Ao julgarem casos concretos, os juízes consultam e interpretam diversas fontes do direito com o intuito de determinar quais são os elementos jurídicos de decisão relevantes e como eles se aplicam a um determinado caso, apresentando os argumentos que fundamentam sua convicção e revelando uma respectiva racionalidade jurídica. No presente trabalho, pretendemos enfrentar o seguinte problema: pode o direito ser objetivo no sentido de que exista alguma racionalidade jurídica capaz de fornecer uma única resposta correta a um caso? Frente ao problema mais amplo da existência de respostas objetivamente corretas no direito, a pesquisa lança mão de um recorte autoral para estabelecer seu referencial. O interesse foi o de colaborar com o estudo do pensamento de Ronald Dworkin, o qual sustenta a tese de uma única resposta juridicamente correta. Para tanto, busca-se explorar os argumentos do autor a partir de um levantamento bibliográfico em materiais publicados em meios físicos e digitais. Após apontar alguns dos elementos da teoria positivista do direito de Hart que funcionaram como ponto de crítica inicial da perspectiva dworkiniana, divide-se a tese da resposta correta de Dworkin, que é objeto do trabalho, em duas etapas, tomando o texto Objectivity and truth: you\'d better believe it (1996) como marco de divisão. A primeira dessas etapas nos mostra que a tese da resposta correta no âmbito do direito fundamenta-se na concepção do autor acerca deste ser uma prática essencialmente interpretativa, orientada a identificar os valores que melhor justificam a história institucional e moral de uma comunidade. Logo, a resposta correta do ponto de vista jurídico depende da resposta correta do ponto de vista moral. Na segunda etapa, investiga-se a defesa de Dworkin frente aos diferentes ceticismos externos em relação à objetividade da moral, bem como suas ideias a respeito da independência metafísica do valor e a favor de uma epistemologia moral integrada. Ao final dos capítulos de cada etapa, noções críticas são apresentadas com o intuito de auxiliar na reflexão do pensamento do autor. / When judging concrete cases, judges consult and interpret several sources of law in order to determine what are the relevant legal elements of decision and how they apply to a certain case, presenting the arguments that support their conviction and revealing a respective legal rationality. In the present work, we intend to face the following issue: can the law be objective in the sense that there is a legal rationality capable of providing a single right answer to a particular case? Regarding the wider problem of the existence of objectively right answers in law, the research uses an authorial restriction in order to establish it\'s referential. The interest was to collaborate with the study of Ronald Dworkin\'s thought, which contains the one legal right answer thesis. To do so, we seek to explore the author\'s arguments from a bibliographical survey of published materials in print and digital media. After pointing out some of the elements of Hart\'s positivist theory of law that functioned as an initial point for the criticism of dworkinian\'s perspective, Dworkin\'s right answer thesis, that is its work\'s object, is divided in two phases, taking the text Objectivity and truth: you\'d better believe it (1996) as a division mark. The first of these phases shows us that the right answer thesis in legal scope is based on the author\'s conception about law being an essentially interpretative practice, oriented to identify the values that best justify the institutional and moral community history. Therefore, the right answer from a legal point of view depends on the right answer from the moral point of view. In the second phase, it investigates Dworkin\'s defense of different external skepticisms about moral objectivity, as well as his ideas about the metaphysical independence of the value and in favor of an integrated moral epistemology. At the end of each phase chapters, critical notions are introduced with the purpose of exercising the reflection about the author\'s presented thoughts.

This PhD thesis provides an extended evaluation of evolutionary debunking arguments in meta-ethics. Such arguments attempt to show that evolutionary theory, together with a commitment to robust moral objectivity, lead to moral scepticism: the implausible view that we lack moral knowledge or that our moral beliefs are never justified (e.g. Joyce 2006, Street 2005, Kahane 2011). To establish that, these arguments rely on certain epistemic principles. But most of the epistemic principles appealed to in the literature on evolutionary debunking arguments are imprecise, confused or simply implausible. My PhD aims to rectify that. Informed by debates in cutting-edge contemporary epistemology, Chapter 1 distinguishes three general, independently motivated principles that, combined with evolution, seem to render knowledge of robustly objective moral facts problematic. These epistemic principles state that (i.) our getting facts often right in a given domain requires explanation - and if we cannot provide one, our beliefs about that domain are unjustified; (ii.) higher-order evidence of error undermines justification; and (iii.) for our beliefs to be justified, our having them must be best explained by the facts they are about. Chapters 2-4 develop and critically assess evolutionary debunking arguments based on those principles, showing that only the one inspired by (iii.) succeeds. Chapter 2 investigates the argument that evolution makes explaining why we get moral facts often right impossible. I argue that Justin Clarke-Doane's recent response (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) works, yet neglects an issue about epistemic luck that spells trouble for robust moral objectivity. Chapter 3 discusses the argument that evolution provides higher-order evidence of error regarding belief in robustly objective moral facts. I show that such an argument falls prey to Katia Vavova's (2014) self-defeat objection, even if evolutionary debunkers tweak their background view on the epistemic significance of higher-order evidence. Chapter 4 develops the argument that evolution, rather than robustly objective moral facts, best explains why we hold our moral beliefs. I offer a systematic, comprehensive defence of that argument against Andreas Mogensen's (2015) charge of explanatory levels confusion, Terrence Cuneo's (2007) companion in guilt strategy, and David Enoch's (2012, 2016) appeal to deliberative indispensability. Chapter 5 brings everything together. It investigates whether robust moral objectivity survives the worry about epistemic luck raised in Chapter 2 and the explanatory challenge developed in Chapter 4. Making progress, however, requires a better idea of how we form true, justified beliefs about and acquire knowledge of robustly objective moral facts. Since it offers the most popular and best-developed epistemology of robustly objective morality, my inquiry in Chapter 5 focuses on contemporary moral intuitionism: the view that moral intuitions can be the source of basic moral knowledge. I argue that its success is mixed. While moral intuitionism has the conceptual tools to tackle the problem of epistemic luck from Chapter 2, it cannot insulate knowledge of robustly objective moral facts against the sceptical worry raised by the evolutionary debunking argument developed in Chapter 4. Thus, evolutionary theory, together with a commitment to robust moral objectivity, does lead to a form of unacceptable moral scepticism.

Com o intuito de mapear o território e os limites éticos e morais numa indústria da comunicação que passa por mudanças estruturais, o estudo recupera dilemas capazes de nortear a atuação do comunicador e aprofunda a discussão da moralidade na mídia, por conta de um vácuo na formação do comunicador em relação à ética e à moral na perspectiva da história do conhecimento. Com o uso de exemplos clássicos da literatura, da dramaturgia ou da própria comunicação, o resultado é um itinerário que perpassa momentos relevantes para a mídia com o objetivo de revelar diferenças entre conceitos sólidos da modernidade e a fluidez que estes mesmos conceitos encontram tanto na modernidade quanto no que se convencionou chamar de pós-modernismo. Ao mesmo tempo, detalha como se edifica uma nova mídia enquanto se delineia a concentração global da indústria da comunicação, assentada na dispersão dos indivíduos. O trabalho também pretende endereçar a questão do futuro das comunicações, qual a importância do jornalista no momento em que qualquer indivíduo, cidadão ou instituição tem facilmente às mãos os meios tecnológicos capazes de lhe dar poder para fazer comunicação local ou de massa além de analisar como ética e moral se inserem neste contexto. / In order to draw up the ethical and moral boundaries of a communication industry that goes through structural changes, the study gets back to dilemmas that both drives the communicators behavior and deepens the discussion of morality in the media space due to the a void in the formation of the communicator with respect to ethics and morality in the context of the history of knowledge. With examples of classic literature, dramaturgy or communication, the study is a journey that passes through relevant moments for the media industry in order to reveal differences between solid concepts of modernity and fluidity that these same concepts come across on modernity and even what it was designated as post-modernism. At the same time, it details the build up of the new media while it outlines the global concentration of the communications industry, founded in the dispersion of individuals. The work also intends to answer the question about the future of communications: what is the importance of the journalist at a time that any individual, citizen or institution has easily in his hands the technological resources appropriate to provide power to make local or mass communication, in addition to analyze how ethics and moral fit in this context.

This thesis examines the reporting of AIDS-related news in both mainstream and alternative newspapers. This research suggests that mainstream newspapers, such as the New York Times, frame news stories in certain ways. Specifically, this study suggests that news about AIDS will be framed in ways which trivialize and/or marginalize those most affected by AIDS. The thesis also posits that the mainstream press will frame AIDS-related news in ways which support their own interests. Additionally, this research suggests that alternative presses, such as the Advocate, will frame their reporting of AIDS-related news in ways which support their interests. The mainstream newspaper articles for this study were taken from the New York Times, and the Oregonian. The alternative press articles were taken from the Advocate, the New York Native, Christopher Street, outlook, and the San Francisco Bay Area Reporter. The news stories focus on four individuals: Magic Johnson, Rock Hudson, Kimberly Bergalis, and Mark Woodley. The results of this thesis reveal that some mainstream reporting of AIDS-related news is framed in ways which trivialize and/or marginalize those affected by AIDS. The study also shows that the alternative presses frame reporting of AIDS-related news in ways which not only support their interests but in ways which appear to react to the reporting of the mainstream presses. Finally, there is evidence of hegemony as an underlying principle for the way news about AIDS is framed.

Chapter one, “Narrating Entanglement: Posthuman Agency and Subjectivity in Shane Carruth’s Filmography,” considers the resonances of independent filmmaker Shane Carruth’s two SF films, Primer (2004) and Upstream Color (2013) with the ethos of quantum entanglement through close-readings of Primer’s anti-individualistic portrayal of scientific invention and Upstream Color’s metaphorically entangled human-pig character system. Chapter two, “Race and Schrödingers’s Legacy: History is Both Alive and Dead in Hari Kunzru’s White Tears” analyzes the 2017 novel White Tears as a narrative figuration of of the political, racial, and cultural entanglements set in motion by the economic structure of slavery, ultimately arguing that Kunzru’s entangled plotlines and histories critique the entanglement of contemporary U.S. capitalism with its past and present exploitation of black bodies. The third and final chapter, “Problem Child: Untangling the Reproduction Narrative in Lai and Phang’s SF Bildungsromans” uses close readings of two SF bildungsromans, Larissa Lai’s 2002 novel Salt Fish Girl and Jennifer Phang’s 2015 film Advantageous, both of which follow women of color protagonists not permitted to grow up in the ‘right’ ways, to shed light on the instability of a social order simultaneously grounded in the exploitation of marginalized bodies and the illusion of a reproducible, homogenous nation. Ultimately, “Entangled Bodies” uses a literary exploration of quantum entanglement to reveal both the limits of seemingly-totalizing power structures, narrative or otherwise, and the collective possibilities for re-definition that can, in part, be kindled by a favored tool of Western science: the human imagination.

This thesis is a series of four articles examining the interface of public relations and journalism and how this affects the information the public receives as news. The central research question it aims to answer is: 'How can the public guard against manipulation of opinion?' The articles are accompanied by an exegesis which explains the research process and the role of important sources in the project. The research draws on relevant literature as well as interviews with people involved in public relations, journalism and academia.The first article Public Relations & Democratic Society looks at the various definitions of public relations and examines the debate over whether PR operates in the public interest. Article two, The Production of News, discusses the interface of public relations and journalism and also deals with the economic considerations affecting mass media outlets. PR Under the Spotlight in New Zealand, the third article, is a case study of a public relations campaign mounted by state-owned logging company Timberlands West Coast Ltd. The final article Navigating the Information Environment examines the current state of the interface between PR and journalism in New Zealand and sets out suggestions for how members of the public can avoid being manipulated.The research found that in order to prevent manipulation it is up to members of the public to actively seek truth and not uncritically accept information received through the media. Due to the work of the public relations industry and the media there are many ways in which information can be filtered and massaged and it is knowledge of these processes that puts the public in the best position to see reality.

Path planning is a crucial issue for virtual environments where autonomous agents try to navigate from a specific location to a desired one. There are several algorithms developed for path planning, but several domain requirements make engineering of these algorithms difficult. In complex environments, considering single objective for searching and finding optimal or sub-optimal paths becomes insufficient. Thus, multi objective cases are distinguished and more complicated algorithms to be employed is required. It can be seen that more realistic and robust results can be obtained with these algorithms because they expand solution perspective into more than one criteria. Today, they are used in various games and simulation applications. On the other hand, most of these algorithms are off-line and delimitate interactive behaviours and dynamics of real world into a stationary virtuality. This situation reduces the solution quality and boundaries. Hence, the necessity of solutions where multi objectivity is considered in a dynamic environment is obvious. With this motivation, in this work, a novel multi objective incremental algorithm, MOD* Lite, is proposed. It is based on a known complete incremental search algorithm, D* Lite. Solution quality and execution time requirements of MOD* Lite are compared with existing complete multi objective off-line search algorithm, MOA*, and better results are obtained.

El ejercicio profesional del periodismo vive entre dos tensiones que parecen incompatibles: el deseo de una objetividad que parecería de otro mundo en su luminosidad sin mácula y la acusación de imposibilidad para mantener esa objetividad. Esta investigación traza, en primer lugar, la lógica que funciona en el interior del ejercicio de la información periodística (una filosofía de la información), y en segundo lugar, revisa algunas teorías de la información, especialmente las críticas con el ejercicio profesional, las que subrayan su supuesta perversidad congénita. Tras ese trabajo propedeutico la investigación desmonta, a la vez, tanto ese constructo lógico -imaginario ideal de la profesión- como las criticas injustas. La investigación propone entonces la hipótesis de la capacidad del períodismo de describir con veracidad aspectos parciales de la realidad, es decir, su capacidad de decir verdad. Y llega a la tesis de que, bajo determinadas condiciones epistémicas y deontológicas, el periodismo es un medio tan valioso como otros -en última instancia su método es, o debería ser, similar al de la ciencia- para plasmar hechos y realidades, es un método de conocimiento, una manera de la verdad, siempre que ésta no sea entendida como verdad absoluta, esencial o metafísica. / Tbe professional practice of journalism líes in between two tensions that seem incompatible: 1) wanting an objectivity that would seem from another world in its faultless luminosity, and 2) accusing on som ething to be impossible to keep tbat objectivity. Tbis research, firstly, draws the logic that works in the inside of the practice of journalist information (a philosophy of information), and secondly, it revises some theories of information,and secondly, it revises some theories of information, especially the reviews with the professional exercise, tbe ones which underline its supposed congenital depravity. After that preparatory work, the research falls into despair, at the same time, both that logical construct (imaginary ideal of the job) and the unfair criticism. The research proposes then the hypothesis of the ability of journalism to describe truthfully the partial aspects of reality, that is, its ability to tell the truth. And it gets to the conclusion that, under certain epistemic and deontological conditions, journalism is a means as worthy as others - in the last analysis, its method is, or should be, similar to the one of a science to reflect facts and realities. It is a means of knowledge, a way of truth as long as this is not understood as an absolute, essential or metaphysical truth.

A majority of conducted studies connected to democratic socialization and the party-political education has primary affected students in higher education. In this study I intend to find out how primary school teachers handle controversial issues in social science connected to the political parties.  The Swedish Democrats are by many perceived as a controversial party and while the school’s mission is to educate students to think independently another mission implies that certain views are not to be uttered if they stand contrary to the basic democratic values. The aim of this study is to obtain knowledge in and about the teachers view on the dilemma between the more nurturing assignment versus the knowledge assignment and in connection to this how they approach the Swedish Democrats in the classroom. For further immersion the research treats the following questions:   How do teachers view their own role as intermediaries in democratic education?   How to teachers portray the Swedish democrats in education? The survey was conducted by using qualitative interviews. Four primary school teachers who teach social science participated. The results showed that the Swedish Democrats was perceived as a controversial subject in the school as teachers sometimes felt difficulties to teach about this subject. The study also showed that teachers use different methods in the classroom when it comes to organizing the teaching of democracy, when it comes to both content and choice of teaching methods, which ultimately could affect how teachers directly or indirectly portray the Swedish Democrats.

In 2004, the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) issued a paper that defined internal auditors’ role in Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) as a role that relates to measuring and monitoring performance. The present study examines how high internal audit involvement in ERM-related activities and a strong relationship between internal auditors and senior management influence internal auditors’ objectivity and independence. The present study replicates the experimental design used by de Zwaan, Stewart and Subramaniam (2011) with the manipulation of the variables of (i) internal audit’s involvement in ERM and (ii) the strength of the relationship between internal audit and senior management. Similarly to de Zwaan et al. (2011), objectivity and independence are measured by examining internal audit’s willingness to report a breakdown in risk procedures to the audit committee. The results show that internal auditors are somewhat influenced by a high involvement in ERM-related activities when reporting a breakdown in risk procedures and that internal auditors consider the guidelines issued by the IIA important to follow. Further, the results do not indicate that a strong relationship between internal auditors and senior management influences internal audit’s willingness to report a breakdown in risk procedures.