The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the impression from a travel to Sweden of two travellers from distinct historical periods: Mary Wollstonecraft, who was an Enlightenment representative from Great Britain, and Gabriel Morris, a contemporary traveller and YouTube-filmmaker from Canada. The proposition is that there is no such thing as “an innocent eye”; that the nature of our perceiving the reality is a product (or a construct) of our social environment, upbringing, education, age, ethnicity, or nationality. For this thesis I read Mary Wollstonecraft´s Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, and I watched Gabriel Morris´s videos from the journey to Sweden on his YouTube-channel. I have described the journey to Sweden of those two protagonists and put it later into context of their historical backgrounds. The main issue has been whether there are differences in their perceiving Swedish nature, people, and culture, and what these differences are based upon. On the other hand, what can be thought of as uniting these two travellers – based on a simple fact that they both were only visiting the country for a short time? The conclusion I made is that their historical background has affected their experiencing the country; while the common ground could be found in the nature of tourism itself.

Socialdemokraternas partistyrelse tillsatte 1989 en arbetsgrupp för att undersöka och presentera problemställningar och eventuella lösningar till dessa inför det svenska 90-talet. Genom denna arbetsgrupp skrevs debattboken 90-talsprogrammet som är huvudmaterialet för undersökningen. I 90-talsprogrammet placeras medborgaren som en viktig del av deras syn på mål och problemformuleringar. Inför 80-talet skrevs även då, en debattbok av relevans Det nödvändiga uppbrottet. Den bokens relevans används som en exemplifiering av yttradeåsikter under perioden innan 90-talsprogrammet. Med detta som bakgrund är undersökningens syfte att undersöka vilken syn 90-talprogrammets författare hade på medborgaren inom olika områden i samhället såsom arbetslivet och utbildning. Tidigare forskning och teorier om medborgarens roll i samhället utgör bakgrunden till undersökningen. Medborgaren som konsument och ett aktivt medborgarskap är de teman som lyfts inom den teoretiska utgångspunkterna. Till denna bakgrund kan man se en skiftning i synen på medborgarens ansvar. Genom att undersöka 90-talsprogrammet och analysera materialet utifrån teorin och genom att jämföra synsätt från olika perioder, kan man skapa en bild av hur socialdemokraternas syn på medborgaren sett ut och varit betydelsefull under denna period.

This study explores the ideological causes for restrictions on eating and drinking in Sweden during an approximate period from the year 1600 until 1720.Drawing on Michel Foucault´s theory of societal control in early modern Europe, a view on society is adapted, presupposing the control to be executed on grossly three levels: one national, one intermediary and one individual. The research material consists of normative texts, grouped into three sections, according to the position of their assumed receivers: in the first section are sumptuary laws, applying nationwide; in the second are texts giving instructions to heads of smaller communities on housekeeping and restraints; and in the third section are texts directed to individuals. In each group, statements of food and drink restrictions will be qualitatively analysed, with a focus on the ideological driving forces. The result of the study is of interest, since previous research exposes divergent opinions of reasons for consumption restrictions generally, and since food and drink is a category mostly neglected.

Uppsatsen är en studie av hur tre svenska resenärer till Ottomanska riket under 1700-talet framställer Orienten i sina skrifter och huruvida dessa framställningar kan sägas vara orientalism i Edward Saids bemärkelse. Michael Eneman reste på Karl XII:s uppdrag till området i början av 1700-talet. Hans reseskildring gavs ut postumt nästan tvåhundra år senare. Fredric Hasselquist var en lärjunge till Carl von Linné, vars reseskrift gavs ut av Linné efter Hasselquists död. Johan David Åkerblad tillbringade en stor del av sin ungdom på resa i Ottomanska riket. Han har inte efterlämnat någon reseskildring men väl brev och en anteckningsbok. Genom att studera de framställningar av Orienten som förekommer i dessa skrifter kan man se en tydlig skillnad mellan den närmast pietistiske Eneman, som ondgör sig över andra kristna inriktningar och deras irrläror, Hasselquist, som förhåller sig intresserat neutral till religionen och snarast betraktar religiösa föreställningar med en vetenskaplig blick som de naturalier han studerar under sin resa, och Åkerblad som är relativt ointresserad av religion och menar att det bibliska inte alls väcker samma starka känslor hos honom som de antika lämningar han ser. Det finns hos de tre resenärerna mycket få generaliserande och nedsättande kommentarer om de folkslag de möter och inte heller många jämförelser med Europa eller Sverige där de samhällen de besöker beskrivs som underlägsna. Därmed är det svårt att använda termen orientalism i Saids bemärkelse för dessa resenärer som kom från ett land utan koloniala ambitioner mot muslimska områden. Istället bör dessa resenärer snarast jämföras med samtida tyska orientalister vars huvudsakliga intresse för Orienten hade sin grund i religionen men senare även alltmer i historiska och filologiska problem.

This study of the former secretary-general of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld’s Vägmärken (“Markings” or “Waymarks”) explores the influence of Meister Eckhart von Hocheim’s doctrine of the eternal birth in the formation of a life stance within Vägmärken. Hammarskjöld himself singles out this particular doctrine as being of paramount importance for his life, however without any explicit comments on the nature of the influence of this doctrine on his thinking. The purpose of this essay is therefore to discern and reveal the subtle ways in which the doctrine of the eternal birth is rendered and reflected in Vägmärken. A hermeneutic method of thematical close reading and a circular oscillating discussion of chosen passages of Vägmärken in relation to an account of the doctrine of the eternal birth, is employed in that attempt. The findings of this essay suggest the prominence, in Hammarskjölds thinking, of the idea of the eternal birth in the human soul as conveyed by the eckhartian metaphor of the chalice, which is emptied in order to be refilled by God with God’s own divinity through His word, which issues forth from the profound, dark and tranquil inner depths of the individual human soul. The findings are also related to the concept of bildung.

No description available.

This thesis concerns the use of makeup by men during the late eighteenth century andthroughout the nineteenth century. The purpose is to study the discourse of makeup duringthis period, but with special focus on the man’s problematic use of makeup. To analyze this Ihave used toilet booklets (toiletthäften) as my main source of material and used discourseanalysis to analyze the material. In this thesis I discuss the view of using makeup among men. The concept andword “beauty” and the relationship between makeup and the new cleanliness practices thatemerged during the 19th century. Results show that makeup was seen as something very treacherous, whetherit was worn by men or women. The word “beauty” was in itself described as a woman andthis could have played a part in why men were urged not to openly show that they caredabout their appearance. The hygienic practices may have had a connection to the practice ofmakeup, but more research is needed. Key words: makeup, masculinity, beauty, hygiene.

<p>In this essay I have tried to present the ideas and thoughts of the Swedish author Rolf Edberg (1912-1997), journalist, ambassador and county governor. By many regarded as an environment philosopher and the introducer of deep ecology into Sweden. The essay emphasizes Edberg as a modern renaissance man of important knowledge with a rhetorical force to present and generalize the problems the planet Earth is meeting. The paper compares him with Henry Thoreau but also finds a close but perhaps unintended relationship with the German philosopher Ernst Haeckel although Edberg himself claimed to be a Darwinist at heart.</p><p>The essay stresses on four characteristic features in his authorship namely 1) a holistic view of nature and man, rejecting dualism for monism; 2) a cosmic relationship within the whole universe and also between organic and inorganic matter; 3) the planet Earth is in a crisis due to an uneven and unjust distribution of the resources of the Earth, the nuclear weapon threat and the overpopulation; 4) the evolution and not the religion has the answer to our existential questions.</p>

<p>Abstract</p><p>The ideas of adulthood, adolescence and childhood in Swedish law have a tendency to not be expressed or discussed. This thesis has focused on the preparatory work of the sexual offence-law to see whether it defines adulthood. This has been achieved by analyzing the documents related to this preparatory work. The thesis focused on two central questions: 1) Was the idea of adulthood an integral part of the discussions in the preparatory work 2) If so, then how was it defined and are there any contradictions in the definition. In addition, this work also evaluated the impact of this law and investigated whether the absolute protection intended by the government and the committee of sexual crime seek actually exists.</p><p>The study shows that the concept of adulthood was not defined specifically in the preparatory work. However, through the attempts of defining childhood, an inference of adulthood can be made indirectly. The different documents could not create a tenable definition which resulted in this process confusing rather than clarifying the definitions. These ambiguous definitions affect not only the victim of a sexual crime, but also the perpetrator and the judges’ interpretation of the law. The absolute protection also does not exist and instead of making the law stronger and firmer, the revision of the law made it weaker and reduced the judicial security.</p>

<p>The aim with this paper is to study Karl Popper’s view on realism and relativism. Further aim is to see whether those ideas have been consistent over the years. The paper argues that Popper since his first interest in philosophy has taken a realistic and antirelativistic attitude. Only his arguments for this position have been developed to meet his critics.</p><p>Common sense speaks for realism but can neither be proven nor refuted. However, arguments for realism are among others all the chemical and biological theories that presuppose realism.</p><p>Popper also expand his view on the real world to include, besides the material world, also a world of experiences which he calls “world 2” and a “world 3” comprising intellectual products.</p><p>He also rejects relativism and for him knowledge is a system of statements or theories put forward for discussion. In a conflict between two opposing hypotheses, one of them could be right or both could be wrong but both could not be right.</p><p>The conclusions in this study are based on Popper’s most important works from 1934 to 1990.</p>