Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-01T19:18:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elaine.pdf: 1534705 bytes, checksum: 6845f69794f380d9b63fb69aded8128e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-07-08 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research is to ascertain a new issue in the study area of Administration. This exploring study aims to make the relations between the study of instrumental rationality, substantive rationality and quality of working life. Instrumental rationality, a kind of rationality attributed to the behavior of organizations since its organ origin, which means an instrument in search of results and goals, for which the purposes are present through intermediary ways that can be materials or diverse resources in the search of the highest financial results, a profit according to their marketing relations. Substantive rationality, another type that is linked to human affairs, social, or values held by the human essence. Quality of Working Life is a way to evaluate the working conditions that promote greater satisfaction and fulfillment to the worker. This study, with a quantitative and qualitative approach and with descriptive, exploratory and interpretive nature, investigated the perception of a sample of 110 individuals who work in areas belonging to the Technical Board of an electricity distributor organization in Florianópolis - SC. The results expose that the greatest need for workers so they can meet their satisfaction and fulfillment at work are: professional recognition, fair wages and compatible with their needs of life, higher ethics and justice in the actions and decisions of managers and team work. The annoyances that have most jumbled the capacity of enjoying the benefits of personal and professional fulfillment at work are: great political interference in technical decisions and professional recognition, and also the lack of growth prospects and improvements in career has brought dissatisfaction with their work. Before the conducted relations, it is possible to infer the propositions that the dominance of instrumental rationality can impair the improvement of quality of working life and that the balance with the presence of elements of substantive rationality, such as autonomy, ethical judgments and emancipatory values, can improve the conditions and generate improvements in the workplace / Esta pesquisa vem averiguar uma questão nova na área de estudos da Administração. O trabalho investigativo tem o objetivo de fazer as relações entre o estudo da racionalidade instrumental, racionalidade substantiva e qualidade de vida no trabalho. Racionalidade instrumental, um tipo de racionalidade atribuída ao modo de comportamento das organizações desde a sua origem organ que significa um instrumento em busca de resultados e objetivos, os quais os fins se fazem presente por meios intermediários que podem ser materiais ou recursos diversos na busca dos mais altos resultados financeiros, um lucro em função das relações mercadológicas. Racionalidade substantiva, outra tipologia que está atrelado às questões humanas, sociais, ou seja, valores defendidos pela essência humana. Qualidade de Vida no Trabalho é a maneira de avaliar as condições de trabalho que favoreçam maior satisfação e realização ao trabalhador. Este estudo, com uma abordagem quantitativa e qualitativa e com natureza descritiva, exploratória e interpretativa, investigou a percepção de uma amostra de 110 indivíduos que trabalham em áreas pertencentes à Diretoria Técnica de uma organização distribuidora de energia elétrica no município de Florianópolis SC. Os resultados revelam que as maiores necessidades dos trabalhadores para que possam atender a sua satisfação e realização no trabalho são: reconhecimento profissional, salário justo e compatível com suas necessidades de vida; maior ética e justiça nas ações e decisões dos gestores e na equipe de trabalho. Os incômodos que mais tem atrapalhado a capacidade de desfrutar dos benefícios da realização pessoal e profissional no trabalho é: grande interferência política nas decisões e reconhecimento profissional técnico; e, além disso, a falta de perspectiva de crescimento e melhorias na carreira tem trazido insatisfação com o seu trabalho. Perante as relações efetuadas podem-se chegar às proposições de que a predominância da racionalidade instrumental pode prejudicar a melhoria da qualidade de vida no trabalho, e que o melhor equilíbrio com a presença dos elementos da racionalidade substantiva, como: autonomia, julgamento ético e valores emancipatórios podem aprimorar as condições e melhorias no ambiente de trabalho

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-07T15:10:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1202886 bytes, checksum: 574885a94ef874557643f6210b03f04d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-04-07 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This study has as object the technicist logic of the pedagogical acting, based on the communicative rationality. Considering this model of reason concerning the utopia of human emancipation, it is hooked on the theory of the Communicative Action (TCA) by Jürgen Habermas. It contextualizes the invasions to which the educative processes are subjected in the contemporaneity prometed by the inbrication between the systemic and the lived worlds. It aimed at understanding the technicist dynamics of the pedagogical acting under the domains of TCA, starting from the following thesis: the technicist pedagogy is a kind of manifestation of the instrumental rationality present in the world lived within school. Through the hermeneutic method, it went in search of the possibilities of emancipation, going from the rationalization and its three universal spheres: a) culture, through educative processes which found the reevaluation of moral and ethical values formerly established; b)society, through consensual norms that only become valid before intelligible argumentations sensitively inclined to redefinitions; c) personality, through a cognitive development beyond mentalism, passing by the evolution of a moral conscience that elaborates stages of intersubjective relations. As a result of the deadlock of education, it brings the possibility to think how much the communicative rationality has lost spaces for the instrumental rationality, consequently coming up several social pathologies. On account of this, it discusses that natural and public channels of the communicative spaces (language as a medium) are deteriorated by the vehicles placed by the systemic imperatives (money and power as craftsmen) of the Western capitalist society. It perceives that the effects by the colonizations of the instrumental reason in the cognitive, expressive and normative spheres interfere much in social formations, binding the rationalizations of the lived world. Thus, the circumstances brought by the extranatural domains of educations facilitated the coming of a set of impositions at school, since the regeneration of the philosophy based on the subject (hyperindividualism) until the instructive normalizations of the technified educations. Aiming at uncovering the genesis of the educational atrophies, it concludes that the communicative rationality can be understood as a new agora ; a fertile alternative to incite a linguistic overturn in the mediations of the subject, in the interactions with others, with the knowledge, with the images (religious and metaphysical) of the world. It emphasizes that the communicative rationality can subsidize educative processes beyond functional ideologies linearly induced by the tecnification of thinking. A reflexive reason that promotes a sort of educations that is open to the multiple voices of rationality. It ends highlighting that, to strengthen the lived world, the paradigm of the communicative rationality propitiates the progressive development of human competence which, under the idea of emancipator education, the utopia of which one is in search becomes a criterion for social evolution. / Este estudo tem como objeto a lógica tecnicista do agir pedagógico, fundamentando-se na racionalidade comunicativa. Considerando esse modelo de razão voltado à utopia da emancipação humana, subsidia-se na Teoria da Ação Comunicativa (TAC) de Jürgen Habermas. Contextualiza as invasões a que os processos educativos estão sujeitos na contemporaneidade, promovidas pelo acoplamento do mundo sistêmico sobre o mundo vivido. Objetivou compreender a dinâmica tecnicista do agir pedagógico, à luz da TAC, partindo da seguinte tese: a lógica do tecnicismo na educação obstrui os ideais da educação emancipatória. Por intermédio do método hermenêutico, buscou referir as possibilidades de emancipação, a partir da racionalização do mundo vivido e de suas três esferas universais: a) cultura, através de processos educativos fundadores de reavaliação de valores morais e éticos pré-estabelecidos; b) sociedade, através de normas consensuais que só se tornam válidas diante de argumentações inteligíveis e sensivelmente dispostas a redefinições; c) personalidade, através de um desenvolvimento cognitivo além do mentalismo, perpassando a evolução de uma consciência moral que elabora estágios de relações intersubjetivos. Como resultado do beco sem saídas da educação, oportuniza pensar o quanto a racionalidade comunicativa tem perdido espaços para a racionalidade instrumental, surgindo diversas patologias sociais. Em razão disso, discute que os canais naturais e públicos dos espaços comunicativos (linguagem como medium) são deteriorados por meio dos veículos interpostos pelos imperativos sistêmicos (dinheiro e poder como artífices) da sociedade capitalista ocidental. Percebe que os efeitos das colonizações da razão instrumental, nas esferas cognitivas, expressivas e normativas, interferem severamente nas formações sociais e comprometem a racionalização do mundo vivido. Assim, as circunstâncias trazidas pelos domínios extranaturais da educação facilitaram a entrada de um conjunto de imposições na escola, desde a regeneração da filosofia do sujeito (hiperindividualismo) até a normatização instrutiva da educação tecnificada. Visando desocultar a gênese das atrofias educacionais, conclui que a racionalidade comunicativa pode ser entendida como uma nova ágora : uma fecunda alternativa para incitar uma reviravolta linguística nas mediações do sujeito, na interação com o outro, com o conhecimento, com as imagens (religiosas e metafísicas) de mundo. Enfatiza que a racionalidade comunicativa pode subsidiar processos educativos muito além das ideologias funcionais e linearmente induzidas pela tecnificação do pensamento, possibilitando o levante reflexivo da razão diante da promoção de uma educação que se coloca aberta à multiplicidade de vozes da racionalidade. Finaliza destacando que, para o fortalecimento do mundo vivido, o paradigma da racionalidade comunicativa propicia o desenvolvimento progressivo da competência humana que, sob o ideário da educação emancipatória, torna-se a utopia a ser buscada como critério para a evolução social.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T13:53:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ElidoSS_DISSERTl.pdf: 690181 bytes, checksum: 4b3d16824b6b7915e9e8f1ebd9a7ad46 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-07-23 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico / This present work aimed to investigate, through the structuring element Fato Administrativo , the way rationality guides the processes of personnel management at the Associa??o Companhia TerrAmar , which operates in the district of Felipe Camar?o in Natal/RN. This paper is characterized by a descriptive study, as it sought to establish the relationship between the materialization of the studied phenomenon - by means of a theoretical framework consisting of the following theories: Fato Administrativo (GUERREIRO RAMOS, 1983), Substantive and Instrumental Rationality (GUERREIRO RAMOS, 1981) and Proceedings of Personnel Management proposed by Joel Dutra (2004). As the main research findings, time as an intrinsic element of the Fato Administrativo - suffers much interference from external factors, especially from the sponsors of the researched organization and also from their bureaucratic control tools; not directly relating to the processes of Personnel Management, though. Among these, it was noticed that there isn‟t a dialogue between the sponsors and the theory, due to incompatibilities regarding the structure and nature of each organization. Both movement and development have stood out. These are processes that are guided by elements of substantive rationality, literally speaking, including personal, emancipatory and solidarity values. Thus, it is stated that for future research a compatible model of Personnel Management should be built and explored (compatible with the nature of nonprofit organizations). Understanding, in depth, the processes separately aiming to understand each work is also advised. Trying to fully understand the ways of overcoming the lack of skilled workers to perform activities in similar organizations needs to be considered as well / A presente disserta??o teve por objetivo averiguar atrav?s do elemento estruturante do Fato Administrativo, a forma com que as racionalidades norteiam os processos de Gest?o de Pessoas da Associa??o Companhia TerrAmar, que atua no bairro de Felipe Camar?o no munic?pio de Natal/RN. Caracterizou-se por ser um estudo descritivo, pois buscou estabelecer as rela??es existentes na materializa??o do fen?meno pesquisado por meio de um aporte te?rico constitu?do das seguintes teorias: Fato Administrativo (GUERREIRO RAMOS, 1983), Racionalidade Instrumental e Racionalidade Substantiva (GUERREIRO RAMOS, 1981) e modelo Gest?o de Pessoas proposto Joel Dutra (2004). Como principais achados da pesquisa, podem-se destacar que o tempo, elemento constituinte do Fato Administrativo, sofre forte interfer?ncia de fatores externos, principalmente, a influ?ncia dos patrocinadores da organiza??o pesquisada e das pe?as de controle burocr?ticas utilizadas por estes financiadores, entretanto sem rela??o direta com os processos de Gest?o de Pessoas. Dentre estes, notou-se que n?o est?o em conformidade com a teoria, devido a incompatibilidades com a estrutura e natureza da organiza??o. Destacam-se, ainda, a movimenta??o e o desenvolvimento. S?o processos que s?o norteados por elementos da Racionalidade Substantiva, entre eles os valores pessoais, emancipat?rios e solid?rios. Desta forma, indica-se que para pr?ximas pesquisas, deva-se explorar, a constru??o de um modelo de Gest?o de Pessoas que seja compat?vel com a natureza das organiza??es sem fins lucrativos. Como tamb?m, compreender, aprofundadamente, os processos em separado para entender o funcionamento isolado de cada um deles. Ou ainda, buscar compreender a fundo as formas de supera??o a falta de trabalhadores qualificados para exercer atividades em organiza??es similares

This thesis aims to understand the method of strategic choice (MSC, Sw. metodik för åtgärdsvalsstudier) in Swedish transport planning as a planning phenomenon. Based on a normative interpretative approach and critical theory, underlying ideas and thinking that surround the context of MSC and how they are expressed in practice, in the guidelines and in concrete planning situations were investigated. The starting point was that changing conditions in society have necessitated reform of the transport sector and a new method has been introduced. It aims to enable a broader grip on transport issues by opening them up together with other actors, thus increasing scope and spreading responsibility for more sectors and activities, enabling new and unconventional solutions to transport problems for a sustainable future. MSC is described and interpreted here as a manifold phenomenon that reveals a tension between different perspectives and mindsets, but also leads to certain aspects being more often expressed which complicates wider and deeper perspectives on complex societal problems. More concretely, it was found that the collaboration in MSC is limited prematurely and is often limited at an early stage of the process, and that this leads to a more narrow understanding of the problem to be solved than would otherwise be the case. Furthermore, one specific perspective, namely the transport system perspective, is proposed explicitly as the basis for assessments. The study has also identified challenges related to the consideration of conflicting and contradictory knowledge claims in the process. Assessments of the effects of actions are assumed to be based upon logical premises, and not on judgments in dialogue and argumentation. However, the analysis suggested that the functional instrumental reasoning of success-oriented action does not seem to take normative and political issues into consideration in order to better address sustainable development issues in the complex, democratic and pluralist society. In conclusion, the analysis identifies the need for these processes in addressing a sustainable future to be kept open in a more inclusive and diverse way, drawing on more and different possible futures. / <p>QC 20170515</p>

[pt] Com base na análise dos Relatórios de Sustentabilidade de 2012 de quatro empresas de diferentes segmentos (Telecomunicações, Seguros e Previdência, Cosmético e Mineração), a presente pesquisa buscou entender qual a racionalidade predominante neste tipo de publicação à luz dos conceitos de racionalidade instrumental e racionalidade substantiva de Guerreiro Ramos. Para alcançar este objetivo, o marco teórico apresentou a discussão na literatura acerca dos conceitos de responsabilidade social, sustentabilidade, racionalidade substantiva, racionalidade instrumental, identidade organizacional e reputação corporativa. No que diz respeito aos procedimentos metodológicos, os conjuntos de documentos coletados foram analisados por meio da análise de conteúdo, o que permitiu a criação de categorias de observação, quais sejam: (1) Relação com Stakeholders; (2) Declarações e Referenciais Institucionais; (3) Aspectos Legais; e (4) Equilíbrio Triple Botton Line. A seguir, cada categoria foi relacionada com um conjunto de elementos característicos das duas racionalidades elencadas gerando duas classificações distintas. Como resultados alcançados, de uma forma geral, foi possível identificar a predominância de elementos de racionalidade instrumental na maioria dos discursos, o que confirma a hipótese inicial e indica o cálculo utilitário presente em grande parte destes documentos. De forma mais aplicada, as conclusões do estudo contribuem para uma gestão das organizações mais holística/humanística, pois torna possível que estas reflitam e problematizem o seu posicionamento e suas ações em relação à Sustentabilidade, observando se a opção por um discurso mais superficial que visa apenas atender à construção de uma boa imagem institucional é tão efetiva quanto um discurso que relate valores e práticas organizacionais que lidem com os reais desafios de uma atual gestão sustentável. Além disso, as conclusões podem suscitar novas questões sobre o tema – como, por exemplo, como seria a evolução do discurso nos relatórios de sustentabilidade de uma mesma empresa com o passar do tempo - que poderão ser melhor exploradas por novos estudos. / [en] Based on the analysis of the 2012 Sustainability Reports from four companies of different segments (Telecommunications, Insurance, Cosmetics and Mining), this research sought to understand the prevailing rationality in this type of publication, in relation to the concepts of instrumental rationality and substantive rationality, based on Guerreiro Ramos. To accomplish this goal, the theoretical framework presented a discussion about the concepts of social responsibility, sustainability, substantive rationality, instrumental rationality, organizational identity and corporate reputation. Regarding the methodological procedures, collected documents were studied using content analysis, which allowed the creation of categories of observation, which are: (1) Relationship with Stakeholders; (2) Institutional statements and frameworks; (3) Legal Aspects, and (4) Triple Bottom Line balance. Next, each category was related to a set of characteristic elements of the two rationales listed, creating two different classifications. According to the results, in general, it was possible to identify the predominance of elements related to instrumental rationality in most speeches, which confirms the initial assumption and indicates the utilitarian calculation largely seen in these documents. As a practical matter, this study’s findings contribute to the management of organizations, once it becomes possible for these companies to ponder over and problematize their positioning and their actions in relation to sustainability, observing if the option for a more superficial discourse that seeks only a good corporate image is as effective as a discourse that reports organizational values and practices that address the real challenges of a current sustainable management. In addition, these findings may raise new questions about the subject – such as how the evolution of speech in sustainability reports of the one company over time would be, which could be better explored by further studies.

While research concerning ethical competence in medical practice is frequent, ethical competence in health care management is less often studied. This thesis focuses ethical competence and its preconditions, particularly with regard to health care managers’ identification and handling conflicts of interest. Based on the empirical analysis it also discusses what kind of ethical competence health care managers need, and how this competence can be developed in the organization. The study is based in action theory and takes an organizational pedagogical point of departure. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were carried out twice with ten health care managers in the Stockholm region. Data were analysed using a thematic, step-wise method. The analysis revealed several examples of conflicts of interest and different ways in which they were managed. The all-embracing conflict involved weighing and prioritizing patients’ needs, patient safety, and work environment against political and economical goals. In most cases the informants did not manage to strike a balance between professional ethics and business management. The dominance of purposive/instrumental rationality tended to inhibit the managers’ ethical competence. At the same time, as shown by the analysis, some of the managers were able to use ethical competence to pursue value/belief-oriented rationality in achieving such a balance. Of great importance for success are having rational emotions and an adequate ethical language, and organizing for the task of handling conflict of interests in order to support action and provide qualifying experiences to learn from in the work processes. But the political and administrative control system also needs to clearly articulate the ethical dimensions of the managers’ task, allocate resources, and ensure that support systems and evaluation focus not only on finances but also on the value-rational aspects.

Ce travail vise à mettre en avant une éthique du futur à l’ère des technologies du vivant à partir de la biologie philosophique de Hans Jonas en passant au crible a priori les fondements des technosciences. Jonas estime que le problème n’est pas la technique elle-même qui soit en cause mais l’identité qu’elle accorde à l’homme dans cette logique instrumentale envahissante, en d’autres termes, le matérialisme réductionniste. Le problème aussi n’est pas les effets visibles inquiétants et désastreux de la technique mais l’ontologie qu’elle inspire. Outre les manifestations réelles de destruction qu’elle génère, c’est l’être qu’elle confère ou plus exactement dont elle prive l’homme qui est catastrophique. L’homme finit par se considérer comme un fond exploitable. Il s’agira donc de formuler une éthique qui a pour soubassement une biologie philosophique qui récuse une anthropologie mécaniste d’inspiration matérialiste, une ontologie du pas-encore qui fonde les sciences modernes. Réduire l’homme à des lois physico-chimiques, c’est violer notre individualité. Le métabolisme est la preuve de notre individuation. Dans la matière, gît l’esprit. Au-delà de l’anthropomorphisme qui se dégage, l’homme est le seul animal symbolisant doué d’une conscience réflexive. Une responsabilité politique s’impose pour protéger l’intégrité et l’image de l’homme à l’ère des technologies du vivant qui espèrent améliorer ou modifier l’espèce humaine. Mais cette responsabilité politique qui promeut « un marxisme désenchanté » ne tardera pas à renforcer voire devenir une rationalité instrumentale et idéologique à l’image du lyssenkisme. Une autre responsabilité s’impose : une responsabilité scientifique formulée par Charles De Koninck qui interpelle et invite les scientifiques à ne pas sacrifier l’être humain par leurs recherches sur l’autel des subventions financières, du dualisme au relent matérialiste. La science, dans son élan est invitée à tenir compte du facteur « humain ». Cette responsabilité scientifique va au-delà des règles de bonnes pratiques et déontologiques des comités et des expertises scientifiques. Elle nécessite une éducation scientifique pour une science citoyenne pour éviter une science aveugle et idéologique. Bref, à partir de ces paradigmes, nous voulons montrer que les rêves de l’amélioration, de l’augmentation des performances de l’espèce humaine sont des chimères. / This work intends to highlight the ethics of the future in the era of technologies of the living being starting from Jonas and after scrutinizing in the first place the foundations of technosciences that is the emerging reductionism. Just like Heidegger, Jonas is of the view that the problem is not technology itself that it should be blamed but the identity it grants man in that overwhelming instrumental logic, in other words, reductionist materialism. The issue is neither the alarming, disastrous and visible effects of technology but the ontology it generates. Beside true manifestations of destruction it generates, it is the being it confers, or more specifically from which it deprives man who is catastrophic. It is important henceforth to evaluate that reductionist science in terms of a philosophical biology that will become basis to ethics and evaluation criterion for convergent technologies. It is about ethics that has philosophical biology for basis, which challenges materialism-inspired mechanist anthropology, a not-yet ontology that founds modern sciences. Reducing man to laws that rule Physics is violating our individuality. Metabolism (the other name for ontology in Jonas’s terms) is evidence of our individuation. Beyond the anthropomorphism that appears, man remains the only symbolizing animal, the only one to be gifted with introspective consciousness. From that symbolic dimension proceeds culture along with phenomena of self-consciousness. A political responsibility becomes imperative from that philosophical biology to protect man’s integrity and image in the era of technologies of the living that intend to improve or modify human race on the behalf of perfectibility and from processes of reductionist mechanism. But that political responsibility that promotes “a disillusioned Marxism” will not be long in reinforcing, even becoming an instrumental and ideological rationality in the image of lyssenkism. Another form of responsibility becomes imperative: a scientific responsibility framed by Charles De Koninck who calls out to and invites scientists to not give up the human being through their research on the altar of financial subsidies, materialist stench dualism. Science, in its speed is invited to take into account the “human” factor. That scientific responsibility goes beyond behaviorist and deontological rules of scientific committees and expertise. It requires a scientific education for a citizen-based science in order to avoid a blind and ideological science. In a nutshell, from those paradigms, we intend to show that dreams of improvement and increase of achievements of human race are mere illusion.

本論文採取歷史文獻分析與理解社會學(verstehende Soziologie)的研究途徑，從「以中國說中國」的方法入手，重視歷史事實作為論證基礎的功能與意義。 對中共「民主集中制」的研究在廣度與深度上都超乎中國大陸內部與外部學者在這方面的論述，系統化地借助中共黨史反映了民主集中制一般不為人所注意的關鍵面向。對民主集中制之作用的分析引導筆者發現，中國大陸總體面出現一個「黨、國家、社會」的三角形，這是在現階段與可預見之未來的人類文明中一個非常態的國家總體結構。筆者進而對照西方權力制衡的理論，反映出在民主集中制下是不可能發展出真正的權力制約與監督的機制的，民主集中制的內涵處處體現「一元化整體性控制意識」，民主與民主集中制之間無論就理論或現實運作都存在不可調和的矛盾。 改革開放以來的中共文化戰略奠基者為鄧小平，他的基本方法是將重心放在寄望以經濟建設的成果支持行為層面的紀律，進而鞏固精神思想層面的意識形態。順此，他主張「不搞爭論」與「堅持四項基本原則」，希望大力發展生產力，強調的是「工具理性」。這些其實都是受民主集中制之「一元化整體性控制意識」的影響。 筆者採用各種型態的資料與具體數據說明「『民主集中制』對文化戰略的影響」與「『民主集中制』對改革開放以來文化戰略與戰略造成的困難與挑戰」，呈現出中共文化戰略的不合理與不合時的性質。從文化戰略的視角可以看到許多中國大陸現今不易從單純的政治、經濟、社會的角度所能觀察到的問題。本論文針對此方面的解決方案與方向提出了一些線索與頭緒。 最後，解釋在第一章提出之胡錦濤表現的反差現象。其次，論證中國大陸的政治體制改革應為不可迴避的必要之務，民主改革未必對中共不利，可能更有利。同時回答第一章中共如何統治的問題。 / Adopting the approaches of historical document analyses and understanding sociology, this dissertation brings the method of explaining China in terms of China into bear and places importance on the function and meaning of historical facts as the departing basis of its discussions. Based on the Chinese Communist Party’s (the CCP hereafter) history, the dissertation systematically presents some key points of the CCP’s democratic centralism, to which attention was not paid. It shows wider and deeper understanding of the CCP’s democratic centralism. The understanding leads the author to notice the “party, state and society” triangle, which reflects the uniqueness of the structure of China as a country in the contemporary world. The CCP’s democratic centralism reflects “consciousness of unitary holistic control” and is in fact incompatible with democracy by its normal definition in respect of theory and practice. The foundation of the CCP’s cultural development since the reform and opening was laid by Deng Xiaoping, whose methodology laid stress on economic development. Deng hoped to accomplish some economic achievements to secure behavioral discipline among people and finally consolidate the party’s ideologies and theories. He therefore advocated “no disputes” and “insistence on four fundamental principles” and did his best to promote development of productivity, namely instrumental rationality. All he did embodied “consciousness of unitary holistic control,” so has the CCP’s cultural strategies done the same. Basing on different types of materials and data, the author analyzed the influences of the CCP’s democratic centralism on its cultural strategies and presented the difficulties and challenges to the strategies caused by the democratic centralism since the reform and opening. In the final chapter, the author explained Hu Jintao’s surprising reaction and answered the question how the CCP has been ruling the country. Both were mentioned in Chapter one.

In this thesis, the theory of rational irrationality is used to explore the incentives behind seemingly irrational beliefs held by a large part of the contemporary American society towards anthropogenic climate change. Applying causal analysis, three questions are answered: "is it rationally irrational for people to be indifferent towards climate change?" "Are Americans inherently more likely than others to hold irrational beliefs about global issues such as climate change?" If so, "is this phenomenon rooted in certain values that constitute the American identity?" The author focuses on specific "American values" and uses statistics and recent empirical studies to find correlations and causality between those values and the exhibited behavior of individuals, while discussing its possible causes and implications. The study concludes that the root cause of irresponsibility of the American citizen towards climate change is a lack of social mechanisms rewarding individuals for holding epistemologically accurate beliefs. The author then proposes a set of general measures to be prioritized in order to improve social reward mechanisms in the American society. If implemented, those measures should be able to effectively enforce epistemic rationality in the U.S. political debate, which is desirable...