Our contact with nature is decreasing in what has been referred to as the “extinction of experience”. Consequences of the loss of nature experiences are far-reaching and involve not only changes in health and wellbeing, but also changes emotions, attitudes, and behaviour towards nature. This research aims to fill a knowledge gap in understanding specific characteristics of nature experiences in relation to both a) generating human wellbeing, and b) improving Human-Nature Connection (HNC), defined as how people relate to nature. The aim is to increase our understanding of the characteristics of nature experiences that can achieve both of these positive outcomes. Furthermore, this research explores an organisational perspective through interviewing organisations that are currently incorporating or thinking to implement practices that include nature experiences. To address the main aim, an integrative literature review was conducted, and the results revealed that intentional contact, active engagement (specifically appreciative outdoor activities, cognitive engagement, cues, and direct earth contact), and biodiversity and wildness to be significant characteristics that positively impact human beings. Moreover, appreciative outdoor activities and cognitive engagement have been shown to be beneficial even when passive. In addition, there is some evidence that there is a link between HNC and wellbeing, which suggests that improving HNC would increase the wellbeing effects experienced by an individual during a nature experience. This knowledge is crucial for designing nature experiences that are able to more efficiently improve wellbeing, as well as improve HNC. Regarding the organisational perspective, a barrier that needs to be overcome is reaching an understanding of the benefits of such experiences, not only for the employees but for the business. One major opportunity identified is the hybrid working model, which allows employees to work remotely, and the possibility for the company to actively encourage its employees to experience nature.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and compare a Christian and transhumanist worldview, particularly with regard to the compatibility between their views on humanity and human nature. The analysis utilizes Leslie Stevenson's analytical framework of what constitutes a theory of human nature, coupled with the philosophical method of analyzing the contents of ideas, advocated by Carl-Henric Grenholm. Through examination of articles authored by transhumanists and representatives of the Swedish church, the thesis examines how, and in what way, transhumanist visions of the technological advancements of humanity could be argued to harmonize with the Christian notions of Imago Dei and co-creation. The analysis concludes by summarizing which arguments for or against compatibility prove to be most convincing and argues that, given certain essential conditions, there could be compatibility between a Christian and transhumanist view of humanity.

No description available.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how a theology regarding artificial intelligence best could be formulated in concern of consequences for a christian view of human nature. This purpose is examined by means of a comparative study of consequences derived from four different perspectives on the emergence of AI and the theoretical implications of its relation with mankind. As premise for what is considered a desired, respectively an undesired consequence, the minimum amount of human suffering is used conditioning the possibility of living a good life. In conducting the analysis, Leslie Stevensons theory of humanity in relation to God is used to interpret the christian view of human nature and a general wide theory of AI based on Cornel Du Toits definition is applied. My assessment of the researched consequences ends in a proposal for a constructive christian theology which argues for the necessity of placing a high value on a human capacity for vulnerability. This is because it enables invaluable human qualities such as empathy and compassion. Qualities that also should  lead the way and be modeled into a concern for all of creation, whether it is considered natural or artificial.

No description available.

<p>Currently, there is significant divergence in scholarly opinion as to whether or not human nature exists. In my PhD thesis, I argue for the existence of human nature. In so doing, I critique rival views on human nature and orthodox entry points into the issue. I also offer a partial explanation as to why such a strong divergence of expert opinion may exist, and argue that accuracy on the issue is important with respect to individual and collective problem solving. The view of human nature I defend is what I call ‘ecological.’ This construct aligns with the fact that biological systems exist at multiple levels of organization and relative to varying ecologies, developmental stages, frames of reference, and viable systems of orientation. Given this, I contend human nature is not something that ‘inheres’ and projects out from the organism; rather, human nature is diffuse and exists at simultaneous levels of biological organization, and at the intersection of genetic and epigenetic factors, past and present, and scientific truth and pragmatism.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

La religion est un phénomène culturel universel et un sujet d'étude central en anthropologie. Pourtant, on constate un manque flagrant de consensus sur sa définition et son origine dans les manuels d'introduction et les dictionnaires d'anthropologie. Des hypothèses et des modèles explorant cette question sont toutefois disponibles depuis une vingtaine d'années du côté de la psychobiologie. Le présent projet cherche à déterminer si la définition et les explications de la religion que propose l'anthropologie sont compatibles, en tout ou en partie, avec les données et modèles de la psychobiologie. Une synthèse des hypothèses psychobiologiques est d'abord présentée; elle sert de point de comparaison analytique avec les théories anthropologiques de la religion. Deux de ces théories, celles de Edward Burnett Tylor ([1874] 1889) et Clifford Geertz ([1966] 2010), sont résumées et ensuite analysées en rapport avec leur définition de la religion, leurs éléments universels (explicites et implicites) et leurs principes théoriques. Ces deux auteurs sont reconnus pour leur influence majeure dans ce domaine et ils s'appuient sur des fondements théoriques opposés. L'analyse démontre que seule la théorie de Tylor confirme l'hypothèse de ce mémoire, à l'effet que certaines conceptions et explications anthropologiques de la religion sont compatibles avec les explications psychobiologiques. Malgré tout, une conciliation de l'ensemble des sources analysées et l'esquisse d'un modèle sur la nature et l'origine évolutive de la religion semblent se dessiner. / Religion is a universal cultural phenomenon that is central to anthropology, yet a lack of theoretical agreement about its definition and origin is obvious when comparing dictionaries and introductory handbooks. Hypotheses addressing this question have been available for the past two or three decades in the field of psychobiology, and this thesis explores whether anthropological theories of religion can offer a definition and explanations as to the origin of religion that are, at least in part, in agreement with psychobiology. First, a summary of the hypotheses offered by psychobiology is presented. This will serve as an analytical benchmark with which to compare anthropological theories on religion. Two such theories are summarised and analysed in terms of their proposed definition of religion, their universal elements, and their theoretical bases, that of Sir Edward Burnett Tylor ([1874] 1889) and that of Clifford Geertz ([1966] 2010). Both are influential theories, but have opposing theoretical foundations. The analysis shows that only Tylor’s theory supports the hypothesis of this thesis, which states that some anthropological conceptions and explanations of religion are compatible. Regardless the discrepancy between all the analysed sources, these could be conciliated, in a preliminary model of the nature and the evolutionnary roots of religion.

La présente étude porte sur l’anthropologie et la politique de Spinoza. Il s’agit précisément de montrer en quoi, la réflexion spinoziste sur l’homme se donne particulièrement à lire à travers les concepts d’ « individu », de « corps » et d’« affects ». Au cours de notre analyse, nous montrons que ces concepts occupent une place de choix chez l’auteur de l’Éthique pour deux raisons : d’une part, c’est par eux, que le philosophe déploie son analyse des rapports psychophysiques de l’individu humain. En effet, selon lui, le corps humain étant une réalité « en acte », il est nécessairement affecté par d’autres corps. Or, en tant qu’il est aussi l’objet de l’idée (l’esprit), rien n’affecte ou ne modifie sa puissance, sans qu’il ne soit perçu par l’esprit humain. Et, l’« affect » n’est tout autre que cette modification de la puissance corporelle et sa perception par l’esprit. Autrement dit, l’affect peut se définir comme la conscience simultanée que l’individu humain a de son propre corps, par l’entremise de la perception des altérations de la puissance d’agir de ce dernier (les sciences contemporaines, telles que la neurobiologie, la psychologie, la médecine, et bien d’autres, corroborent les thèses de Spinoza à ce propos). C’est en insistant sur la simultanéité des rapports psychophysiques, donc sur l’absence d’interaction du corps et de l’esprit, que Spinoza se démarque de Descartes. D’autre part, à travers les mêmes concepts (de « corps » et d’« affects »), Spinoza permet aussi de penser la constitution d’un autre genre de corps ; un corps né de l’union des individus humains, à savoir : le corps politique. Les affects sont, non seulement au fondement de la constitution de ce corps, mais ils sont aussi ce qui permet de réguler les affaires humaines. C’est en ce sens que Spinoza nous amène à concevoir le corps politique, non pas comme une rupture - contrairement à ce que soutenait Hobbes - mais comme une continuité de l’état de nature. Le mérite de l’anthropologie spinoziste est de montrer qu’autant la nature humaine ne peut se concevoir sans affects, autant aucune réflexion politique ne peut avoir de valeur de vérité sans la prise en compte de ces mêmes affects. / The Dissertation is a study of Spinoza’s anthropology and politics. It shows how Spinoza’s reflection on man can be read with an emphasis on the concepts of “individual”, “body” and “affects”. These concepts have a prominent place for the author of Ethics for two reasons: 1) they are central to his analysis of the mind body relation. Because, according to him the human body, for being a reality “in action”, is necessarily affected by other bodies. 2) However, as it is also the object of an idea (mind), nothing affects or modifies its power, without it is being perceived by the human mind. And the affect is the very modification of physical power and its perception by the mind. In other words, the affect can be defined as simultaneous consciousness that the human individual has from its own body by means of perception of the changes of his power to act (the contemporary sciences, such as the neurobiology, the psychology, the medicine, and many others, may confirm the theses of Spinoza). Our study pays attention to the simultaneity of the affections of the body and the ideas of these affections in the mind, and to the lack of interaction of body and mind that characterizes Spinoza’s philosophy and makes the difference with Descartes’ conception. It is important to emphasize that Spinoza with the same concepts of “individual”, “body” and “affects”, also allows us to think of the constitution of another kind of body the political body. The affects are not only on the foundation of the constitution of this body, but they are also what allowed to regulate human affairs. It is in this sense that Spinoza leads us to conceive the body politics, not as a breakage - unlike Hobbes - but as a continuation of the state of nature. Spinoza’s anthropology is powerful, because it proves that human nature cannot be conceived without affects, as well as no political thinking can have a value without considering the affects.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2019-03-13T16:12:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Maurício Fernandes da Silva_.pdf: 1093963 bytes, checksum: 885381ce26dbf370ae0ca4f500914c19 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2019-03-13T16:12:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maurício Fernandes da Silva_.pdf: 1093963 bytes, checksum: 885381ce26dbf370ae0ca4f500914c19 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-12-04 / Nenhuma / As tecnociências atingiram uma posição basilar na sociedade contemporânea marcada principalmente pelos avanços expressivos nos campos da biotecnologia e das engenharias genéticas, o que marcou significativamente o ambiente intelectual de finais do século XX. A questão da técnica ocupa um papel importante na obra de Habermas desde seus primeiros ensaios ainda na década de 1960, passando por sua obra magna na década de 1980 e seus mais recentes escritos, apresentando-se como um eixo temático-dialogal vivo e recorrente na arquitetônica do pensamento de tal filósofo. Podemos enxergar uma evolução do pensamento de Habermas acerca do fenômeno tecnológico, um interesse crescente acerca de tal fenômeno presente desde sua crítica às propostas de Herbert Marcuse e de outros integrantes da Escola de Frankfurt na década de 1960 até sua crítica aos impactos das intervenções biotécnicas no horizonte de nossa autocompreensão Ética da Espécie em 2001 e 2014. Porém, mesmo com uma explícita retomada da questão da técnica em seu pensamento, Habermas não aparece nos debates em Filosofia da Tecnologia, e também não aparece como um autor referencial dente contexto. Nesta pesquisa, nos direcionaremos para o desenvolvimento teórico-conceitual sobre o fenômeno técnico no pensamento de Habermas, tematizando a existência de uma Filosofia da Tecnologia em sua arquitetônica intelectual, e apontando para elementos que nos indicam os traços de um pensar fecundo sobre tecnologia presente em sua trajetória intelectual. Neste sentido, argumentaremos a existência de uma linha de continuidade entre os primeiros escritos de Habermas e sua crítica mais recente, o que nos revelará uma Filosofia da Técnica que pensa tal fenômeno em marcos importantes do século XX e inícios do século corrente. O problema que nos direciona nesta pesquisa é um esquecimento deste aspecto do pensamento de Habermas no campo dos debates em Filosofia da Técnica. Assim, procuramos além de tematizar a existência de uma Filosofia da tecnologia, apontar para as contribuições de seu pensamento aos debates atuais em Filosofia da Tecnologia e também bioéticos. / Technosciences reached an important position in contemporary society marked mainly by the expressive advances in the fields of biotechnology and genetic engineering, which marked significantly the intellectual environment of the late twentieth century. The question of technique has played an important role in Habermas's work since his early essays in the 1960s, through his opus magnum in the 1980s and his most recent writings, presenting himself as a lively and recurrent dialogical thematic axis in the architectonic of the thought of such philosopher. We can see an evolution of Habermas's thinking about the technological phenomenon, a growing interest in such phenomenon since his critique of the proposals of Herbert Marcuse and other members of the Frankfurt School in the 1960s until his critique of the impacts of biotechnical interventions on horizon of our Self-Understanding Ethics of the Species in 2001 and 2014. However, even with an explicit resumption of the question of technique in his thinking, Habermas does not appear in the debates in Philosophy of Technology, nor does appear as a referential author in this context. In this research, we will focus on the theoretical-conceptual development on the technical phenomenon in Habermas' thought, thematizing the existence of a Philosophy of Technology in his intellectual trajectory. In this sense, we will argue the existence of a continuity line between the first writings of Habermas and his most recent criticism, which will reveal to us a Philosophy of the Technique that thinks this phenomenon in important marks of century XX and beginnings of the current century. The problem that directs us in this research is a forgetfulness of this aspect of the Habermas thought in the field of the debates in Philosophy of the Technique. Thus, we seek beyond thematize the existence of a Philosophy of technology, pointing to the contributions of his thought to the current debates in Philosophy of Technology and bioethics.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T17:26:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacaocompleta.pdf: 577472 bytes, checksum: 34f4376d0efe75a16c75d7d68e7fd42c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-09-30 / The present research has shown that discussion about the sovereignty idea contributes slowly to the development of political ideas If in the Middle Age arguments between temporal power defenders and divine power defenders arose most of the times thinkers interest in analyzing the political reality and its results it s on Civic Humanism that politics has been more reflected from the rescue of ancient thinking and the conception that man can be organized in societies by creating its own laws which need to be adequate to man s needs So politics are not done randomly they are man s natural demonstration as we use politics to organize life collectively and keep a gathered society Maquiavel has focused on politics from this view point with his experience as Chancellor of the Republic of Florence which was subsequently explained in political theory with Italy as a backdrop a county that was torn apart in principalities and republics and on the other hand the Church which constituted the biggest political and religious strength in Italian cities whose aim was its own institutional straightening instead of Italy s political unity s That reality led Maquiavel to develop his ideas about politics in general and particularly about the ways that Italy could overcome this situation by using a political actor capable of winning adversities and leading Italy to became a world power Only a governor with great resolve able to gather the support of different factions in Italy who dared making a strong army and able to turn laws education and religion into instruments to allow governance keeping a good image for his subordinates could enable vivere civile no Regnum Italicum standing from the principle that man is inclined to evil the existence of a human nature which must be controlled and the governor can use any extraordinary way if he needs so. Maquiavel has found samples of men in history and the greatest men in the past who had used the power of laws weapons education and religion to develop his theory of an efficient political action. Research has been around this universe analyzing Maquiavel s political ideas and his conception of human nature a condition that points to the beginning of satisfaction of one s own needs and wishes which can be controlled by law or strain / A pesquisa demonstrou que a discussão em torno da noção de soberania contribuiu lentamente para o desenvolvimento das idéias políticas Se durante a Idade Média as disputas entre os defensores do poder temporal e do poder divino despertaram o interesse dos pensadores da época em analisar a realidade política e os resultados decorrentes dela foi com o humanismo cívico que a política passou a ser refletida com maior ênfase a partir do resgate do pensamento antigo e da concepção de que o homem pode organizar-se em sociedade criando as leis de acordo com as próprias necessidades A política não é obra do acaso é uma manifestação natural do homem que a utiliza para a organização da vida coletiva e preservação do corpo social É desta perspectiva que Maquiavel dedicou-se a tratar da política tomando em conta a experiência advinda do exercício de Chanceler da República de Florença posteriormente explicitada em teoria política tendo como pano de fundo a Itália que encontrava-se cindida em principados e em repúblicas e de outro lado a Igreja constituía-se na grande força política e religiosa das cidades-estado italianas cujo objetivo era fortalecer-se institucionalmente e não a unidade política na Itália Dada esta realidade Maquiavel refletiu e formulou idéias sobre a política de modo geral e em particular de como a Itália poderia superar tal situação por meio de um ator político capaz de vencer as adversidades e conduzi-la de modo vir-a-ser uma potência Somente um governante decidido que soubesse agregar as forças das diferentes facções existentes na Itália que ousasse formar um exército forte e fizesse das leis da educação e da religião instrumentos para viabilizar a governabilidade mantendo a aparência frente aos súditos possibilitaria o vivere civile no Regnum Italicum partindo do princípio de que os homens são propensos ao mal, que há uma natureza humana que deve ser controlada e que o governante possa valer-se de meios extraordinários se necessário Maquiavel encontrou na história e nos grandes homens do passado exemplos dos que utilizaram o poder das leis das armas da educação e da religião para desenvolver a teoria da ação política eficiente A pesquisa ocupou-se deste universo analisou as idéias políticas de Maquiavel e sua concepção de natureza humana que visa em princípio a satisfação dos próprios interesses e desejos sendo que para controlá-la deve imperar a lei ou a força