Magister Theologiae - MTh / Contemporary ecological concerns are addressed in a wide range of disciplines, including Christian theology. This task is addressed especially in Christian ecotheology which may be approached from within all the traditional theological sub-disciplines. This research project will contribute to discourse in Christian systematic theology where various aspects of the Christian faith are revisited in the light of ecological concerns. One such aspect is the Christian doctrine of sin (hamartology) with specific reference to an understanding of the nature of sin. In ecotheology sin is re-described in various innovative ways, for example in terms of anthropocentrism, domination in the name of differences of species, consumerist greed and the alienation of humans from the earth community. This project will investigate, more specifically, the contribution made by Dietrich Bonhoeffer to a Christian understanding of the nature of sin. The question that will be addressed here is how Bonhoeffer‟s positionmay be assessed in the light of contemporary Christian discourse on hamartology and ecology.

In einem wichtigen Beitrag „on self-interest and greed“ hat Gebhard Kirchgässner im Journal of Business Economics die zu beobachtende Verhaltensvielfalt von Wirtschaftssubjekten hinterfragt. Die ökonomische Standardannahme rationalen, egoistischen Verhaltens trifft die Realität nicht immer. Menschen handeln auch irrational, teils sozialorientiert und teils sozial desinteressiert, teils unmoralisch-gierig, teils aber auch altruistisch-großzügig. Welches Modell erklärt die Vielfalt? In diesem Beitrag wird die von Kirchgässner aufgezeigte Verhaltensvielfalt mit den Erkenntnissen abgeglichen, die sich aus der Hamiltonschen Fitnessthese und den Ergänzungen durch Trivers, Fiske und de Botton ergeben. Damit kann gezeigt werden, dass sich je nach Gruppe, in welcher sich ein Mensch bewegt, Verhaltensweisen einstellen, die von extrem prosozialem Verhalten (z.B. zur Statussicherung durch Vorbild oder aus Angst vor Sanktionen) bis zu sehr unsozial „gierigem“ Verhalten reichen. Der Nutzen dieser Sichtweise für die Ökonomik wird aufgezeigt. Es sind nur drei exogene Mechanismen nötig, die Verhaltensvielfalt zu erzeugen. / In an important article „on self-interest and greed” in the Journal of Business Economics, Gebhard Kirchgässner questioned the variety observed in the behavior of economic subjects. The economic standard assumption of rational, egoist behavior does not comply with reality in many cases. People act irrationally, socially oriented as well as socially uninterested, immorally-greedy as well as altruistically-generously. The variety is immense. The question occurs: which model is capable of explaining the diversity? In this article, the variety of human behavior is being compared to findings that emerge from Hamilton’s Fitness Thesis and extensions by Trivers, Fiske and de Botton. The Fitness Thesis lays the ground. Depending on the social group to which an individual belongs in a certain situation, behavior can vary from extremely prosocial (e. g. to maintain status or to avoid sanctions) to very unsocial-greedy. As any individual is part of many groups he or she can act prosocially with respect to one group and unsocially-greedy with respect to another, will say: greed and altruism is not a question of character but a consequence of the specific situation in which an individual acts. Merely three exogenous mechanisms are required to create the observed variety in behavior.

Ancrer le goût comme liant plastique dans un processus artistique et gastronomique, c’est construire la liberté d’un langage surréaliste, transposant et faisant exister le gustatif comme émotif et motif graphique. Points, lignes, couleurs sont offerts au spectateur dans la jouissance esthétique d’une dégustation. Manger l’art invite à redéfinir l'essence de la gastronomie, une esthétique du goût dans le champ des arts plastiques. Je vous propose une entrée plastique pour saisir l'art culinaire et inversement une entrée gustative pour apprécier l'art. Des fonds noirs de Francisco de Zurbarán, aux noirs torréfiés de Michel Bras, comment traduire la sacralisation du goût comme expérience sensible de l’ordre du plastique et de l’esthétique au sein d’une démarche artistique ? Du concept à la pratique participative, l'espace-assiette devient espace architectural et en définitive espace gourmand. L'espace architectural étant le moteur des projets plastico-gastronomiques, c'est à partir du corps de l’espace que les installations comestibles sont créées, afin que la gourmandise, concept imaginaire et impalpable se concrétise en œuvre d'art totale. Chair d’une couleur intime, la gourmandise se révèle dans l’incorporation d’une offrande à partager. / Introducing taste as a fine art ingredient in the artistic and gastronomic process is a way of building a free and surrealist language, by which the gustatory becomes a graphic pattern. Dots, lines, colors are given to the viewer as an aesthetic and pleasurable tasting. Eating art invites you to redefine the essence of gastronomy and the aesthetic of taste in the field of fine art. It is an artistic starter to understand culinary art, and a culinary starter to appreciate fine art. From Zurbaran dark backgrounds to Bras roasted blacks, how to translate the (sacralisation) of taste as a sensitive, aesthetic and artistic experience? From a concept to a shared practice, the space-plate becomes an architectural space and, finally, a gourmet space. The architectural space being at the start of the artistic and gastronomic projects, the edible installations are created from the (space body/structure), so that the “gourmandise”, an immaterial and imaginary concept, takes shape in a total art work.

The works of J.R.R. Tolkien have been analysed through a Christian perspective claiming Christian influences  numerous times.  Additionally,  Tolkien  was  inspired by Norse  Mythology in his works. However, his first novel, The Hobbit, has often been overlooked.  This essay has therefore analysed the main characters of  The  Hobbit  in order to determine whether  his influences were mainly from Christian Theology or Norse Mythology. This has  been done through the use of Archetypal Criticism. Specifically,  the  vices of  greed and pride has been set as the  foundational  archetypes  of the research. The results show that Norse Mythology is the major influence of the characters.

M.A., Faculty of Humanties, University of the Witwarersrand, 2011 / The preponderance of intrastate violent conflicts in natural resource rich states has been attributed to a number of causal mechanisms. Theorists of conflicts thus tend to explain these conflicts using different approaches, notably path dependency and rational choice. These approaches examine issues such as ethnicity and political marginalization, weak but repressive state capacity, strategic dilemmas, foreign instigators of conflict, and the very pervasive theory of the resource curse. Natural resources usually lie at the heart of many of these conflicts and the resource curse theory has helped explain the effects of states’ dependence on the primary resource sector. This resource curse is therefore corroborated by the rational choice approach which insists that economic incentives explain the upsurge in rebellious activities within natural resource rich but poor and dependent states, especially in Africa. This research interrogates the rational choice approach of Collier and Hoeffler against the backdrop of issues in the Niger Delta conflict. It argues that the greed versus grievance theory remains inadequate in the light of the historical and sociological circumstances underlying political struggles in the region. The research report concludes that an integrated but eclectic approach be applied in the study of this crisis.

Workplace arrogance has emerged as a research focus area for many industrial-organizational psychologists. Employees who demonstrate arrogance tend to demonstrate poor job performance, executive failure and poor overall organizational success. The present study investigates arrogance measured by the Workplace Arrogance Scale (WARS: Johnson et al., 2010) in relation to the Honesty Humility facet of the HEXACO Personality Index-Revised (HEXACO PI-R: LEE & Ashton, 2004). A total of 273 participants completed the WARS and HEXACO PI-R Honesty-Humility Facet of the HEXACO. Results show significant, strong negative correlations between the Honesty-Humility subfacets and the overall Honesty Humility facet score with the WARS scores. These findings indicate that workers high in arrogance lack important honesty-humility characteristics. Once we fully understand the complex mixture of personality traits that make up workplace arrogance, we can begin to screen for it in the hiring process and develop ways to better address it in the workplace.

No description available.

Envy, as a result of upward social comparisons, is an unpleasant emotion that occurs when a consumer sees others as being more advantaged than him- or herself, in terms of achievements and/or possessions. Envy may drive the envious consumer to 'compete' with the envied-target through purchase of similar or better products; for that reason, envy is frequently used in advertising to motivate consumers to buy better products. While envy may be good for businesses as it may promote economic growth through the “keeping up with the Joneses” mechanism, envy tends to bring destructive behavior to consumers, especially in the long run. Departing from the view to maintain consumer welfare, we argue that envy should be reduced or perhaps, temporarily deactivated. Through a series of studies, we attempt to see if envy, as an emotion, can be transformed into an object upon which physical actions can be performed to destroy it, which thus reduces or temporarily deactivates envy. Furthermore, we want to see if any of these actions, assuming that envy is reduced or temporarily deactivated as a result, would lead consumers to adopt more pro-social behavior, as opposed to typical destructive behavior of envy. / Business Administration/Marketing

Acquisition is a crucial element of consumer behavior. By gaining a deeper understanding of the factors that influence consumers' acquisition of products, marketers and managers can develop more effective marketing strategies, and design products that better align with the needs and desires of their target customers. This dissertation develops two essays that examine key components of consumers' interest to acquisition: (1) the impact of ownership language on product evaluation, and (2) the influence of dispositional greed on the experience of diminishing marginal utility. Essay 1 investigates the impact of ownership language (e.g., this is my car) on prospective buyers' item evaluation. Results show that using ownership language has a negative effect on both tangible and intangible item evaluation. Specifically, using more ownership language raises contamination concerns and leads to decreased item evaluation. Essay 2 focuses on the individual differences in the experience of diminishing marginal utility (DMU), which is an essential component of consumers' interest in acquisition. By examining the relationship between dispositional greed and the experience of DMU, this research provides valuable insights into the motivations and desires that drive consumer behavior. The findings from six studies demonstrate that individuals with higher levels of dispositional greed are less likely to experience DMU and that such a heterogeneous experience of DMU depends on consumption scenarios (i.e., quantity-based vs. non-quantity-based). / Doctor of Philosophy / Understanding what motivates people to buy things is a key focus for consumer research. By studying consumers' interest in acquisition, businesses can gain valuable insights into the factors that drive consumer behavior, which can help them design better marketing strategies and create products better suited for the needs of their target customers. This dissertation features two essays that focus on the concept of "consumers' interest in acquisition." Essay 1 studies how using phrases like "this is my car" (i.e., ownership language) affects consumers' evaluation of second-hand products. The results find that using ownership language makes consumers evaluate both tangible and intangible items less favorably. To be specific, using ownership language raises contamination concerns (e.g., the feeling of having been "polluted"), which leads to lowered item evaluation. Essay 2 investigates an aspect of consumer behavior that has received little attention in previous research: the individual differences in the experience of diminishing marginal utility (DMU). I argue that individuals' dispositional level of greed (e.g., dissatisfaction of not having enough, combined with the desire to acquire more) is related to the experience of DMU, such that individuals with higher levels of greed tend to experience less DMU compared to less greedy consumers. In other words, as greedy consumers acquire more of a good or service, the additional satisfaction they gain from each additional unit does not decrease as rapidly as it does for less greedy people. Moreover, I discovered that this heterogeneous experience of DMU was more evident when consumption experiences involved changes in quantity vs. attributes or features of a product/service.

No / The Economics of Sin examines the definition and evolution of sin from the perspective of rational choice economics, yet is conscious of the limitations of such an approach. The author argues that because engaging in activities deemed to be sinful is an act of choice, it can therefore be subject to the logic of choice in the economic model. The book considers the formation of religions, including the new age revival of `wicca¿, as regulators of the quasi-market in sins, and goes on to appraise the role of specific sins such as lying, envy, jealousy, greed, lust, sloth, and waste in individual markets and in macroeconomic activity. Empirical evidence on issues such as cannibalism, capital punishment, addiction, adultery and prostitution is also explored. Samuel Cameron concludes that a large percentage of economic activity is intimately connected with forms of sin which are in some circumstances highly beneficial to the functioning of markets, particularly in the presence of market failure. This innovative, interdisciplinary study of the institution of sin will be of enormous interest to a wide-ranging readership, including researchers and teachers of economics, sociology and theology. It will also be of importance for anthropologists and philosophers.