This thesis discusses Descartes' conception and negotiation, in the period from 1637 to 1648, of the responsibilities arising from teaching. His concerns spring particularly from the teaching of sceptical arguments, and from his efforts to maintain his project's integrity as his followers take it up. My argument is twofold: that such responsibilities were a persistent and prominent concern through this crucial period in his career, and that they offered terms of criticism within which major early responses to his work, friendly and hostile, were formulated. In Chapter 1, I show how these concerns shape the Principia. Chapter 2 argues that Descartes' conception of his responsibilities are rooted in a widespread early modern conception of the risks of scepticism, and that they are visible, within the Discours, in his remarks about exemplarity and publication, as well as in the actual business of publishing the text. In Chapter 3, these concerns are linked to a positive conception of the gains Descartes hoped to secure for his students against pressures within Aristotelianism. Finally, in Chapter 4, I show that Descartes' critics mobilise this understanding to frame early attacks on the interactions between Cartesianism and existing scholastic institutions. In closing, I suggest three directions in which to develop historiographical issues raised in the thesis.

This paper deals with the development of the trade surgery in Sweden, mainly in Stockholm, from the 16th century until training for surgeons was incorporated in the university education for physicians in 1861. Surgeons long claimed to be able to continue their practice, not only with injuries and external illness, but also with internal illness. Surgeons were organized in guilds as craftsmen. For many years, when Sweden was a Great Power, there was a great demand for surgeons for active service in the wars, often going on for long periods. But soon surgeons lost the rights to deal with internal illness after struggle with the organization of university educated physicians. Physicians considered surgeons to be uncultured and ill-bred. However, at the end of the 18th century these two groups came together in the same organization, the one of the university educated. Until 1861 the surgeons kept much of their old education. In the first half of the 19th century the discovery of narcosis and antiseptic revolutionized surgery. Now it became possible for surgeons to treat both external and internal illness. Their social position increased radically. The 19th century has been called “the century of surgery”. In addition, the paper also deals with the causes of this transformation based on the documents used, however without being able to establish one cause as the inevitable one.

En banbrytande uppsats med oöverträffade resultat

My ambition in the midst of the myriad of conflicting views in Smith scholarship has been to examine Smith’s perspective on wage labour, as formulated in The Wealth of Nations, in light of previous research, the historical context, his moral psychology described in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and his presentation of rights developed in Lectures on Jurisprudence. Therefore, the central question has been, “How did Adam Smith perceive wage labour?” Since The Wealth of Nations was formulated in a specific historical context - which has come to be known as the Scottish Enlightenment -, it is necessary to approach the text with an understanding of these historical conditions in order to grasp Smith's economic theory. Thus, it has been crucial to situate him within the political, philosophical, cultural, and linguistic contexts in which he operated. In order to assess Smith's views on wage labour, I have not only familiarised myself with the historical contexts but also examined Smith's positions on issues that constitute his perspective on the matter. A crucial assumption for the fruitful application of the aforementioned method is that the political, philosophical, cultural, and linguistic contexts fluctuate depending on time and place, thus constructing a framework for what is practically possible to investigate, problematise, debate, etc. This characteristic is referred to as paradigm (Kuhn) or episteme (Foucault). The study has applied a synthesis of both concepts. Throughout The Wealth of Nations, Smith assumes the existence of wage labour. However, beyond this fundamental assumption, his perspective on the issue is more complex. He indeed believed that an industrialised capitalist society based on private property rights, production for profit, and wage labour was better suited than any other economic-political system to generate growth and effectively address problems of poverty and inequality. The merits that Smith saw in wage labour were, in many respects, indirect, insofar as wage labour is a logical consequence of the free market and, to a lesser extent, division of labour. For Smith, the free market and division of labour were ultimate. Rather, any problems that might arise from them were expected to be resolved within the framework of these two immutable cornerstones. However, the purpose of Smith's economic and political program was both economic and ethical in character. His analysis of the labour market and its actors was that "the labouring poor" - whose interests intersected greatly with those of society - were at risk of exploitation by employers - whose interests always differed from the general public's - but this could be prevented through full employment, as companies would then need to compete for workers instead of vice versa. However, this is only the lesser of the two problems that wage labour, combined with division of labour, gives rise to, according to Smith. The other being what is somewhat anachronistically referred to as alienation in Smith research. In particular, Smith placed his trust in education to free workers' minds from the monotony of work and prevent them from being dulled, allowing them to think about something other than their jobs and helping them form a realistic understanding of where their own interests lay - and how they harmonised with society's. How then did Smith view wage labour? The short answer is that he saw it as something inevitable, inherent in the free market. However, he did highlight two serious risks associated with the free market and division of labour, namely the exploitation of the working class and alienation. While the former can be mitigated through full employment, the latter can be addressed through the education of the labouring poor.

This thesis studies how the early nineteenth century periodical Iduna, published by the influential Geatish Society from 1811 until 1844, portrayed and shaped their idea of Sweden’s past. Of particular interest to this thesis is how this past was narrated through the use of emotions and how these emotions functioned. The emotional analysis of the recreated memory centres around the poems published in Iduna which aims to show the intricate interrelation between authors and their contemporary cultural climate. It is no secret, as will be evident in the thesis, that the Geats have been rather influential in the common, or at least popular conception of the ancient Nordic. It is thus rather interesting to look at the very fabric of the Geatish past and pose the question of what this may have meant. Why did it matter to Erik Gustaf Geijer that it had once existed a free yeoman beyond set aristocratic influence, and, why did Geijer and his fellows believe that he had ever existed?  This thesis’ emotional analysis uses grief, melancholia, and pride and joy as analytical tools to unpack the Geatish past. The recreated memory itself is further structured in the pressing past and the continuous present, which distinguishes the Geats’ idea that the ancient past of Sweden is simultaneously lost and active. The analysis of these segments concludes, in broad terms, that the Geats partly used emotions as a way to gather an emotionally coherent group, all striving towards the archetypical character – the Swede – shaped by the virtues portrayed in the Geatish narrated past. The Geatish narration further challenges the older Geaticism held by Olaus Rudbeck among others in the seventeenth century. The Geatish society claimed that Sweden had an ancient pride for themselves to be proud of, rather than claiming that Sweden, in fact, was the cradle of civilisation. Summarily, this thesis is centred around how the Geats managed to portray and narrate the past to the extent that they did and further, how they managed to gather a coherent group of readers following the Geatish matter of thought.   Keywords: Geaticism, Geatish Society, Gothic Society, Götiska förbundet, Göthiska förbundet, Iduna, History of emotions, Collective memory, Nationalism, Vikings, Narrated nostalgia, Erik Gustaf Geijer, Esaias Tegnér.

Denna uppsats syftar till att ge en insikt i hur svenska forskare påverkade forskningspolitiken genom sin syn på vetenskapen och dess möjligheter under 1950-talet. Genom att analysera prominenta forskares tal under den till viss del forskningspolitiska konferensen Tekniken och morgondagens samhälle har en bild kunnat tecknas upp där forskarna aktivt presenterade och definierade forskningen på ett sådant sätt att den skulle vara oumbärlig för framtidens samhälle samtidigt som forskarna de presenterade vad som var önskvärd vetenskap. Genom gränsdragningsarbete och med hjälp av sociotechnical imaginaries utreds hur vetenskapens företrädare hade tolkningsföreträde när det gällde att definiera och presentera vad framtidens vetenskap skulle innehålla samt hur man passade in den i dåtidens politiska narrativ.

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I den här uppsatsen anläggs ett mediehistoriskt perspektiv på opinionsundersökningen i syfte att historisera denna medieform. Fokus ligger på dess förändringar mellan 1957 och 1976. Under början av perioden användes opinionsundersökningarna framför allt för att mediera publiker, det vill säga olika grupper av läsare, utifrån frågor om deras egenskaper och åsikter. Ofta kunde medieringen av publikerna fungera som ett sätt att åskådliggöra historisk förändring och resonera om politiska processer. Från och med slutet av 1960-talet blev dock opinionsundersökningar om partisympatier allt mer dominerande. Dessa fungerade oftast som valprognoser, och det som medierades i dem var partier och partiledare snarare än publiker. De tidiga undersökningarnas ambition att vitalisera demokratin genom skapandet av säkrare kunskap om folkets åsikter verkar ha ersatts med prognosticerande av valutgången i nästa riksdagsval som främsta syfte. Samtidigt som de politiska ambitionerna ifråga om demokratins befordrande minskade så tilltog debatten om opinionsundersökningarna, och deras politiska betydelse tycktes öka. Men trots att kritiken mot opinionsundersökningarnas pålitlighet och farlighet intensifierades i takt med att valprognosfunktionen blev allt mer dominerande, så minskade inte opinionsundersökningens betydelse. Snarare än att utmana opinionsundersökningens ställning verkar både kritiken och legitimeringen ha blivit integrerade delar i opinionsundersökningens protokoll. Den gängse historieskrivningen om opinionsundersökningen i Sverige har utgått ifrån ett tämligen teleologiskt synsätt på dess historia, där varken de förändringar som ledde till valprognosfunktionens dominans eller de funktioner den kunde ha innan dessa förändringar skedde har uppmärksammats.

Denna uppsats visar hur vissa klubbägare i Major League Baseball började se det geografiskt obundna supporterskapet som en lukrativ möjlighet i 30-talets USA vilket indikerar att denna form av supporterskap växte fram under decenniet. Detta tycks främst ha varit en effekt av att matcherna direktsändes på radio, men idéen om att publiken kunde vara emotionellt investerat kan vara något som klubbägarna fick från det supporterskap som fanns inom college-fotbollen.Pionjärerna för detta var klubbägare i mellanvästern, och deras drivkrafter för att försöka hjälpa supporterskapets utveckling med radiosändningar var strikt ekonomiska. Det finns också stöd för att det var ägare till sämre lag som såg mest att vinna på denna utveckling genom att få en publik som skulle stödja laget oavsett spelkvalitén på planen.