After a period during which Storm Jameson’s restricted literary identity has been that of the politically engaged woman writer, critical interest in the intellectual and stylistic complexities of her work is now reviving. Yet Jameson’s background in early English modernism and the manner in which it enriches her writing continues to pass unnoticed. This thesis uncovers new evidence of Jameson’s immersion in the early English modernisms of Alfred Orage’s Leeds Arts Club and New Age journal and of Dora Marsden’s journals, the New Freewoman and the Egoist, as an avant-garde student before the Great War. Drawing analogies with the post-colonial notions of ‘Manichean delirium’ and of ‘writing back to the centre’, this thesis argues that, subsequently – as a provincial socialist woman writer struggling to make her way at the predominantly male and elitist cultural centre – Jameson developed a vexed outsider-insider relation to English modernism which she expressed during the 1920s in a series of intertextual novels critiquing the contemporary cultural scene. It examines each of these novels chronologically, beginning with Jameson’s critique of the early modernisms of Orage, Marsden and associated writers in her first two novels, before moving on to her engagement, in turn, with the work of D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf and Wyndham Lewis. Employing a socially oriented model of intertextuality, this thesis reads each novel synchronically as a sceptical and often witty probing of some of the polarised, and frequently contradictory, positions taken within the modernist debate. It also interprets the 1920s fiction diachronically as a developmental journey towards what Jennifer Birkett terms the ‘stylised realism’ of the 1930s and 40s, in which William James’s Pragmatism plays a central role, allowing Jameson to assimilate those intellectual and stylistic elements within English modernism that she values before leaving the rest behind.

Magistro darbe, tema „Subjekto problema modernioje ir postmodernioje ugdymo filosofijoje“, yra mėginama išryškinti subjekto problema modernios ugdymo filosofijos kontekste. Taip pat atskleidžiama ir analizuojama perskyra tarp modernios ir klasikinės ugdymo filosofijų. Aptariama ugdymo principų ir standartų istorinė, teorinė bei mokslinė raida, akcentuojant, kokią filosofiniai principai darė įtaką tam tikrų edukologinių principų atsiradimui bei vystymuisi. Šiame darbe daug dėmesio yra skiriama vaiko objektyvizavimo problemai klasikinėje ugdymo sistemoje bei subjektyvizavimo problemai modernioje ugdymo sistemoje. Modernioje ugdymo sistemoje išryškėja patyrimo bei refleksijos svarba, sąmonės intencionalumas, kuris parodo fenomenologijos reikšmę. Šiame darbe yra aptariamos sąšaukos tarp fenomenologijos, pragmatizmo ir egzistencializmo idėjų ugdyme. Daugiausiai yra analizuojami egzistencializmo atstovo P.Freire‘o darbai. P.Freire savo ugdymo filosofijoje labiausiai akcentuoja žmogaus laisvės problemą, humanizmo ugdyme svarbą. Taip pat yra analizuojama pragmatizmo atstovo J.Dewey ugdymo sistemoje išryškinama individo patyrimo svarba, šio patyrimo refleksija bei praktinis pritaikymas. Daugiausiai yra akcentuojami demokratiškumo ir humanizmo principai, kaip pagrindiniai ugdymo principai. Šiame darbe klasikinė ugdymo sistema yra parodoma kaip dehumanizuojanti individą, išryškinami jos trūkumai. O moderni ugdymo sistema, atvirkščiai - kaip humanizuojanti, išlaisvinanti individą. / The Master's thesis "The problem of Subject in Modern and Post-modern Philosophy of Education," is an attempt to highlight the problem of the subject in the context of modern philosophy of education. The present work describes and analyzes the distinction between modern and classical education philosophies as well. The historical, theoretical, and scientific development of the principles and standards of education are also dealt with focusing on philosophical principles that influenced the emergence and development of certain educational principles. The paper pays attention to the problem of child objectivisation in the system of classical education and the problem of subjectivisation in modern education. The modern education system highlights the importance of experience and reflection, intentionality of consciousness, which show the relevance of phenomenology. This work discusses the interplay of the ideas of phenomenology, pragmatism, and existentialism in education. Mostly the works of the representative of existentialism P.Freire are analyzed. P.Freire stresses the problem of human freedom and humanistic education in his educational philosophy. The paper also analyzes the importance of individual experience, its reflection and practical application in the educational system of the representative of pragmatism J.Dewey. Mostly the principles of democracy and humanism as the basic educational principles are emphasized. This paper presents the classical education system as... [to full text]

Charles William Morris (1901-1979) was a student of George Herbert Mead in the early 1920s when Mead was involved in the Chicago School. Inspired by his mentor, Morris wrote extensively on semiotics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, aesthetics, axiology and religion. Morris has received wide acclaim for his writings on semiotics. However, his writings pertaining to religion--the study of which preoccupied him throughout his life--have been all but entirely overlooked. / Morris first presented the "Maitreyan path" in his Paths of Life: Preface to a World Religion (1942). The expression "Maitreyan path" is derived from the Sanskrit name Maitreya (Metteyya in Pali) meaning "the friendly one." Morris' understanding of this symbol is unorthodox and must be differentiated from traditional Buddhist conceptions. According to him, the Maitreyan path is best understood in terms of the paradoxical expression "generalized detached-attachment." At the centre of this expression is the idea of overcoming. Yet it is not a symbol in the traditional sense of the term. It is beyond all form yet open to all forms; it neither prescribes nor ascribes any path, yet it is open to all particular paths. / If the Maitreyan path is without any specifiable form or content, how can it be an effective symbol for self-overcoming? In answering this question this study will apply Morris' well-known theory of signs to his little-known study of religious behaviour. This being done, it is then possible to analyze the Maitreyan symbol in terms not only of overt behaviours, but also of sign functioning. Based on the preceding analysis, this study argues that self-overcoming is achieved not via negativa by diminishing the self through the negation and abandonment of language, but rather via positiva by increasing the self through the affirmation and reclamation of language.

In 1975, the US Fish and Wildlife Service listed the grizzly bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Following the listing, a recovery plan was drafted in which the Bitterroot Ecosystem of central Idaho and extreme western Montana was one of six proposed grizzly bear recovery areas. It was the only one of the six, however, which did not contain a resident population of grizzlies. The Fish and Wildlife Service eventually accepted a proposal submitted by a coalition of environmental and timber industry groups. The coalition proposed to reestablish a population of grizzlies in the Bitterroot by translocating 25 bears over five years from existing populations in the US and Canada. The proposal, however, included significant concessions, including reduced protection for the reintroduced grizzlies and management of the grizzly population by a Citizen Management Committee. A large contingent of regional and national environmental groups quickly rose up in vociferous objection to the proposal exposing a significant rift within the environmental movement. These environmentalists objected to the very idea of Citizen Management and also claimed that the proposed recovery area was too small to ensure recovery. Drawing on interviews and document analyses, this dissertation employs an environmental pragmatist approach to examine the intra-environmentalist disputes that flared up throughout the Bitterroot grizzly recovery debates. The dissertation focuses on the relationship between environmental ideologies, science, and conservation advocacy, with an eye toward examining how environmentalists crafted and defended rival proposals for grizzly recovery. Through this interpretive lens, the dissertation aims to explain the existence and persistence of this intra-environmentalism rift as well as explore its ramifications for environmentalism in the region. While no wholly unified environmental movement can ever be possible or is even necessarily desirable unwavering commitments to unreachable ideals on the part of many environmentalists are hindering the growth, flexibility and efficacy of conservation in the region. The main contribution of this dissertation will be to provide an empirical case study that defends the environmental pragmatist assertion that hostile and unnecessary divisiveness within the environmental movement ultimately obstructs the development of a more successful environmentalism.

Syftet med denna studie är att visa hur pragmatiska didaktiska modeller, framförallt analys av praktiska epistemologier (PEA) och organiserande syften, kan användas för att komplettera learning study i lärares arbete för att utveckla matematikundervisningen. Därmed försöker studien svara på forskningsfrågan: Hur kan pragmatiska perspektiv stödja lärares användning av learning study för att utveckla en undervisning där eleverna når målen bättre? Denna fråga besvaras genom att svara på följande frågor: 1. Kan man visa att eleverna lär sig bättre efter ändringarna i de tre cyklerna? 2. Kan man visa hur lärarnas analys med hjälp av learning study och pragmatiska perspektiv har varit ett stöd i att eleverna lär sig bättre? För att undersöka detta används ett case som handlar om lösning av enkla ekvationer i åk 1 på gymnasiet. Den forskningsmetoden som används i denna studie är learning study, där tre cykler genomförs i tre olika klasser i åk 1. För att bättre få syn på de kritiska aspekterna i elevernas lärande och för att öka tillförlitligheten i studien används ett flertal datainsamlingsmetoder. Det analyserade materialet består av 98 elevtester, cirka 50 elevintervjuer, åtta skriftligt dokumenterade planeringstillfällen om vardera 60 minuter, sex ljudinspelade lektioner samt två video- och ljudinspelade lektioner. Ett pragmatiskt perspektiv på lärande används som teoretiskt ramverk för att planera, analysera och utveckla undervisningen kring ekvationslösning. Elevernas kunskaper inom ekvationslösning förbättrades under studiens gång. Följaktligen har studien visat att eleverna lär sig bättre efter ändringarna i de tre cyklerna. Studiens resultat synliggör också att vad eleverna erbjuds att lära sig är beroende av om läraren skapar kontinuitet mellan närliggande syften och det övergripande syftet. I och med det visar studien att learning study, analys av praktiska epistemologier) och organiserande syften kan fungera som effektiva verktyg för att planera, analysera och utvärdera undervisningen. Alltså, lärarnas analys har med hjälp av learning study och pragmatiska perspektiv varit ett stöd i att eleverna lär sig bättre. Utifrån vad som nämnts ovan har studiens syfte uppfyllt.

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)

The overall ambition with this thesis is to develop knowledge about students’ learning, especially with regard to process and content, when they participate in argumentation. Students’ learning is investigated through in situ studies of classroom practices. The theoretical point of departure is a pragmatic perspective in which learning is understood and investigated in terms of concrete actions. The empirical material consists of video recorded lessons at secondary and upper secondary schools in Sweden. The content of the lessons is argumentative discussions about sustainable development and socioscientific issues. In the first study, the functions that teachers’ actions have for students’ learning processes are investigated using Epistemological Move Analysis. In the second study, an approach is developed and illustrated that facilitates investigations into students’ learning processes in terms of knowledge content and argument construction in argumentation. The method, called Transactional Argumentation Analysis, combines a pragmatic perspective of learning with an argument analysis based on Toulmin’s Argument Pattern. In the third study, the functions that knowledge have when used by students in argumentative discussions are examined. The fourth study investigates the role of peers for students’ learning and how students influence the argumentation at a collective level. Here Transactional Argumentation Analysis is developed further in order to facilitate investigations of the dynamic interplay between the intra-personal and the inter-personal dimensions of learning and the result of this interplay in terms of the knowledge content and arguments that are constructed. The thesis shows how students’ learning can be investigated through in situ studies of educational practices. The methodological contribution of the thesis consists of the development and further elaboration of Transactional Argumentation Analysis. The thesis also contributes with substantial knowledge about students’ learning processes with regard to knowledge content and argument construction when participating in argumentation. Another contribution concerns the functions of knowledge when used by students in argumentation. Finally, the studies show how peers and teachers influence students’ learning, and how students contribute to the shared argumentation in the classroom.

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine Richard Rorty’s arguments in favour of a limited role for religion in the public sphere, both with regard to their practical value and their consistency with Rorty’s other philosophical commitments. A brief description of Rorty’s various philosophical commitments is followed by a detailed analysis of the negative practical consequences that can be foreseen resulting from Rorty’s approach to the topic of religion and any attempt to enforce his proposed treatment of religion. After looking at the practical problems with Rorty’s position, a closer look was taken at Rorty’s consistency across his philosophical writings. With a particular focus on Rorty’s pragmatism and his epistemic relativism the author concludes that Rorty’s arguments for reducing the influence of religion in the public sphere remain of questionable practicality and, furthermore, are at odds with his epistemological commitments. Rorty’s commitment to liberal democracy entails a commitment to protecting citizens’ rights to voice their opinions in hopes of influencing public policy. Despite his controversial writings with regards to the role of religion in society, authors such as Jeffrey Stout and Nicholas Wolterstorff provide alternative approaches to the appropriate treatment of religion in society that remain consistent with an anti-foundational commitment to liberal democracy and can expect to produce more favourable practical outcomes. / Graduate

The overall aim of this thesis is to contribute to the debate about Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), and provide a practical tool for teachers with which they can relate to ethical and moral learning in the ESD context. This aim is based on the ambition to develop an approach that takes its starting point from our practical experience of ethics and morals, inspired by the later works of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the transactional perspective developed by John Dewey. This implies that ethics and morals are regarded as a human tendency that is observable in action. The central method used to clarify ethical and moral meaning-making is, by the use of examples, to remind of common experiences of how this meaning-making appears in everyday situations. These clarifications are made in order to dissolve (rather than solve) philosophical problems, as well as to create new knowledge. The approach has been applied to four different studies. The first study focuses on the differences between three selective traditions in environmental education: fact-based, normative and pluralistic, with regard to the relationship between facts and values. It is argued that a pluralistic approach can be seen as way of relating facts and values in practice, and consequently that the democratic process neither precedes nor succeeds education but is an integral part of it, and that students therefore are constituted as citizens participating in the progress of sustainable development. The purpose of the second study is to suggest an approach that allows in situ analysis of how individuals’ prior experiences are included in the processes of moral meaning-making. A concrete example shows how individuals can transform the moral discourse in different situations. In the third study, it is suggested that the ethical tendency can be recognised as a communication in which certain values and actions are treated as if they were universally good and right. Three different kinds of situations in which this communication appears are highlighted: personal moral reactions, norms for correct behaviour and ethical reflections.The diverse conditions for learning in these situations are discussed, and specific notice is taken of the risk of indoctrination in ESD. The fourth study addresses the question of how to understand and deal with criticism in a pluralistic educational approach. Through reminders of how criticism appears in everyday practice, it is argued that criticism does not necessarily have to be understood theoretically. Criticism can also be seen as the diverse ways in which human beings morally react, encounter different norms and ethically reflect.

This dissertation is about the writing of theses in Swedish higher education. The aim is to construct meanings about thesis writing from different kinds of texts. The meanings are answers to the overall question about what good teaching can be in relation to thesis writing, and to what extent handbooks on writing can enhance such teaching. The dominant meaning constructed from handbooks on thesis writing is that writing is about following certain rules and closely connected to this meaning is the idea that writing can be taught as a separate ability. Focus is on the abilities of the individual student. A consequence of this meaning is that handbooks can be of use. The dominant meaning constructed from research on thesis writing is that writing takes place in a context, and that the teaching must concentrate on the content of the subject. When students understand the subject they will also be able to write. Focus is on what the institution can do to support students. The consequence of this meaning is that there is no need for handbooks in the teaching of writing. Important aims of Swedish higher education are being neglected in most texts on writing, i.e. critical thinking, students’ influence over the education, the possibilities of all categories of students participating in higher education, students’ personal development, education and citizenship. These issues, however, are frequent in other texts on higher education, and in the last part of the dissertation the question of thesis writing is brought to these broader contexts. The dissertation takes pragmatism as its theoretical starting point. The construction of meanings and their consequences, as well as the insistence on the two roles of education being of use to the individual as well as to society, come from pragmatism. So does also, following Dewey, the belief that what students do in education must have significance, not only in future, but as it takes place.