No abstract available. / Thesis (MPA)-University of Durban-Westville, 1995.

Beginning with eight women’s experiences in accessing emergency contraception from a pharmacist, this research brings into view the undocumented “sexual health work” of obtaining the drug in northern Ontario. Between 2005 and 2008, emergency contraception was deregulated to behind-the-counter, forcing women to submit to mandatory counselling and screening about sex, menstruation and contraception at the pharmacy. Situating unwanted pregnancy as harmful in this context, an institutional ethnographic analysis explores the activities of health service delivery and identifies the different ideological practices that shaped women’s access like the steady creep of neoliberalism, professional specialization and clinical power. Ideological discourses construct an ideal contraceptive user, who is patient, compliant and appears “responsible”, contributing to the stigmatization of women. Findings suggest that an inaccurate government definition of emergency contraception contributes to ignorance and misperceptions about function; this, along with an empty federal policy vacuum for women’s health contributes to its problematic status in women’s contraceptive options.

The study should be seen as an attempt to examine how a group of selected muslims from seven different cities in Sweden relate to Lars Vilks’s drawings of the prophet Muhammed (also called the roundabout dog) and if they feel that their attitude towards the drawings has changed during the seven years that have passed since the first drawing was published in the newspaper Närkes Allehanda in 2007. To understand these selected muslims’ approach, experiences and feelings in regards to the drawings I examine in what aspect they find the drawings provocative. I also examine what consequences Vilks’s roundabout dog-project might have had  for individual muslims in Sweden. The result portrays their individual reactions, experiences, feelings, views and thoughts on Vilks’s roundabout dog-project. The answers from the informants have been analyzed and discussed based on hermeneutic research theory. The informants own recount and the following analysis the study contributes to the understanding of the facts behind the perceived provocation of the images of the prophet Muhammad.

Transparency and access to information have become important elements of the Mexican political transition. The goal of this study is to contribute to the debate on those fields by: first, providing a theoretical framework that helps to understand the notions of transparency and access to information and their linkage to a democratic regime; second, by offering an account of the institutions that preceded the enactment of this norm; and third, explaining the legislative work that led to the approval of the Transparency and Access to Governmental Information Federal Law (LFTAIPG) in Mexico in 2002. This thesis/paper argues that the LFTAIPG can be seen as the result of the liberalization of the Mexican regime, and as a product of the political transition by promoting accountability in the federal government.

This thesis provides an overview over the existing and emerging correlation of the Internet and Human Rights with the main focus on the human right to freedom of expression. It looks at how freedom of expression is protected and curtailed at the same time by regulation in the global context and nationally and how it could be protected in the future. Firstly, it will address general issues and problems connected with the Internet and Human Rights, like equal access to the new technology, and terrorism and the defence of freedom. It will look at the relationship of freedom of expression and other human rights, especially the right to privacy. Secondly, it will examine the applicability of international human rights agreements and the opportunities offered by them. It will also look at the possibility of drafting a new piece of international legislation and the effectiveness of national regulation. Although in some areas international consensus may be easier to achieve, for example in many aspects of criminal law enforcement, it is unrealistic to expect that countries with different cultural values will agree upon a single set of rules for the whole world. International harmonisation strategies are clearly an important response to the jurisdictional difficulties of Internet regulation, but they can't be the ultimate and single solution. But national regulation faces its problems, too. Due to the character of the Internet as a transnational medium and its borderless flow of information the nation state only has limited possibilities to effectively regulate the Internet within its borders and it has to accept a loss of sovereignty in cyberspace. Although regulation in some areas may be effective, complete control is impossible which will be shown. Thirdly, it will consider the different approaches that are available to regulate and control content on the Internet, their effectiveness and their influence on the human right to freedom of expression. It will illustrate in various examples in form of case studies the difficulties of Internet regulation. It will also provide an overview over selfrating schemes and filtering and blocking software and the problems connected with them. The liability of Internet Service Providers will be examined and alternatives to government control of the Internet will be discussed.

No description available.

The modern principle of freedom of subjectivity sets a moral standard which radically departs from Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean: modern moral agents, exemplified by the rising middle class, are granted the right to develop extreme dispositions towards goods like honour and wealth. Given that Aristotle considers such goods divisible in the sense that when one person gets more another gets less―the basic definition of distributive injustice―it isn’t surprising that modern philosophers like Kant have trouble reconciling this right with duty to others. Failing to resolve this dilemma satisfactorily in ethical terms, Kant and others turn to aesthetics, but Kant, at least, takes no account there of moral agents’ interest in the actual existence of goods. In this respect, the alternative to the Kantian aesthetic response I document in my dissertation is more Stoic than modern. This response, the modern mediocre-artist narrative, features a mediocre artist who fails to achieve the new standard of distributive justice and a genius who ostensibly succeeds. Though other critics discuss the ethical dimension of mediocre-artist narratives, they don’t consider the possibility that the mediocre artist’s failure might be due to the ethical dilemma just described. They therefore tend to uphold uncritically the narratives’ negative judgments of mediocrity, ascribing the latter’s failure to egotism. By contrast, I examine the genius’ artistic efforts for evidence of a similar failure. Ultimately, I demonstrate that the genius does indeed fail, albeit less spectacularly, arguing on this basis that egotistical characterizations of mediocrity are unjust. But the mediocre aren’t the only victims: in “concealing” genius’ failure, mediocre-artist narratives ignore unmet claims on its fruits. Finally, I invoke Derrida’s notion of the “lesser violence” to outline a new genre that recognizes the unattainability of the modern standard of justice. I call this genre morally progressive, rejecting Jürgen Habermas’ view that freedom of subjectivity has hit a dead end, and that we must backtrack to a philosophical turning indicated but not taken by Hegel, namely, the path of intersubjective freedom.

Santrauka Šiame darbe analizuojamos Lietuvos Respublikos baudžiamojo kodekso XXI skyriuje „Nusikaltimai ir baudžiamieji nusižengimai žmogaus seksualinio apsisprendimo laisvei ir neliečiamumui“ įtvirtintos nusikalstamos veikos, pateikiamas jų sugretinimas su užsienio valstybių baudžiamuosiuose įstatymuose įtvirtintais šiai nusikaltimų grupei priskiriamais nusikaltimais. Pirmiausia darbe aptariama šių nusikaltimų sistema, pavojingumas, istorinė raida. Didžiausia magistro darbo dalis skirta Lietuvos Respublikos baudžiamajame kodekse įtvirtintų nusikaltimų ir baudžiamųjų nusižengimų, kuriais kėsinamasi į žmogaus seksualinio apsisprendimo laisvę ir neliečiamumą, sudėties požymių analizei, šių požymių lyginamajam tyrimui su įvairių šalių (JAV, Kanados, Vokietijos, Prancūzijos, Švedijos, Suomijos, Rusijos, Lenkijos, Latvijos, Estijos ir kai kurių kitų) baudžiamuosiuose įstatymuose įtvirtintomis šiai nusikaltimų grupei priskiriamų veikų požymiais. Siekiant tikslesnio ir nuoseklesnio palyginimo, kiekviena nusikalstama veika ir šios veikos sudėties požymiai, įtvirtinti Lietuvos Respublikos baudžiamojo kodekso XXI skyriuje, aptarti ir išanalizuoti atskirai. Darbo pabaigoje suformuluotos išvados ir, atsižvelgiant į kitų valstybių baudžiamuosius įstatymus, pateikti tam tikri pasiūlymai dėl Lietuvos Respublikos BK XXI skyriaus tobulinimo. / Summary This work analyses the criminal acts which are included in the XXI chapter of Lithuanian Republic Criminal Code, named „Crimes and criminal misdoings against freedom of sexual self-determination and immunity“(in Lithuanian - „Nusikaltimai ir baudžiamieji nusižengimai žmogaus seksualinio apsisprendimo laisvei ir neliečiamumui“), also these criminal acts are compared with the criminal acts of the same group, which are included in the criminal codes and acts of different foreign countries. Firstly this work analyses the system, insecurity and historical development of these criminal acts. The biggest part of this work is set on the comparative analysis of the criminal composition of the criminal acts, included in Lithuanian Criminal Code, which violates person's sexual self – determination and sexual immunity with the criminal composition of the criminal acts of the same group, included in the criminal codes and acts of various foreign countries (USA, Canada, Germany, France, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Poland, Latvia, Estonia and some other). For the precise and consequent research, each of the criminal acts with its composition, stated in the XXI chapter of the Lithuanian Criminal Code was discussed and analysed separately. In the end of this work some conclusions are made and according to the criminal codes and criminal law of the other countries some offers about the perfection of the XXI chapter of the Lithuanian Criminal Code are made.

The following is an attempt to ground personal duty – duty which is both believed and felt by all agents. To do this, I look at two contrasting attempts. The first is a rationalist attempt, which tries to ground it in conceptual necessity, the second an empiricist one, which uses empirical fact as its basis. In particular, it uses contingent facts about the things which are agents (people, for example), and what makes them feel a sense of duty. I argue that, ultimately, it is this type of grounding of duty which can be successful. Throughout, I emphasize two crucial points. The first is the freedom of the individual; the second is that duty is not a "want" or "desire;" rather, it is quite often what one does against one's own wants or desires. I argue that a paradigmatic example of establishing duty is Harry Frankfurt's theory of autonomous love.

This thesis examines Kantian conceptions of freedom. Beginning with Kant himself, I show how Kant’s response to Hume concerning the rational justification of causal judgements results in his claim that the sensible world is governed a priori by causal principles. Kant’s moral philosophy, however, requires a robust conception of freedom for moral agency to be possible. These two features leave Kant in an apparent contradiction, for it is unclear how we, as members of the physical, causal world, can be truly free if all events are governed by causal laws. I show that Kant’s solution to this contradiction lies in an important aspect of his transcendental idealism: the noumenal/phenomenal distinction. I argue, further, that his solution is problematic due to the fundamentally unknowable quality of the noumenal realm, wherein freedom is located. John McDowell’s Mind and World is introduced as an alternative to the extreme Kantian dualism between noumena and phenomena, while remaining within a broadly Kantian framework. Like Kant, McDowell locates our freedom in our ability to operate through reason, though unlike his predecessor, he situates “the space of reasons” within nature. This becomes possible by extending our conception of nature to include a “second nature”, thus making our initiation into the space of reasons—into the realm of freedom—a natural process. Remaining Kantian in spirit, however, McDowell’s account inherits a problematic Kantian feature. He maintains the distinction between two modes of intelligibility—between naturalistic and rational modes of explanation—thus leaving room for a hard-nosed naturalist to question the autonomy of the latter. I argue that Peter Strawson’s proposal in “Freedom and Resentment” is able to assuage this worry in McDowell’s otherwise plausible model. In it, Strawson provides an account of why the autonomy of rational explanations can never be undermined by purely naturalistic explanations, even in the face of a theoretical conviction in determinism. Strawson argues that our “personal reactive attitudes” (like gratitude and resentment)—attitudes that express our commitment to a moral life and are representative of our functioning within the space of reasons—could never be undermined by the truth of determinism, and this reveals the extent to which our conception of ourselves as rational agents is immune from assault by the determinist. The result is a compelling form of compatibilism that persuasively retains the space of reasons without appeal to Kantian noumenalism. / Thesis (Master, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2007-09-14 14:36:23.511