an exposition of the reactions of various commentators. The second chapter will focus on the Greater Alcibiades. An analysis of this dialogue, more precisely of the elenchus, is conducted as well as a comparison of Vlastos’ principal thesis with the results of our analysis. This master’s thesis will show that the Greater Alcibiades provides a description of the elenchus that does not concur with Vlastos’ conception.

The thesis deals with the struggle for the Eternal and the Infinite in the works of Kierkegaard and Patočka. It starts with their respective concepts of existence. Based on them, positive and negative aspects of the relation of existence and transcendence are described. The main guiding principle of the description is the movement of the infinite resignation and the movement of the faith in Fear and Trembling, which is compared with the de-objectifying and all-founding force of the Idea in Negative platonism. It turns out that in the relation between existence and transcendence, one can discern the two basic meanings of the transcendent reality. These meanings, together with the positive and negative aspects of the relation of existence to transcendence, form the dialectic of positive and negative, in which the struggle for the Eternal nad the Infinite is set, as well as the struggle for an authentic human existence.