This thesis uses a philosophical discussion to explore the tensions that result in the meeting between universal claims and particular contexts regarding human rights and how these tensions can be mediated by exploring the right to religious freedom. In order to do this, two approaches will be studied, one liberal and one postcolonial, represented by Martha Nussbaum and Saba Mahmood respectively. In comparing the approaches of Nussbaum and Mahmood, their arguments and positions become clearer, but also the nuances of the debate between universalism and contextualism. The right to religious freedom, with its many tensions between theory and practice, has been useful in exploring what values are at stake when we talk about human rights in general and how we can think about the apparent tension between universalism and contextual sensitivity. The thesis thus shows that there are more similarities between these two approaches than it may first seem and that they are not incompatible. This is argued to provide insight into possible ways of mediating human rights between theory and practice. / Denna uppsats utgår från en filosofisk diskussion kring spänningen mellan universella anspråk och specifika sammanhang när det kommer till mänskliga rättigheter och hur dessa spänningar kan medlas utifrån en undersökning av religionsfriheten. För att åstadkomma studeras två inriktningar, den ena liberal och den andra postkolonial. Dessa inriktningar representeras av Martha Nussbaum respektive Saba Mahmood. I och med en jämförande analys mellan dessa två inriktningar är förhoppningen att deras likheter och skillnader blir tydligare, samt att nyanserna inom debatten mellan universalism och kontextualism blir tydligare. Det finns många spänningar mellan teori och praktik när det kommer till rätten till religionsfrihet och just denna rättighet är på så sätt användbar för att utforska spänningen mellan universalism och kontextualism när det kommer till mänskliga rättigheter. Denna uppsats visar därmed att det finns flera likheter mellan dessa inriktningar och att de därför inte kan anses vara oförenliga med varandra. Detta för med sig en insikt i möjligheter till att medla mänskliga rättigheter mellan teori och praktik.

The purpose of the thesis is to describe life and work of Martha E. Williams related to library and information science. The thesis introduces private life of Martha E. Williams, her professional development in the Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute in Chicago and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and her activities in professional library associations and academic awards given to her. The core of the thesis is made of thorough analysis of individual works, activities and projects that Martha E. Williams conducted or significantly participated in. Martha E. Williams contributed to development of databases and information industry, worked as an editor of register of Computer-Readable database (CRDB) and of serial Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST). Furthemore, Martha E. Williams devoted her time systematically to transparency of information retrieval, database classification and evaluation, usage data, analysis of governmental and private databases and the role of libraries and information centers in the era of rapid expansion of databases.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-14T13:54:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 400345.pdf: 1011202 bytes, checksum: 6008dffe2a42780b7b8266dc80ec8321 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-03-31 / Esta disserta??o dedica-se a avaliar criticamente os m?ritos do empreendimento realizado por Martha C. NUSSBAUM na sua obra Frontiers of Justice, em que se prop?e elaborar uma nova teoria da justi?a escorada em sua tese das Capacidades Humanas Centrais. Pretende a Autora elaborar uma teoria da justi?a que parta dos elementos b?sicos extra?dos da doutrina contratualista desenvolvida por John RAWLS, mas que n?o se mantenha adstrita a estrutura formal do puro procedimentalismo sugerido na obra rawlsiana. Para tanto, sugere NUSSBAUM seja o contratualismo rawlsiano complementado naquilo que possui de positivo por meio de elementos substanciais que s?o extra?dos da ?tica aristot?lica, produzindo, com isso, uma esp?cie de contratualismo aristot?lico. Mescla a Autora, desse modo, dentro de uma ?nica teoria de justi?a elementos te?ricos que s?o extra?dos de tr?s tradi??es filos?ficas distintas e possivelmente rivais, quais sejam: a tradi??o cl?ssica, a moderna e a p?s-moderna. Nesses termos, o presente estudo assume como objetivo espec?fico analisar a viabilidade do projeto que pretende conjugar tradi??es filos?ficas distintas e que possuem conceitos b?sicos e elementos fundantes que poderiam ser interpretados, inclusive, como inconcili?veis entre si. Assim, seguindo os ensinamentos de Alasdair MACINTYRE acerca das dificuldades de comensura??o e tradu??o de conceitos oriundos de tradi??es filos?ficas distintas, pretende-se avaliar o sucesso de NUSSBAUM ao apresentar uma teoria da justi?a que combina o realismo aristot?lico com o construtivismo rawlsiano, sendo que, para tanto, ser? necess?rio demonstrar que entre uma e outra tradi??o existem elementos suficientemente comuns e compartilh?veis que permitem a estrutura??o de um novo modelo de pensamento que seja superior ?s duas tradi??es anteriores, fornecendo uma estrutura te?rica mais complexa e que explique com maior coer?ncia os defeitos e a eventual parcialidade dos pontos de vista sendo superados.

¿Pueden las artes servir como una estrategia para estimular el desarrollo de capacidades? ¿De qué manera la participación en proyectos de Teatro Aplicado permite a quienes hacen parte de éstos la ampliación de sus libertades? A través del diálogo entre la propuesta teórica de Martha Nussbaum y la experiencia de vida de personas de diversas edades y proveniencias, que tienen en común haber participado de proyectos teatrales, se dará cuenta del efecto que tiene esta práctica en la afirmación de la identidad individual. En un contexto global caracterizado por el individualismo y la competencia, la afirmación de la identidad de quienes han participado de proyectos de Teatro Aplicado se sustenta en el reconocimiento y valoración de los otros. De esta manera, “ser uno mismo desde los zapatos del otro” se constituye como una capacidad que permite generar una idea de “nosotros” que es expresión empírica de los conceptos de “Imaginación Narrativa”, “Ciudadanía Global” y “Afiliación” que la filósofa norteamericana desarrolla desde su enfoque. A través del análisis de los testimonios de los entrevistados y de la identificación de las características específicas de la práctica teatral, se reconocerán los alcances que ésta tiene respecto al cultivo de algunas de las “Capacidades Centrales” que Nussbaum propone, y específicamente, al desarrollo de emociones públicas que puedan contribuir al fortalecimiento de las democracias y al florecimiento de las personas. En consecuencia, a partir del diálogo entre experiencias de vida concretas y las reflexiones teóricas de Nussbaum, se propone una manera de llevar a políticas y programas el Enfoque de las Capacidades, reconociendo en la experimentación y apreciación artística una dimensión fundamental para el Desarrollo Humano. / Tesis

Martha Jefferson Randolph, Daughter of Monticello: Her Life and Times. By Cynthia A. Kierner. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012. Pp. ix, 281.)

The overall objective of this thesis is to examine in what way ethical theory and ethical analysis can contribute to further understanding of the ethical challenges of the multicultural classroom. Based on the fact that the world is going through a process of globalization and migration, the education-system and daily praxis of teaching is put in front of new ethical challenges. The teacher in the multicultural classroom is on a daily base confronted with various dilemmas regarding for example conflicting duties, universal and conflicting values and citizenship. Martha Nussbaum´s theory of world citizenship is used as an analytical framework for the thesis and student interviews from upper secondary school is used as a complementary perspective to Nussbaum´s theory. The research questions of the thesis are: Can the theory of World Citizenship Education, when structured and analyzed, give guidance for teaching citizenship in a multicultural classroom? Is it a plausible theory confronted with the ethical challenges of the multicultural classroom? In what way can a student perspective from a multicultural classroom try the relevance and present a complementary perspective to the theory of World citizenship education? The theory and the interviews are analyzed and structured out of the research questions and by the three ethical challenges of universal values, conflicting values and sense of belonging. The conclusion of the thesis states that, even though Nussbaum´s theory does have some constraints, it is to a large degree applicable and possible to relate to the ethical challenges of the multicultural classroom and as a guide for teachers. The theory is plausible in some aspects because it presents reasonable arguments on the necessity of educational reform in an interconnected world and because it makes educational proposals of instrumental worth of the teacher. The theory is however not plausible in other aspects because; the universal values presented are to vague and not specified which makes the theory difficult to use in practise, it does not pay enough attention to the conflicting perspective of the ethical challenges in classroom nor the pedagogical importance of social inclusion when discussing conflicting values and finally the theory demonstrates a contradiction regarding how to act as a teacher about sense of belonging and recognising identity of the students. The interviews demonstrate similar but also different responses to the ethical challenges in comparison with the theory. The students recognize the existence of universal values across cultural borders in a similar way as Nussbaum, even though the values put forward are of another character than Nussbaum´s. They do however present a sceptical view towards the idea of a world citizenship and stresses the importance of bringing up discussions about nationhood, migration and belonging without being afraid of breaking any taboos. At the end the thesis presents some practical guidelines for the teacher in the multicultural classroom that follows logical out of the conclusion. The final discussion highlight the fact that the challenges of the multicultural classroom in Sweden will likely continue, and emphasizes the potential of using ethics as an analytical tool for further developing a professional teaching approach.

This Thesis will examine how the framing of ‘trolley problems’ incorrectly motivates arithmetic rankings of states of affairs by removing context. This is problematic because the context of these problems provides the tools to solve moral dilemmas by allowing one to analyze the relevant motivations, moral implications, duties, values, and personal and societal obligations that one has. I will discuss Samuel Scheffler’s charge that a paradox exists within agent-centered restrictions and how his abstract paradigmatic case leads to arithmetic rankings of choices, which are both unrealistic and lead to tragic and morally unacceptable decision making. I will argue that Allen Wood’s Middle Theory can help dispel the apparent paradox and demonstrate a better way to examine ‘trolley problems’. I will further discuss how Martha Nussbaum’s analysis of tragic questions illuminates the issues surrounding such problems providing a morally acceptable way to account for the occasional unavoidable harm that results in decision-making caused by solving ‘trolley problems.’ Taken together, Wood’s and Nussbaum’s theories and analysis provide potential solutions to ‘trolley problems.’

This study examines the ideologies of gender, race, and class present in Martha Stewart's unprecedented popularity, beginning with the publication of Stewart's first magazine in 1990 and ending in September 2004, after Stewart's conviction for her involvement in the ImClone scandal. My approach is built on the intersection of American mass communication research, British cultural studies, and feminist theory, and utilizes Hall's Encoding/Decoding model to examine how social, cultural and political discourses circulate in and through a mediated text and how those meanings are interpreted by those who receive them. Drawing from textual and ideological analysis of over thirteen years of Martha Stewart Living magazine and twelve weeks of Stewart's four television programs, I investigate the ways in which the mode of address in Stewart's media texts positions her simultaneously as a close friend and respected teacher. As the model for "living" in her media texts, Stewart uses these modes of address as the foundation of her messages about women's roles, racial and ethnic traditions, and social mobility. To understand how readers and viewers make sense of these messages, I conducted focus group interviews with thirty-eight fans of Martha Stewart Living between October 2002 and July 2004. Two distinct types of fans emerged as my interviews progressed, and the participants, who have a range of different gender, race, sexuality and class identifications, expressed a variety of positions on the messages about gender roles, racial representations, and class aspiration they observed in Stewart's texts. I was uniquely positioned to examine how fans' feelings about Martha Stewart and Martha Stewart Living changed when Stewart was indicted, convicted and sentenced to prison because of her sale of ImClone stock; as a result of my observations, I argue that scholars should take a closer look at how fan practices and beliefs function in fans' lives and in the larger culture. In total, this examination of Martha Stewart's media texts and audience members offers a rich account of the ways in which discourses of gender, race, and class influenced American culture at the turn of the twenty-first century.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 74 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-74).

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