Political legitimacy is a fundamental problem in the modern state. According to Habermas (1973), current legitimation methods are losing the sufficiency needed to support political systems and decisions. In response, Habermas (1987) developed the theory of communicative action as a new method for establishing political legitimacy. The current study applies the communicative action theory to Kuwait’s current political transformation. This study addresses the nature of the foundation of Kuwait, the regional situation, the internal political context, and the current economic challenges. The specific political transformation examined in this study is a national development project known as Vision of 2035 supported by the Amir as the head of the state. The project aims to develop a third of Kuwait’s land and five islands as special economic zones (SEZ). The project requires new legislation that would fundamentally change the political and economic identity of the country. The study applies the communicative action theory in order to achieve a mutual understanding between different groups in Kuwait regarding the project’s features and the legislation required to achieve them. / Media & Communication

In this dissertation, I provide a philosophical analysis of public art. I focus on its "publicness," and draw implications at the level of public art's ontology, appreciation, and value. I uphold the view that an artwork is public when received within a public sphere rather than within artworld institutions. I further argue that, as a consequence of the peculiar nature of its reception, public art possesses an essential value that is distinctively non-aesthetic: to promote political participation and to encourage tolerance. By examining how public art and its value(s) relate to the public domain in the context of pluralistic democracies, this dissertation also contributes to a fuller understanding of an important aspect of our social world. Chapter 1 introduces the scope and nature of the dissertation and emphasizes few important caveats. Chapter 2 develops a general characterization of public art's "publicness." It argues that what makes an artwork public is the context within which it is received: public artworks are received within a public sphere, that is, the public-art sphere, rather than within artworld institutions. Chapter 3 expands the account of the public-art sphere as developed in Chapter 2, and argues that public artworks address a multiplicity of publics and are received within a multiplicity of public-art spheres. Chapter 4 offers a sustained account of the pluralistic logic by means of which participants evaluate opinions expressed in discussions within public-art sphere. Chapter 5 explores the role that emotional reactions play in public-art spheres. It argues that warranted emotional reactions can function as premises of arguments proposed in public-art spheres. Chapter 6 discusses the ontology of public artworks. It suggests that some of the real properties that a public artwork has are a function of some features of the public-art sphere within which that artwork is received. Chapter 7 explains the value of public art. It holds that public art's value is a function of its capacity to promote political participation and to encourage tolerance. / Philosophy

This research project applies feminist revisions of Habermas's theory of communicative action to evaluate levels of participation in individually-based development programs through the case study of one such program. Utilizing a triangulated methodology of participant observation, interviews, and discourse analysis, combined with considerations of feminist ethical issues, this research study examines the role of dialogue and "being heard" in the recovery and rehabilitation of women who used prostitution to feed chemical addiction. I utilize a "feminist communicative action" to evaluate a unique type of development program: one aimed at individual development. In addition, this project assesses the place of human communication, emotions, and community in the sustainability of such recovery programs. / Media & Communication

Wenn man das zu einiger Bekanntheit gelangte Wort Heinz Steinerts, demgemäß die Protestantismusthese Webers „zwar hübsch, aber historisch falsch“ sei (Steinert, 2010), schon deshalb außer Acht lassen will, weil bereits ein Falsifizierungsanspruch der schwachbegrifflichen und komparativen Methode Webers entgegensteht, dann verlangt die Frage nach der Aktualität Webers dennoch ungemindert nach Antwort.

Le but du présent ouvrage est de voir s'il est possible de légitimer le travail des comités d'éthique clinique. Pour ce faire, deux modèles de validité éthique sont étudiés : l'empirisme intentionnel de D.J. Self et l'éthique discursive de J. Habermas. Afin de dégager le schéma de validité éthique de chacun des modèles et de voir leur portée pour les comités d1 éthique, ils sont analysés à la lumière de la place accordée à la pluralité et au consensus, lequel est d'une grande importance pour les comités d'éthique. Il est ici l'objet d'une analyse détaillée guidant l'évaluation parallèle des modèles. En conclusion, il appert que l'éthique discursive rend possible la légitimation du travail des comités d'éthique. Elle demeure cependant un modèle idéal qui n'est pas intégralement appliqué mais qui peut servir à améliorer la qualité éthique du travail des comités d'éthique.

Denna masteruppsats syfte är att vidga förståelsen för de förutsättningar som finns för att utbildning skall kunna vila på vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet enligt skollagen från 2011. Detta genom att undersöka några av de diskursiva tankemodeller som kan finnas i lärares uppfattningar runt skrivningen och vilka roller som kan skapas utifrån dessa. Emperin har skapats utifrån två fokusgruppsamtal hos åtta verksamma lärare i skola och förskola och sedan analyserats i en diskursanalys. Studiens teoretiska ramar utgår ifrån Foucaults teorier om makt, kunskap och subjektets formande och Habermas teorier om kommunikativa handlingar.   Resultaten formar fyra diskurser; Kunskapssyn, vetenskap ses som utifrån en Klassisk kunskapssyn; Främlingskap, vetenskap ses som främmande eftersom lärare har ringa erfarenhet och kunskap av detta; Avståndstagande, lärare behöver inte befatta sig med vetenskap då den uppfattas som väsensskild från vardagen, som elitistiskt och som kan försvåra lärares profession; Möjlighet; det finns intresse av att använda vetenskap för att lösa specifika problem i verksamheten eftersom lärare ser sig som experter med möjlighet att utveckla utbildning i skolan. Undersökningen visar motstridiga roller; forskningsfrämling som upplever vetenskapen som svår, förvirrande och obegriplig; forskningsavståndstagare med en distans och ett förkastande av forskning; forskningsutövare där lärares egna initiativ och intresse hittar forskning utifrån specifika problem.   Diskussionen menar att lärares roll gentemot en utbildning på vetenskaplig grund är komplicerad och motstridig. Rollerna; främling, avståndstagare och utövare visar på utifrån Foucaults termer; subjektets underkastelse och motstånd och lärare kommer att förhålla sig till vetenskap på ett sätt som gör att deras självbild som professionell och skicklig kan hållas intakt, vilket kan innebära ett större avståndstagande. För att lagen skall kunna realiseras måste skolans styrning utgå ifrån läraren som utövare med möjlighet att påverka, inspirera och utöva inflytande i ett vetenskapliga samtal. Detta kommer att kräva att man ger lärare kunskap och verktyg för att kunna ge sitt kunnande en vetenskaplig form. / This master thesis aims to widening the understanding of the conditions that exist so education can rest on a research base and well-tried experience according to the school law from 2011. This through an investigation of some the discourses of thought that could be found in assumptions to the law. The emperical data have been created from two focus group talks with eight teachers working in school and pre-school and have then been analysed in a discourse analysis. The theoretical frames of the study come from Foucault´s theories on power, knowledge and the formation of the subject and Habermas´ theories on communicative actions. The results has formed four discourses; View of knowledge, where research is seen as  Classical view of knowledge, Alienation, research is something strange and something they have very little experience and knowledge of, Dissociation, where teachers don´t need to concern themselves with research, as they regard as completly different from the work-day and as something elitism and which partly despises the profession of the teachers, Possibility, there is an interest to use research to solve a specific problem in their work as they regard themselves as experts with a will to develop education at school. The study shows contradictory roles; the research stranger, who experiences research as difficult, confusing and incomprehensible; the research repudiator, with a distance to and a rejection upon research; the research practiser, where own initiative, interest and will find research to solve specific problems. The discussion means that the teacher’s role in relation to research is complicated and contradictory. The roles; the stranger, the repudiator and the practiser display the submission and the resistance as seen form Foucault´s terms, and teachers will look upon research in a way that makes that their selfimage as a professional can be held intact, which could mean a stronger repudiation. In order to make the law realizable the governing of the schoolsystem must emanate from the teacher as a practiser with a possibility to influence, inspire and exercise influence in a talk about research. This will demand that the teachers are given knowledge and tools to be able to give their ability a research form.

Cette thèse théorique porte sur la psychothérapie et en particulier sur deux formes - la psychanalyse et la thérapie brève de l'école de Palo Alto - qu'elle entend examiner dans le cadre de débats portant principalement sur les efforts métathéoriques pour penser la modernité, la postmodernité et les phénomènes qui les accompagnent: rationalisation, individualisation, scepticisme ou relativisme cognitif et moral. Il est proposé que la psychothérapie puisse être considérée, au-delà de ce qui a été dit sur le caractère essentiellement narcissique de cette pratique, comme une contribution à l’émancipation sociale en favorisant le développement moral des personnes. Il s’agit ici de montrer que l’on peut faire une autre lecture de cette réalité, et ce à l’aide de ressources fournies par la tradition sociologique. Ce développement moral des personnes serait favorisé par un fonctionnement autoréflexif et des compétences communicationnelles, ces dernières traduisant, dans la pensée d’Habermas, la conscience morale. Mais pour qu’il y ait fonctionnement autoréflexif, il faut pouvoir accepter une capacité à connaître, à se connaître, ce que n’admettent pas d’emblée les thérapies influencées par le postmodernisme. Or l’examen des discours tenus par les praticiens eux-mêmes sur leurs pratiques révèle une influence du postmodernisme, que ce soit sous la forme du constructivisme, du constructionnisme social ou plus généralement d’un certain scepticisme et d’un refus concomitant de l'expertise et de l'autorité, une situation paradoxale pour une pratique professionnelle. Les deux formes de thérapies retenues censées représenter les deux pôles de l'intervention thérapeutique - le pôle technique, stratégique et le pôle expressiviste, communicationnel – sont examinées à la lumière de propositions mises de l’avant par Habermas, notamment sur les rationalités stratégique et communicationnelle ainsi que la situation idéale de parole. La psychothérapie apparait ici comme une contribution inestimable à une rationalisation du monde vécu. Forte d’un approfondissement des notions de modernité et de postmodernisme, l’exploration se poursuit avec une critique détaillée d’ouvrages de Foucault portant sur les pratiques disciplinaires, la grande objection à concevoir les psychothérapies comme émancipatrices. La thèse tend à démontrer que ces analyses ne reflètent plus une situation contemporaine. Enfin, la thèse examine le débat entre Habermas et Foucault sous l'angle des rapports critique-pouvoir : si le savoir est toujours le produit de rapports de pouvoir et s’il a toujours des effets de pouvoir, comment peut-il prétendre être critique ? Il en ressort que l'œuvre d’Habermas, en plus de posséder beaucoup plus d'attributs susceptibles d'appuyer la problématique, offre une théorisation plus équilibrée, plus nuancée des gains liés à la modernité, tandis que Foucault, outre qu'il n'offre aucun espoir de progrès ou gains en rationalité, nous lègue une conception du pouvoir à la fois plus réaliste (il est imbriqué dans toute communication et toute interaction), mais plus fataliste, sans possibilité de rédemption par le savoir. La thèse se conclut par un retour sur la notion d’individualisme avec L. Dumont, Lipovetsky, Taylor, ainsi que Bellah et al. pour discuter des phénomènes sociaux liés, pour certains critiques, à l’existence des psychothérapies, notamment l’instrumentalité des relations. / This theoretical thesis is about psychotherapy and particularly about two forms - psychoanalysis and brief therapy as conceived by the Palo Alto group – which are examined within debates bearing on metatheoretical efforts to think modernity, postmodernity and related phenomena: rationalization, individuation, scepticism or cognitive and moral relativism. As an alternative to popular ideas suggesting that psychotherapy is essentially a narcissistic practice, the proposed thesis is that psychotherapy could also be considered an emancipatory practice on a social level by contributing to the moral development of individuals. This is demonstrated using resources supplied by the sociological tradition, especially the notion of rationalization. This moral development of individuals would be emphasized by self-reflexive functioning and communicative competences, this last term representing moral consciousness in Habermas’ thinking. But in order that there be self-reflexive functioning, one has to accept the idea that one has a capacity to know and to know himself or herself, an idea which is not clearly accepted by self-proclaimed «postmodern» therapies at the turn of the millennium. An examination of discourses held by practitioners reveals an influence by postmodernism, whether in the form of constructivism, social constructionism or more generally scepticism with a related refusal of expertise and authority, a paradoxical situation for a professional practice. The two forms of therapy examined are presumed to represent the opposite poles of typical rationalities regarding therapeutic change: the strategic-technical vs the expressive-communicational. The therapies are naturally compared and evaluated against proposals put forward by Habermas regarding, among others, the two distinct rationalities that he sees at work in late modern societies and the ideal speech situation. Psychotherapy appears in this context as a most valuable contribution to Lifeworld rationalization. Having defined and evaluated the notions of modernity and postmodernism to grasp the intellectual background to key postures in postmodern therapies, the theoretical exploration continues with a critical and detailed examination of works by Foucault bearing on disciplinary practices, the great objection to seeing psychotherapy as emancipatory. The examination tends to show that his analysis does not reflect the contemporary situation regarding psychotherapy. The thesis examines also the Habermas-Foucault debate on critique and power: if knowledge is always the product of power relations and if it always has power effects, how can it practice critique? The work of Habermas offers not only more support to the general thesis but also a more differentiating and more well-balanced theorization of modernity, while Foucault, besides that he offers no hope of progress or gains in rationality, bequeaths us a more realistic conception of power – it is a part of all communication and interaction – but also more fatalist, without possibility of redemption by knowledge. The thesis ends with a review of the notion of individualism with L. Dumont, Lipovetsky, Taylor and Bellah et al. to discuss social phenomena associated by certain critics to psychotherapy, notably instrumental relations.

Nous proposons dans cette thèse une approche critique de la philosophie politique de Jürgen Habermas, qui vise à interroger la conception du discours sur laquelle elle se fonde. De ses premiers textes sur «l’espace public» à la théorie politique et du droit qu’élabore Droit et démocratie, Habermas approfondit l’intuition selon laquelle c’est à travers une certaine pratique du discours argumenté que se forment les espaces de communication, de délibération, et de décision, sans la vitalité desquels la démocratie ne saurait être «radicale». Il convient dès lors de reconstruire cette théorie du discours qui sous-tend sa pensée politique, aux différents niveaux où elle est opératoire : la pratique du langage ordinaire qui est la nôtre lorsque nous communiquons dans la vie de tous les jours ; celle que nous mettons en œuvre en tant que sujets politiques lorsque nous revendiquons des droits dans l’espace public ; celle enfin qui nous permet d’argumenter selon un point de vue moral lorsqu’il s’agit de déterminer les principes de justice. Nous défendons la thèse selon laquelle les normes fondamentales du discours, qu’Habermas établit à un niveau quasi transcendantal, doivent être reconduites à une hétéronomie qui est celle des conditions matérielles du discours. La philosophie sociale d’inspiration matérialiste qu’Horkheimer s’emploie à construire dans les années 1930 ouvre la voie d’une telle analyse. Nous reconstituons à cet effet le débat interne à l’École de Francfort sur la question de savoir comment le matérialisme critique de Marx doit être interprété. / In this dissertation I offer a critical examination of Jurgen Habermas’s political philosophy while questioning the conception of discourse which it is grounded in. From his first texts on the “public space” to the legal and political theory elaborated in Law and Democracy, Habermas explores the intuition that it is through a certain practice of argumentative discourse that spaces of communication, deliberation and decision are formed, the vitality of which is crucial to a truly “radical” democracy. The theory of discourse underpinning his political thought must hence be reconstructed at the different levels it operates on, including the practice of ordinary language through which we communicate in everyday life, the discourse we apply as political subjects when we claim rights in the public space, and the discourse which enables us to form arguments from a moral point of view when principles of justice need to be determined. My thesis supports the idea that fundamental norms of discourse, which Habermas establishes on a quasi-transcendental level, must be confronted to the heteronomy of material conditions of discourse. The materialist-derived philosophy which Horkheimer strove to reconstruct in the 1930s paves the way for this analysis. I therefore reconstitute the debate within the Frankfurt School on the question of how Marx’s historical materialism should be interpreted.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-23T14:21:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernando Mota Monteiro.pdf: 1050639 bytes, checksum: cb577882b5ce52a0ae23fc3a8b0761ae (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-22 / O Conselho Universitário da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (Ufes) é o órgão deliberativo máximo da instituição. Sua composição obedece à Lei 5.540/1968, que determina o percentual mínimo de 70% do número de seus membros formado por servidores do corpo docente, o que tende a ocasionar disparidades entre a força política da categoria docente e da categoria dos servidores técnico-administrativos em educação, fator que possui o potencial de desequilibrar democraticamente as decisões baixadas pelo referido Conselho. Como forma de atenuar tais diferenças, aponta-se a implantação de ferramentas de transparência administrativa, visando à realização de auditorias sociais e à ampliação democrática do equilíbrio de forças entre as categorias, em alusão à Teoria do Discurso de Jürgen Habermas. A Teoria apregoa que a participação do coletivo junto à administração pública produz discursos melhor fundamentados, debatidos e democraticamente mais abrangentes, e defende que a forma de participação deliberativa deve ser realizada por meios institucionalizados. Para que tal teoria seja aplicada, é essencial que o acesso às informações seja amplo, a fim de proporcionar, à comunidade universitária, meios para acompanhar o dia a dia do Conselho. Por meio da realização de pesquisas documentais, constatou-se que o site do Conselho Universitário da Ufes atende irrisoriamente ao disposto pela Lei 12.527/2011, a chamada Lei do Acesso à Informação, o que corrobora para que os processos decisórios do órgão colegiado continuem imersos na cultura do segredo. Também foi constatado que o Conselho Universitário da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) obedece plenamente à Lei, e configura-se como um exemplo de boas práticas, principalmente no que se refere às informações disponíveis em seu site, o qual disponibiliza a transmissão ao vivo de suas sessões. Por meio de entrevistas junto aos servidores ligados diretamente aos Conselhos Universitários da Ufes e da UFSC, foi realizada uma análise comparativa sistematizada, que concluiu que, mesmo havendo hegemonia do corpo docente nas duas instituições, o nível de debate junto ao colegiado da UFSC é considerado democrático, enquanto na UFES é apontada predominância da categoria docente sobre as discussões, e que, na UFSC, a comunidade universitária se interessa pelos assuntos tratados pelo colegiado superior, enquanto na Ufes a resposta é a oposta. A partir dessas análises, foi proposta uma plataforma de ação a ser implantada pela administração da Ufes visando à melhoria do acesso à informação por meio do site do Departamento de Administração dos Órgãos Colegiados Superiores, contando com uma ferramenta de transmissão ao vivo das sessões de seu Conselho Universitário que contempla a participação da comunidade universitária, em tempo real, durante a discussão de determinados pontos de pauta. Tendo como base o referencial teórico, as pesquisas realizadas e as análises inferenciais, concluiu-se que a abertura das sessões do Conselho Universitário da Ufes ao público, contemplando o direito à fala por parte da comunidade universitária, possui o potencial de ampliar a característica democrática de suas decisões, e que tal potencial pode ser mensurado quantitativamente a posteriori, a partir de sua aplicação por meio de pesquisas de opinião / The University Council of the Federal University of Espírito Santo (Ufes) is the highest deliberative body of the institution. Its composition obeys the Law 5.540/1968, which determines that 70% of its members must belong to the faculty, fact that tends to lead to disparities between the political strength of the teaching category and the category of technical and administrative educational employees, a factor that has the potential to destabilize democratically decisions issued by the Council. In order to mitigate such differences, points up the implementation of administrative transparency tools, to provide social audits and expand democratic balance of forces etween the categories, in allusion to the Jürgen Habermas/ Discourse Theory . The theory proclaims that the participation of the collective within the government produces better reasoned speeches, more debated and democratically more embracing, and argues that the deliberative participation must be performed by institutionalized means. For this theory to be applied, the access to information must be broad, to provide means for the university community to monitor the Council s everyday. By conducting documentary research, was found that the Ufes University Council/ s website obeys poorly the provisions of Law 12.527/2011, commonly named Access to Information Law , which confirms that the decision-making processes of the collegiate body remain immersed in a secrecy culture . It was also noted that the Federal University of Santa Catarina/ s (UFSC) Councyl fully complies the mentioned law, and sets up as an example of better-practices, particularly related to the available information posted on its website, which provides the live streaming of their sessions. Through interviews taken with the employees directly bounded to the Ufes and UFSC/ s University Councils, a systematic comparative analysis has been conducted, which concluded that, even with the hegemony of the faculty at both institutions, the debate level in UFSC/ s collegiate is considered more democratical, while in UFES was pointed the predominance of teaching category in the discussions, and that, at UFSC, the university community is considered interested in the issues addressed by the collegiate, while in Ufes the answer is the complete opposite. From these analyzes, has been proposed an action platform to be implemented by the Ufes/ administration, aimed at improve access to information through the website of the Superior Collegiate Bodies Administration Department, with an inclusion of live broadcast of the University Council/ s sessions and a participation tool for the university community, live also, during the discussion of some points of the Council/ s agenda. Based on the theoretical framework , on the conducted research and on the inferential analysis, it was concluded that the Ufes/ University Council sessions opening to the public, contemplating the right to speak by the university community, has the potential to expand the democratic characteristic of it s decisions, and that this potential can be quantitatively measured, retrospectively from this study/ s application, by opinion polls

During the last decades Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) has become a more frequently used method to recognise adult’s prior learning. This thesis analyses a process of RPL in health care, where health care assistants are assessed against subjects in the upper-secondary health care program. Prior research on RPL is to a high degree non-theoretical and focus is primarily on policy level research. This thesis adds to the field by progressing a critical social theory perspective on RPL. In the thesis the RPL process is analysed through Jürgen Habermas’ theory of communicative action and Axel Honneth’s Recognition theory. General questions posed are: What are the power issues in the RPL process? What implications does the tension between the lifeworld of work and the system of education have? What consequences does mutual understanding and communication have for the outcome of the RPL process? What part does recognition play for the participants? The results disclose the power relations that emerge in the relationship between participants and teachers. A caring ideology is developed and problematized. Further, the importance of mutual understanding between participant and teachers in the assessment of prior learning is discussed focusing on the consequences a lack of mutual understanding could have for the outcome in such assessments. On a macro level the analysis demonstrates the tension between the participants prior learning and the educational systems demand for formalising prior learning. In addition, analyses of a more developmental character that intends to show the potential for critical learning, change and recognition are progressed. The results suggest that communicative action can be used to develop RPL into processes focusing on critical learning and change. Recognition of traits and abilities could also enhance individual’s positive relations with the self. Such recognition could develop self-confidence and thus RPL could encourage learning and cultivate continuing self-realisation through work. / Validering har under de senaste decennierna blivit en alltmer använd metod för att erkänna vuxnas tidigare lärande. Denna avhandling analyserar en valideringsprocess inom omvårdnadssektorn för vårdbiträden med mångårig erfarenhet. Vårdbiträdena valideras mot ämnen inom omvårdnadsprogrammets karaktärsämnen. Tidigare forskning om validering är i hög grad icke-teoretisk och mycket fokus har legat på policynivå. Denna avhandling bidrar till forskningsfältet genom att problematisera validering utifrån ett kritiskt samhällsteoretiskt perspektiv. I avhandlingen analyseras valideringsprocessen utifrån Jürgen Habermas teori om det kommunikativa handlandet och Axel Honneths erkännandeteori. Exempel på mer generella frågor som ställs är: Vilka är maktfaktorerna i valideringsprocessen? Är handlingarna i processen koordinerade mot gemensam förståelse? Hur ser förhållandet mellan system och livsvärld ut? Vilken roll spelar erkännandet i validering för deltagarna? Resultatet synliggör de maktförhållanden som uppstår mellan deltagare och lärare i bedömningsprocessen. En omvårdande ideologi lyfts fram och problematiseras. Därtill diskuteras betydelsen av gemensam förståelse mellan deltagare och lärare vid bedömning, samt vilka konsekvenser brist på gemensam förståelse kan få. På ett makroplan åskådliggör analysen spänningen mellan deltagarnas erfarenheter och utbildningssystemets krav på formalisering. Vidare genomförs mer utvecklingsfokuserade analyser som vill visa på möjligheterna för kritiskt lärande och förändring i validering. Resultatet demonstrerar också, bland annat, betydelsen av att bli erkänd för sina förmågor och hur detta kan utveckla individens självuppskattning och främja lärande. I studien föreslås det att kommunikativt handlande kan utgöra en norm för hur validering kan utvecklas mot mer kritiskt lärande och positiv förändring. Men också att erkännande av tidigare förmågor kan gynna individens positiva relation till sig själv, hur detta främjar lärande, självuppskattning och hur validering därmed kan utgöra en grund för ett vidare självförverkligande genom arbete.