In this thesis it is argued that the use and design of computer artefacts can be fruitfully studied by focusing on use problems and design contradictions, defined as problems and contradictions in relation to organisational improvements planned by the IT-practitioner. The position taken in this thesis is that the important thing with computer artefacts and systems design is their contributions to human organisations at large. The purpose is to contribute to the design of contributing computer artefacts by studying, first, use problems and design contradictions, and second, the importance of IT-perspectives held by the practitioner. That is, the practitioner's tacit assumptions about what computers really are. Based on Action Science three case studies are made. What was found in these cases were use problems such as context dependency, discriminating information systems, misinterpretations and misuse. Among design contradictions were observed narrow design domains, unimaginative and pointless staff trainings, too fixed positions concerning goals and problems, and an assumption concerning relevant knowledge that effectively was excluding important knowledge related to the organisation at large. In all of these cases a tool perspective was interpreted as the dominating IT-perspective. In order to find out whether or not a tool perspective can be regarded as causing the use problems and design contradictions observed, the thesis examines this IT-perspective more closely. The conclusion made from this examination is that the tool perspective can be causing the problems and contradictions observed. In an attempt to formulate an alternative to this tool perspective theoretical studies into systems thinking and reflective practice were made, ending up in a framework labeled contextual IT-understanding. It is a framework built on principles such as a systems view, purposefulness, product-producer perspective, and constructivism. It is also built on assumptions such as that practitioners have a capacity to make sense out of a situation that initially makes no sense, that their actions are formed through a reflective conversation with the materials of the situation, that design is a matter of reflection, both in and on the actual action, and that in training it is important to make the trainee start to reflect on the tacit assumptions guiding her actions. According to a contextual IT-understanding an information system is a systemic and culturally dynamic artefact and as such, an artefact that will serve certain interests at the expense of others, will be ambiguous, will be misinterpreted, will be misused, etcetera. An information system should also be considered as part of a larger value creating process under the constant influence of a tacit dimension, implying that the relation between an information system and organisational improvements is not causal, that a lot of important design will take place in use, etcetera. More radically though, every information system can be seen as having a tacit dimension acting like an intellectual superstructure, and this tacit dimension can be fruitfully utilized in design. On the overall level a conclusion is drawn that both researchers and practitioners should emphasis the IT-perspectives held by IT-practitioners and the tacit dimensions influencing practice. / digitalisering@umu

Friedrich Nietzsche, 100 years after his death, remains a controversial figure in philosophy. Much of this controversy stems from Nietzsche's view of truth, which seems superficially hopelessly contradictory, vacillating between relativism and denial of truth on the one hand, and praise for science and hard truths on the other. Thus, any person wanting to defend Nietzsche's positive philosophy must first make sense of his epistemology. The solution to this puzzle regarding Nietzsche's theory of truth is the realization that Nietzsche changes his view on truth. Much like Wittgenstien, Nietzsche had an early and a late period in his epistemic views, and a middle period where he is struggling with two very different, incompatible views. The late view of truth is surprisingly straightforward: Nietzsche can be seen as an early pragmatist. Once we have a coherent truth theory, we can then start to conclude some of the more contentious arguments in Nietzsche's philosophy, such as: what is the Will to Power, and how does Nietzsche's view of truth interact with his criticism of morality? This thesis will trace the development of the former and endeavor to answer some of the latter.

In an attempt to promote in-depth dialogue amongst bioethicists coming from distinct disciplinary and religious backgrounds this thesis offers an overview of the current state of bioethics and a critical analysis of a number of the leading methods of addressing pluralism in bioethics. Exploring the critiques and methodological proposals coming from the social sciences, the contract theorists, and the pragmatists, this study describes the problems which arise when confronting moral and religious diversity in a bioethical context and examines the ability of these various methodologies to adequately resolve these matters. Finally, after a discussion of the benefits and the potential problems of each of the aforementioned schools, a methodological model labelled “Pragmatic Perspectivism” is set forth as a potential conceptual framework through which a bioethical theory for a secular yet religiously pluralistic society may be forged.

Friedrich Nietzsche, 100 years after his death, remains a controversial figure in philosophy. Much of this controversy stems from Nietzsche's view of truth, which seems superficially hopelessly contradictory, vacillating between relativism and denial of truth on the one hand, and praise for science and hard truths on the other. Thus, any person wanting to defend Nietzsche's positive philosophy must first make sense of his epistemology. The solution to this puzzle regarding Nietzsche's theory of truth is the realization that Nietzsche changes his view on truth. Much like Wittgenstien, Nietzsche had an early and a late period in his epistemic views, and a middle period where he is struggling with two very different, incompatible views. The late view of truth is surprisingly straightforward: Nietzsche can be seen as an early pragmatist. Once we have a coherent truth theory, we can then start to conclude some of the more contentious arguments in Nietzsche's philosophy, such as: what is the Will to Power, and how does Nietzsche's view of truth interact with his criticism of morality? This thesis will trace the development of the former and endeavor to answer some of the latter.

<p>This dissertation examines whether democratic citizens are responsible for the behavior of their governments. Through careful analysis of the political theory and practice of Henry David Thoreau and Jane Addams, I demonstrate that notions of democracy that are distinctly modern in their emphasis upon plurality and individuality can instill in citizens a sense of responsibility for public life. My analysis also calls attention to several challenges that make ethical democratic citizenship a demanding undertaking. In the final chapters, I construct an account of responsible democratic citizenship that addresses these challenges, drawing upon lessons learned from my discussion of Thoreau and Addams, as well as from more contemporary thinkers. Democratic citizens, I argue, do not fully control the circumstances in which they act, and thus they often become implicated in outcomes to which they have not explicitly consented. If they aspire to be self-ruling, however, they must accept some responsibility for political outcomes that affect their own wellbeing and are affected by their behavior. Furthermore, I argue that citizens are unlikely to recognize and discharge their shared responsibilities unless they cultivate particular attitudes, including curiosity, flexibility, sympathy, humility and courage. These attitudes enable citizens to learn about the problems for which they are responsible and cooperate with others to solve shared problems.</p> / Dissertation

Title from second page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-123).

I dagens svenska skola används olika typer av digitala system för att underlätta dokumentation och kommunikation. Trots att digitala system används av lärare som ett medium för kommunikation av kunskap, så saknas en kunskapsteoretisk diskussion kring detta, med utgångspunkt från utbildningsvetenskapliga teorier. Syftet med uppsatsen är att, utifrån den professionella lärarens perspektiv, problematisera användandet av digitala system vid kommunikation av kunskap. Teoretiskt vilar uppsatsen på utbildningsvetenskapliga teorier som tar sin kunskapsteoretiska utgångspunkt i poststrukturalism och pragmatism. Digitala system bär på implicita antaganden och designmässiga beslut som möjliggör ifrågasättande av systemens värdeneutralitet, till exempel gällande kunskapsteoretiska utgångspunkter. Två typer av digitala system behandlas, system för omdömesskrivning, samt digitala planeringsverktyg för undervisning. Metoden är en teoridriven analys, där själva teorisammanställningen är en del av resultatet. Den sammanställda teoriramen appliceras i analysen på fyra konkreta exempel. Resultatet visar att en rhizomatisk bild av kunskapsprocessen, hämtat från utbildningsfilosofen Inna Semetskys beskrivning, står i motsatsförhållande till den kunskapsstrukturering som förekommer i digitala system. En kritisk punkt att uppmärksamma, då det gäller användandet av digitala system för kommunikation av kunskap, är att det standardiserade ställs mot det unika. Det unika tilltalet mellan lärare och elev, som är centralt för utbildningsfilosofen Gert Biestas teorier om subjektifiering, riskerar att gå förlorad. Lagring och sammanställning av lärarnas kunskapsomdömen påverkar också lärare-elev kommunikationen genom möjligheten att omdömena kan komma att ingå i andra kontexter. En slutsats av studien är att utbildningsteori med pragmatism eller poststrukturalism som kunskapsgrund, står i en uppenbar dissonans med den kunskapsrepresentation som många digitala system bygger på.

In this degree project, a study of the teacher’s identity in the Swedish curriculum of 1980 and 2011 is presented. The aim of this study is to examine and compare how the Swedish curriculum of 1980 and 2011, respectively, portraits the teacher’s role in creating democratic citizens. With discourse analysis of the teacher’s identity as the method, the study aims to answer the questions below: How is the character of the teacher’s role in creating good citizens, described in the curriculum and the syllabus for social sciences? What is included and excluded in the teacher’s duty within the task of creating good citizens? What kind of perspectives on the purpose of education is formulated in the curriculum? The theoretical bases of this study are taken from; Joel Westheimer and Joseph Kahne’s categorizations of the democratic citizen, Gert J.J. Biesta’s account of the different functions of education, Leonora. M Cohen’s definitions of three philosophical perspectives on education and Carsten Ljunggren and Ingrid Unemar Öst’s model of teachers different reactions to controversy. As a conclusion this study finds that the portrait of the teacher’s role in creating democratic citizens has changed in its description from the curriculum of 1980 to the curriculum of 2011.The identity of the teacher has gone from describing a qualifying, socializing and pragmatic mediator of social standards in 1980’s curriculum to in the 2011’s curriculum describing a qualifying promoter of knowledge and discussion. The study also finds that the professional authority of the teacher is, in the curriculums, given very little room and instead focus lies on either the aspect of knowledge or pragmatism.

This thesis researches how the consultant can participate in the creation of successful processes in organizations using multiple theoretical and practical traditions and a pragmatic reflexivity. The research shows how the consultant can do this using a heuristic model developed in the thesis called the consultancy room consisting of three dimensions: distinctions of position, distinctions of system, and distinctions of time. The thesis shows 6 different and distinct positions that the consultant can use in practice: the OD, systemic, solution-focused, appreciative, narrative and strategic position. To show their practical usefulness multiple examples of developing teams are described. The research shows that positions are firstly to be understood as theories that the consultant knows from experience and literature and brings to the organization and secondly the research also shows how such positions are created and coordinated with the customer before and during the consultancy process. The thesis further shows how the consultant can work with multiple distinctions of system. Three prototypical distinctions of system are introduced: the individual, the group, and the organization as part of the consultancy room to help the consultant increase his orientational abilities in practice. And a further distinction between the conversational and the linguistic system is made to help the consultant reflect in and on practice. The conversational system addresses the design of the process by reflecting with the customer about who should talk to whom in order to develop the situation. The linguistic system addresses how the system in focus is being talked about. The thesis shows how the different positions look at and give different possibilities for action in relation to the different distinctions of system. Finally the thesis shows how the consultant can work with multiple distinctions of time. Three prototypical distinctions of time are introduced: the moment, the meeting, and the process as part of the consultancy room to help the consultant navigate in practice. Again the different positions give different ideas of how to act in the moment and how to design meetings and longer processes. The research is done using the researchers own practice as data. A pragmatic research method is created and based in particular on the work of John Dewey (Dewey 1916 1938, Brinkmann 2006) and Gregory Bateson (Bateson 1972 1984)looking at similarities and differences between multiple examples from the researchers practice.

Ecological economics and its policy recommendations have become overwhelmed by economic valuation, shadow pricing, sustainability measures, and squeezing Nature into the commodity boxes of goods, services and capital in order to make it part of mainstream economic, financial and banking discourses. There are deeper concerns which touch upon the understanding of humanity in its various social, psychological, political and ethical facets. The relationship with Nature proposed by the ecological economics movement has the potential to be far reaching. However, this is not the picture portrayed by surveying the amassed body of articles from this journal or by many of those claiming affiliation. A shallow movement, allied to a business as usual politics and economy, has become dominant and imposes its preoccupation with mainstream economic concepts and values. If, instead, ecological economists choose a path deep into the world of interdisciplinary endeavour they will need to be prepared to transform themselves and society. The implications go far beyond the pragmatic use of magic numbers to convince politicians and the public that ecology still has something relevant to say in the 21st Century. (author's abstract) / Series: SRE - Discussion Papers