The Prose Edda chapter, Ragnarok as recorded by Snorri, was taken as a pivotal point for exploring fate according to the Norse mythology. The eschatological concept of collapsing gods and destruction of the world was explored through the logical and theological fatalist theory, diverging the orientation from standard textual exploration. The thesis examines the concept by employing the methodology of hermeneutics to scrutinise the text. The analysis derived results confirmed the existence of belief in fate embedded in the text; the logical fatalism that polarises statements by their truthfulness, even though it was not found or indicated textually, provided a strong contrast to theological fatalism, evidenced throughout the text. The weak theological fatalism (determinism) was suggested in the findings based on Ragnarok text, by which the inexorable change of aeons as set-in motion by the Universal Force (predicted by the three Volvas), does not entirely compromise the Aesir's free will; such as the cosmic order includes the free will in its mechanism; while Aesir's voluntary choice was dependent on God's forescience, it was still free to operate within the remit of its emission, unperturbed within the cosmic design. The Nietzschean concept of Amor Fati (Love for Fate) in accepting the inevitable, through the cyclicality of time, and as it appears with a reason that is to keep one happy, additionally illuminated our understanding of fate in Ragnarok. To counterbalance this idea and bring it into equilibrium, I reflected upon the notion of "Designer of Destiny", whereby human beings are assumed to run the entirety of their destiny, soon to learn that this human urge clashes with theit biology (over which they do not have complete control) and the cosmic power that has already predetermined the human path.

Denna text utreder de implikationer svartsjuka ger på den övergripande lyckan i samhället idag, tolkat mot olika normer angående vårt relaterande i främst romantiska partnerskap. Det finns teorier som hävdar att svartsjuka kan vara negativt för samhället, och det finns teorier som hävdar motsatsen. Den här texten försvarar tesen om att det är medvetenhet och självinsikt hos den enskilda individen som vänder svartsjukan till något som kan höja nivån av lycka i samhället, baserat på utilitaristiskt och deterministiskt synsätt.

In this study the relatively new role-playing phenomenon is investigated, with games such as Dungeons and Dragons. This investigation is carried out in part from a religion psycho-social perspective as well as an object relations theory perspective. The occurrence, which is multifaceted, came to Sweden from the United States toward the end of the 1970’s. In this study, both ’live’ and ’table’ forms of role-playing are focused on, where the experience of stories and adventure in so called secondary worlds are particularly central. In these stories and adventures, existential questions as well as various forms of fantasy religion often take an important position. I have chosen to study these phenomena in part because I with others feel that the psychology of religion in our late modern Swedish secularized context needs to broaden its field of research by incorporating meaning-making behaviour in a more general context, partly because I feel that hypothetically speaking there exist several similarities between the practising of a role-playing game and the practising of a religion. This study has three theoretical points of departure: object relations theory, according to Winnicott, et al; Pruyser’s Three Worlds Model; as well as a theory of ritual based on Erikson. In addition, the role-playing phenomenon is compared to the late modern context and the Swedes different worldview-profiles. The study is founded in six intensive interviews, which make it impossible to draw any general conclusions, but from a religion psycho-social and an object relations theory perspective the concluded result points to that the role-playing phenomenon on several points can be viewed as a substitute for religion. From this, I feel that it is of the utmost importance for our societies psycho-social and existential health that we study how we can aid children and adolescents in their ability to create consistent functional and symbolically rich systems of meaning, which they can express and share with others. My intention is that this study of the role-playing phenomenon in some form shall lend itself to the illumination of these extremely important questions. / I denna religionspsykologiska studie undersöks det relativt nya rollspelsfenomenet, med spel som t ex Drakar & Demoner, dels undersöks det mer allmänt ur ett religionspsykosocialt perspektiv, dels mer specifikt ur ett objektrelationsteoretiskt perspektiv. Företeelsen, som kom till Sverige från USA i slutet av 1970-talet, är mångfasetterad, men fokus i denna studie ligger på (bords)rollspel och levande rollspel, s k lajv, där det framför allt är den magiska berättelsen och berättandet och upplevelsen av historier och äventyr i så kallade sekundära världar som är det centrala. I dessa berättelser och äventyr har dessutom de existentiella frågorna och olika former av fantasireligioner ofta en framträdande plats. Jag har valt att studera detta fenomen dels för att jag med andra anser att religionspsykologin i vår senmoderna svenska sekulariserade kontext behöver bredda sitt forskningsfält till att innefatta meningsskapande beteenden i mer allmän bemärkelse, dels för att jag hypotetiskt anser att det finns flera likheter mellan utövandet av rollspel och utövandet av en religion: båda utövas i den illusionistiska världen; i båda sker ett rolltagande och en identifiering med olika roller, och genom detta rolltagande och denna identifiering samt möjligheten till projicering, verkar båda kunna ge lindring för s k dåliga objekt; dessutom innehåller båda rituella inslag; och båda erbjuder en möjlighet till bearbetning av existentiella frågor. För att undersöka dessa antaganden har jag för denna studie valt tre teoretiska utgångspunkter: objektrelationsteorin, enligt Winnicott med flera; Pruysers trevärldsmodell; och en ritualteori där fokus ligger på Eriksons begrepp ”ritualisering”. Utöver detta ställs rollspelsfenomenet mot den senmoderna kontexten och svenskarnas olika livsåskådningsprofiler, där det verkar som om de unga i större utsträckning, än de äldre, intresserar sig för de existentiella frågeställningarna, vilket också styrks av denna studie. Studien grundar sig på sex djupintervjuer, vilket gör att det inte går att dra några generella slutsatser. Men ur ett religionspsykosocialt och objektrelationsteoretiskt perspektiv pekar ändå det sammanställda resultatet på att rollspelsfenomenet på en rad punkter kan ses som en form av religionssubstitut, vilket innebär att det i den svenska senmoderna sekulariserade kontexten är ytterst ändamålsenligt att religionspsykologin breddar sitt forskningsområde till att innefatta meningsskapande beteenden i mer allmän bemärkelse, där fokus gärna kan ligga på hur och i vilka sammanhang vi bearbetar existentiella och religiösa frågeställningar. Utifrån dessa resultat anser jag dessutom att det är av största vikt för vårt samhälles psykosociala och existentiella hälsa att vi studerar hur vi kan underlätta för barn och ungdom att dels skapa sammanhängande, funktionella och symboliskt rika meningssystem, dels studera hur de i sina liv kan ge uttryck för dessa meningssystem såväl som dela dessa med andra. Min intention är att denna studie av rollspelsfenomenet i någon mån ska bidra till att belysa dessa, som jag ser det, ytterst angelägna frågor.

This is a master thesis in the discipline of psychology of religion, with a focus on the psychological and psychosocial functions of rites/ritualization and myths/narration in our lives. The main aim was to investigate adolescent male live acting role-players rites/ritualization and myths/narration, generally in their personal life and specifically in the world of the role-playing phenomenon, to see how they used the rites/ritualization and myths/narration in the role-playing world to create and maintain their sense of coherence and meaning in life. Theoretically were Erikson’s theories about ritualization, Stern’s theories about narration and Antonovsky’s theories about our sense of coherence (SOC) and general resistance resources (GRRs) used. The results point to that the six male informants, anyway when it comes to worldviews, ideologies and religions, lacked significant ritualization and narration outside the role-playing world, and that the role-playing interest in some ways could be a response by the informants to the lack of coherent and significant ritualization and narration in the family as well as in the Swedish society. In the world of role-playing was it specifically significant ritualization and narration that were related to having a place geographically-historically in a (age-)hierarchical network that seemed to be positively correlated with the informants sense of coherence and meaning in life. However, an important aspect was also that they could enter different episodic narratives together in game where they were able to express and explore personality traits and feelings they could not normally express or explore. This outlet seemed also to be used to unconsciously communicate and come to terms with intra- and interpsychical conflicts as well as existential questions. This scientific paper is a partial requirement of the European Union (EU) Diploma Program in Psychology of Religion. This paper has been administered through the Nordic Profile Program: Meaning-making, Culture, and Health, at Uppsala University, Sweden. Included in this program is the granting of a Masters Degree in Meaning-making, Culture, and Health through Uppsala University. The Diploma Program is a first research level program that can be integrated into doctoral or other advanced study programs in Europe and internationally.

The purpose of this essay is to get an understanding of how the Swedish Democrats have such a prosperity in the countryside. The aim is also to see if, and in that case how, the Swedish Democrats uses religion as a tool to increase their voter support. This will be especially focused, and compared with, what the respondents have to say about the countryside. To achieve this a qualitative interview study will be used to establish the information needed. The use of a qualitative interview study is essential due to the need of profound and complex information from the respondents. The respondents sit on a big knowledge because of their close relationship with the village and the Swedish Democrats. Further on the study will be set in a small town where the Swedish Democrats have a strong support. In this small village three out of the four Sweden Democrats who sit in the municipal council lives. The study will be in close proximity with words as xenophobia and islamophobia and it aims to supplement the research previously focused on the Swedish Democrats as ideology, with its actual representatives in the countryside.

No description available.

This study deals with the historical development around the arguments for women's eligibility for the priesthood in the Church of Sweden between the years 1923-1950. Based on two government investigations in 1923 and 1950, I present the argument that emerges and how this relates to the gender order and social structures of the time. My purpose of the study is to provide an insight into the multifaceted debate that this issue gave rise to. My questions are: what arguments for or against the female priesthood were put forward in these investigations and how were these related to understandings of male and female? I will methodically use a qualitative text analysis based on the hermeneutic spiral and take as a starting point the gender theories of previous research to answer these questions. The study shows how the presented arguments in several ways formed a distinction between men and women. The argument was also developed during these years and the study shows how it is connected with an overall changed gender order and societal structures.

Debatten kring jakt är alltjämt relevant ur en samtida svensk kontext där olika värden såsom biologisk mångfald, jordbruket med sina ekonomiska, kulturella och djuretiska aspekter, omsorg om vilda djur samt jaktformers kulturhistoriska arv bland lokalbefolkningen företräds. I Sverige finns yrkesjägare, jaktkritiker, fritidsjägare, människor som vuxit upp med jakt och människor som inte har någon egentlig relation till eller medvetenhet om jakt samt det mesta däremellan. Denna uppsats genomför en innehållsmässig idéanalys av Jägareförbundets utbildningsmaterial för jägarexamen Jägarskolan utifrån etiska och miljöetiska teorier med syfte att tolka vilka idéer om värde och moraliska skyldigheter som görs i materialet. Uppsatsen finner att materialet kan anses uttrycka en svagt ekocentrisk dygdetik där arter och ekosystem samt i viss mån icke-mänskliga djur kan anses ha ett egenvärde samt att odlandet av vissa egenskaper och färdigheter är nödvändiga för en etiskt korrekt förståelse och handlande.

Recently, Kant's concept of aesthetic disinterestedness has been called into question (see Nehamas 2007, Riggle 2016). Both texts provide insight into the ways in which experiences of beauty are interested. That said, the precise relationship between beauty and the desires, which is at the core of aesthetic interest as a concept, remains elusive. I have therefore developed a theoretical account of how desires are integral to how people experience beauty. Central to my thesis is the rejection of the idea that people experience beauty as a mere sensation, as I argue from the position that beauty is experienced as a fully fledged emotion. I build my theory on the foundation of Jenefer Robinson’s paper “Emotion, Judgement, and Desire” which, like my thesis, is specifically concerned with the evaluative component of emotions. Her suggestion is that people’s emotional evaluations are shaped by desires that are held by them prior to their emotional experiences. I expand her thesis by suggesting that such desires initiate a second distinct type of desire that is also part of the evaluative component of emotions. I argue that the distinction I make between primary desires and response desires explains how people engage with beautiful objects in an interested manner. Primary desires are defined by me as deeply held desires that are directed, in terms of their intentionality, towards the subject’s life and self-affirming values, as explored by Riggle (2021). I argue that people are predisposed to seek out experiences of beauty because of their primary desires. The reason being that the perceptual properties of beautiful objects reflect the life and self-affirming values against which primary desires are directed. I then suggest that response desires are in experiences of beauty initiated by the subject recognising beautiful objects as “speaking to” their primary desires. As in, when someone perceives qualities that reflect their life and self-affirming values, they respond by developing response desires towards the object. I argue that such response desires, in so far as beauty is concerned, is manifested in a want to prolong one’s emotional experiences of beauty. Moreover, I suggest that by satisfying them, the subject continuously develops new response desires towards the beautiful object; making response desires an essential part of how people assert the values they recognise in beautiful objects.

The idea of sects has been something observed from a distance, which creates a mystery regarding what occurs in these selective religious groups. In today's media cults is often depicted as mystic groups, but is that a correct portrayal of cults, or is in fact misleading? The purpose of this thesis is to create an overview regarding the mental health by former sect members by the usage of Heider Fritz interpretation of attribution theory. The issue that will be leading this thesis is “How can attribution theory be used to understand sect defectors regarding their mental health?”. This work will be analysed with thematic analysis, due to it being more fitting, regarding to the material based on peoples own stories about their experiences, as well as the usage of theory functioning like framework while reading and later analysing the material. The theory that will function as a base for the work is as mentioned, Attribution theory describe people under the impression that events outside of logical explanation is caused by God. In a religious perspective the roles between God and humans are mentioned several times throughout the Bible. The result of this thesis shows that people in Swedish sects develop mental illness due to the strict image of God and the pressure put on members by parish leaders, that functions as a form om degradation. Although it is important to underline that one cannot generalize the members of a sect, due to the complex individuality prerequisites that each person obtain. The prerequisites vary from person to person and therefore establish the psyche of every individual and the risk of developing a mental illness. / <p>På grund av Covid-19 har opponeringen av uppsatsen skett utanför universitetes lokaler, via Zoom</p>