There is no stronger or more enduring prohibition in medicine than the rule against the killing of patients by doctors. This prohibition is rooted in some medical codes and principles. Out standing among the principles surrounding these prohibitions are the principles of beneficence and non-maleficience. The contents of these principles in a way mark the professional integrity of the physician. But the modern approach to health care services pulls a demand for the respect of the individual right of self-determination. This demand is now glaring in almost all the practices pertaining to health care services. In end of life decisions, this modern demand is found much in practices like physician- assisted suicide and euthanasia. It demands that the physician ought to respect the wish and choice of the patient, and so, must assist the patient in bringing about his or her death when requested. In such manner, this views the principle of autonomy as absolute and should not be overridden in any circumstance. However, the physician on his part is part of the medical profession that has integrity to protect. This integrity in medical profession which demands that the physician works only towards the health care of the patient and to what reduces diseases and deaths often go contrary to this respect for individual autonomy. Thus faced with such requests by patients, the physician always sees his integrity in conflict with his demand to respect the autonomous choice of the patient and so has a dilemma in responding to such requests. This is the focus of this work,"Professional Integrity and the Dilemma in Physician- Assisted Suicide" However, the centre of my argument in this work is not merely though necessary to develop general arguments for or against the general justification of PAS, but to critically view the role played by the physicians in assisting the death of their patients as it comes in conflict with the medical obligation and integrity. Is it morally right, out rightly wrong or in certain situation permissible that physicians respond positively to the request of the patients for PAS? This is the overarching moral problem in the morality of physician- assisted suicide, and this work will consider this in line with the main problem in the work “the dilemma of professional physicians in the assistance of suicide.

The purpose of this paper is to understand why education is a human right. I will look at works by the late Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator. Paulo Freire worked for many years on developing a pedagogy to promote humanity. His goal was to demonstrate that a literate person will ultimately live a better life because she will be free from oppression and domination. I chose to study Paulo Freire as a tool in proving why education is a human right because throughout his work he demonstrated the need for people to be literate in order for them to be considered “truly human”. I will address this term further in my argument. This thesis is a work in progress. My goal is to include chapters illustrating Amartya Sen’s theory and ideology, and compare them to those of Freire’s. I would also like to include a chapter specifically dedicated to women and education, since it is common practice for women in many countries to sacrifice their right to education so the males in their families can attend school.

"I dag präglas samhället av en mångfald uttryck inom bild- och formområdet. I det fria konstnärliga utövandet pågår ett ständigt experimenterande med olika material, tekniker och uttrycksformer. Olika medier påverkar oss genom användning av symboler för att föra fram sina budskap. Därför finns behov av att kunna analysera och tolka bild- och formområdets olika funktioner i dagens samhälle." I min undersökning har jag tagit reda på hur man kan utveckla ett symboliskt måleri genom att låta sig inspireras av Holländska blomsterstilleben från 1600-talet, för att sedan kunna skapa en meningsfull och inspirerande stillebenundervisning i skolan. Jag har valt att utgå från dessa 1600-talsmålningar då det finns en mängd dokumenterad symbolik och historik kring dessa verk, och för att de estetiskt intresserar mig med sin passiva och dekorativa utstrålning. På ett lekfullt sätt har jag undersökt dessa målningars kraft och symboliska betydelse för att sedan förskjuta symboliken i dem och skapa egna konnotationer som betyder något för mig. Då jag främst har fokuserat på gestaltningen i min undersökning har jag kunnat konstatera att mitt bildspråk, min teknik, kompositions och associationsförmåga har berikats betydligt genom att måleriskt ha undersökt dessa religiösa, kulturella och vetenskapliga bilder. Genom att prova på olika uttryck, färg, form, ljus och narration experiment på ett postmodernt sätt har jag också lekt med förskjutningar och därigenom skapat en för mig själv ny typ av narrativa stilleben. Dessa har jag sedan analyserat vilket även finns dokumenterat i denna undersökning. Man kan enkelt utrycka det som att jag har velat ta symboliken från historiska målningar och uppdatera den för en samtida "oinvigd" publik. Jag vill på detta sätt i min undervisning uppmuntra eleverna att ta historien i all sin komplexitet och göra den till sin egen och avdramatisera det "heliga" och i och med detta kanske göra den mer attraktiv och greppbar. / BI / Konst

The modern world is facing a revolutionary development in the clinical medicine and biomedical sciences. Due to the different life supporting systems, it is easily possible to keep patients with severe diseases alive. With organ transplantation a lot of people, who would otherwise die can live long and happy lives. In vitro fertilization allows a woman to bear the child that is not genetically related to her. Due to the possibility of contraception, safe abortions and prenatal diagnosis, women and couples can make preferable choices concerning their future child. Such medical developments and improvements have a great impact on our life, and provoke a lot of ethical questions and moral dilemmas. The aim of this thesis is to answer the question whether prenatal diagnosis can be justified as it mainly leads to the selective abortion, whether and when the fetus counts as a person and whether the prospective parents can perform selective abortion on the basis of fetal disability; and to discuss ethical problems that are experienced by the doctor, who brings the news into the family and what is his/her role in the decision-making process.

Ondskans problem är ett gammalt (religions)filosofiskt problem som, i grova drag, frågar om existensen av en allsmäktig, allvetande och allgod Gud är förenlig med ondskan i världen, samt varför en sådan Gud tillåter ondska. Filosofer (som svarar jakande på frågan om) har utvecklat ett svar på frågan varför Gud tillåter ondska. Syftet med denna uppsats är följaktligen att redogöra för Richard Swinburnes svar på frågan varför Gud tillåter ondska, samt granska svaret i ljuset av Eleonore Stumps tankegångar.

The aim of this essay is to discuss the meaning of the human and its possible overcoming in Friedrich Nietzsche’s doctrine of the eternal recurrence of the same, with Martin Heidegger’s readings of Nietzsche as point of departure. According to Heidegger, Nietzsche’s doctrine of the eternal recurrence of the same represents the end of occidental metaphysical thinking. The thought concludes a thinking of being as the presence of beings, where the original question of being was never developed out of its own ground. But at the heart of this interpretation, often considered “violent”, lies the question of whether man is able to think being out of his finitude. This is the question I will unfold, through a reading of Nietzsche’s thought of the eternal recurrence of the same, as it is presented in his Thus spoke Zarathustra, as an attempt to think beings in their being beyond a “humanization” of them, expressed in transcendental aims, purposes and categories. This attempt, I argue, is essentially bound up with a comportment toward the human self as the finite and the corporal. In this sense the human being in its finitude and corporeality is thefocus and the basis for the search for “the overman”. But this focus on man, as he who can overcome himself, is at the same time a focus that canbe said to lead man away from himself, in not asking the deeper question about what it means to be this human being. I will furthermore consider the tragic as the theme where this question of the overcoming of the human comes to the fore; the dionysic-tragic reveals both a view of man as the being that is mastered by the abyss that underlies this world, and therefore mastered by his finitude - and as the being who can master this same abyss, in thinking it as one with the human self. The purpose is not to take a position for or against Heidegger’s reading, but to develop a discussion between Heidegger and Nietzsche about the human self as always being both the closed and the open, and about the ways in which human thinking can approach this.

The organized and controlled form of collecting consumption taxes and toll from the import and export trade goes back to the 17th century in Sweden. The customs administration and procedure were regulated by royal announcements, and the majority of the documents found in the customs archives represent thus records stipulated by such notifications. The customs archives can be used for research on several levels; the announcements reflect currents within both the domestic and foreign politics, while the account lists for financial statistics portray the extent of the trade. The various lists of compilation can be further used to follow for instance the development of different units of measurement, the expansion of tax rates, the value of trade goods or the changes in monetary units or systems. The diaries, architectural plans of the customs offices and maps of the toll areas place the customs officials and their work within the local scenery. The thesis focuses on archives deriving from customs located at harbors and on the Swedish-Norwegian border in the county of Dalarna. Examples of documents originating from the collection of agricultural tariffs have been included, as well as cases from a tariff court (accisrätt). These selected archives cover both the different kinds and levels of customs administration found in Sweden from the 17 the century and onward. This is a one year master’s thesis in Archival Science.

Detta examensarbete handlar om vilka uppfattningar som finns om filosofiämnets syfte på gymnasiet. Det som berörs i uppfattningarna är huruvida de bygger på ämnets färdigheter eller kunskaper. Läroplaner (kursplaner) och läroböcker har analyserats och en grupp gymnasieelever har intervjuats. De läroplaner för filosofi som är analyserade är från år 1933, 1966, 1977, 1994 samt 2000. Läroböckerna som analyserats är Lars-Göran Alms Gula idéer sover lugnt, Martin Levanders Filosofi. Ingen lära utan en aktivitet samt Ulf Perssons Filosofi – frågor och argument. Elevmaterialet bygger på en gruppintervju med fyra elever enligt fokusgruppmetoden. Resultaten visade att läroplanernas bild av ämnet varierade. Tydligt var att ungefär varannan läroplan hade större fokus på kunskaper och varannan betonade färdigheter mer. Även om de olika läroböckerna varierade något stämde de ändå överens med den kursplan (2000) som de skall vara skrivna utifrån. Elevernas uppfattningar var att ämnet tvärt emot deras förväntningar lade större vikt vid kunskap än vid färdigheter, detta trots att de uppgav att de utvecklat vissa färdigheter efter genomgången kurs.

The Norwegian Rom community (Gypsies) leads a life outside large society. Most of the members are illiterate and poor and they are dependent on social security. Moreover, the Rom children are not going to school because education is not a part of the Rom culture. This situation raises various ethical dilemmas regarding cultural rights and obligations. In this thesis the author asks which of the conflicting rights should weigh most: The parent’s right to bring up their children in accordance with their own culture and beliefs, or the child’s right to education? The author’s argument is structured around two main problem areas. First, what is it with education that is good for all people? The short answer to this question is that education is important for functioning in society. Knowledge provides for a wider range of opportunities, and how to use this knowledge is up to each person. The other problem area is the limits of cultural toleration in liberal societies. Here, the author argues that although the right to culture is important, liberalism cannot accommodate illiberal practices. Childrearing that restricts the child’s access to the world outside its original community is one example of intolerable practices. In order to get the Rom children in to school, dialogue is the preferable way to go. However, if the establishment of dialogue is impossible because of fundamentalist or non-dialogical attitudes, an alternative argument is provided: Discursive paternalism is a compulsion to argue on contested norms. This compulsion reconciles individual freedom (autonomy) and paternalism, and can therefore be justified by liberals. Main references are Will Kymlicka, Martha Nussbaum, Chandran Kukathas, Adeno Addis and May Thorseth.

<p>This thesis is a philosophical contribution to the theories on risk communication. The topic of risk communication is approached from several different angles, but with a normative focus on equality and vulnerability.</p><p>Essay I is a comment on risk perception theory and the psychometric model in particular. In risk perception research individual risk taking is described as either a result of valuing the benefits from risk taking or a failure of comprehending the severity or probability of risks. The essay argues that sometimes individuals take risks simply because they are in a vulnerable position and have no other choice. Four factors are identified as crucial in risks from vulnerability: poor outset conditions, lack of reasonable options, hope and liability to disinformation.</p><p>Essay II addresses the democratic approach to risk communication and the ideal of risk communication as a dialogue between more or less equal stakeholders. The Essay argues that even the more innovative and dialogue oriented approaches to risk communication are unequal. This is often blurred by the confusion between the described ideal and the description of these newer approaches. This inequality is analysed in a three-fold way: influence over the communication process; influence over and access to information; and influence over risk decisions. The Essay develops a typology of different risk communication practices and influence distributions and concludes that the form of risk communication most commonly referred in the literature is the most imbalanced kind where all three types of influence falls to the same party.</p><p>Essay III explores the concept of trust, an often-mentioned objective for risk communication. The concept of trust is analyzed from previous philosophical approaches, and the idea of trust as comfortable defocusing is introduced. It is argued that not only the gains for the trustee but also the gains and risks for the truster, generally and in the case from risk communication, can be explained by this notion. It is concluded that public trust for institutions or organizations need not be framed on an individual level. Instead, the vulnerability of trusting can be counter-acted by a delegation of different stances, including both control and trust, among different individuals and institutions in society.</p>