This project is primarily exegetical in nature and aims to provide a rational reconstruction of the concept of moral responsibility in the work of Immanuel Kant, specifically in his Critique of Pure Reason (CPR), Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (GR), and Critique of Practical Reason (CPrR). It consists of three chapters – the first chapter interprets the concept of freedom that follows from the resolution to the Third Antinomy in the CPR. It argues that Kant is best understood here to be providing an unusual but cogent, compatibilist account of freedom that the author terms meta-compatibilism. The second chapter examines the GR and CPrR to interpret the theory of practical reason and moral agency that Kant develops in these works. This chapter concludes by evaluating what has been established about Kant’s ideas of freedom and moral agency at that point in the project, identifying some problems and objections in addition to providing some suggestions for how Kantian ethics might be adapted within a consequentialist framework. The third chapter argues that, for Kant, there are two necessary and jointly sufficient conditions (in addition to a compatibilist definition of freedom) that must obtain for an individual to qualify as responsible for her actions.

Emma Nordin: Emilie Du Châtelets analys av lycka: Upplösning av polemiken mellan illusion och förnuft. Uppsala universitet: inst. för idé- och lärdomshistoria, C-uppsats, höstterminen, 2012.   The 18th century is a time period known for its battle with superstition, illusion and falseness. With the Torch of Reason the philosophers of the time were set on vanquishing everything untrue and lead mankind into what they themselves called the Enlightenment. Happiness had moved from Heaven to Earth in science, truth and pleasure. But is it that simple? This essay will analyze and discuss the French philosopher Emilie Du Châtelet’s concept “illusion”, something she did not encourage people to vanquish, but to nourish and cherish. Her ideas of illusion did not only contradict the ideas of many of her contemporaries and predecessors, but the associations the word has today as well. Unlike many others she did not consider illusion as falseness that eliminated reason, on the contrary, only with the two combined could one be truly happy. Du Châtelet argued for the apparent oxymoron: conscious illusion. She showed how this worked in happy occasions such as love, hopes of glory and something as simple as a visit to the theatre. She did not construct these definitions and reasoning in a vacuum, but in constant debate with predecessors such as Spinoza and Hobbes and her contemporaries such as La Mettrie and Rousseau. This essay will show that the relationship between reason and illusion during the Enlightenment was more complicated than one might think and that Du Châtelet argues for a fully functioning and necessary combination of illusion, happiness and reason. Illusion was not necessarily something the philosophers of the Enlightenment saw as something oppose to, or even threatening to, their flickering Torch.

This project is primarily exegetical in nature and aims to provide a rational reconstruction of the concept of moral responsibility in the work of Immanuel Kant, specifically in his Critique of Pure Reason (CPR), Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (GR), and Critique of Practical Reason (CPrR). It consists of three chapters – the first chapter interprets the concept of freedom that follows from the resolution to the Third Antinomy in the CPR. It argues that Kant is best understood here to be providing an unusual but cogent, compatibilist account of freedom that the author terms meta-compatibilism. The second chapter examines the GR and CPrR to interpret the theory of practical reason and moral agency that Kant develops in these works. This chapter concludes by evaluating what has been established about Kant’s ideas of freedom and moral agency at that point in the project, identifying some problems and objections in addition to providing some suggestions for how Kantian ethics might be adapted within a consequentialist framework. The third chapter argues that, for Kant, there are two necessary and jointly sufficient conditions (in addition to a compatibilist definition of freedom) that must obtain for an individual to qualify as responsible for her actions.

Rousseau notoriously praises ignorance and censures learning for the moral corruption that it has inflicted upon his age, yet he admits that the arts and the sciences are good in themselves. I consider the effects of learning and knowledge on moral education, in an effort to answer the following question: What is the role of ignorance in moral education for Rousseau? While some interpreters have acknowledged his sensitivity to various groups in society with regard to moral education, none has properly systematized the different types of ignorance that Rousseau praises or identified the benefits of those types of ignorance to various individuals and societies. I distinguish the savage’s ignorance from that of Socrates and identify another important type of ignorance, the benefits of which stem from our natural sentiment and innate curiosity.

Recognizing that Christians cannot adequately understand the mysteries of faith from a single vantage point, Catholic theologians have been keen on emphasizing the multidimensional nature of theological understanding since Vatican II. The advantage of such a method has helped believers to understand the rich, in-depth quality of Catholic faith.<br>One of the fields of theology which has not been discussed in the models approach, however, is apologetics&hibar;which includes as one of its aspects the art and science of defending the doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church. When all of the relevant passages in the documents of Vatican II are taken into consideration, a unique apologetical approach emerges that incorporates key advances as they emerged historically from the Church's apologists. Each of the individual apologetic systems from the past will be shown to have its own particular strengths and weaknesses. By way of contrast, I will argue that the best way to "make a defense for" the Gospel in a postconciliar church is to advance the integrated model of the Council. This integrated model of Catholic defense is called combinationalism. The interests and views of the apologists are proven to be complementary rather than competing.<br>This integrated model helps apologists and evangelists to recognize that although one approach might be needed in a certain context, it would be an egregious mistake to take that one system and use it as the exclusive means to reach persons situated within different circumstances and cultural contexts. This essay will not only exploit the different apologetic models in the post-Vatican II period, it will also serve as a serious work of apologetics in its own right by focusing on certain challenges as test cases to highlight the pertinence and livelihood of each model. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Theology / PhD; / Dissertation;

<p>While both intuitive knowledge (<italic>scientia intuitiva</italic>) and reason (<italic>ratio</italic>) are adequate ways of knowing for Spinoza, they are not equal. "The greatest virtue of the mind" and "the greatest human perfection" consist in understanding things by intuitive knowledge, which Spinoza regards as superior to reason. Understanding why on Spinoza's account intuition is superior to reason is crucial for understanding his epistemological and ethical theories. Yet, the nature of this superiority has been the subject of some controversy due to Spinoza's parsimonious treatment of the distinction between reason and intuitive knowledge in the Ethics. In my dissertation, I explore this fundamental but relatively unexplored issue in Spinoza scholarship by investigating the nature of this distinction and its ethical implications. I suggest that these two kinds of adequate knowledge differ not only in terms of their method, but also with respect to their representative content. More specifically, I hold that unlike reason, which is a universal knowledge, intuitive knowledge descends to a level of particularity, including an adequate knowledge of one's own essence as it follows directly from God, which represents a superior form of self-knowledge. Attaining this superior self-knowledge makes intuitive knowledge the culmination of not only understanding but also happiness. Since, for Spinoza, there is an intrinsic relationship between the pursuit of knowledge and how we live our lives, I argue that these two ways of knowing are at the same time two ways of living.</p> / Dissertation

Milton writes in Areopagitica of the "true warfaring Christian" who can "apprehend and consider vice with all her baits and seeming pleasures, and yet abstain, and yet distinguish, and yet prefer that which is truly better." Though many reformers saw both human nature and the faculty of reason as depraved after the fall, Milton and other radical writers in the period emphasized the role that reason can and should play in the experience of spiritual warfare. The dissertation therefore begins by considering the theological contexts within which writers of the English Reformation understood evil and human encounters with evil, especially in the form of temptations, but also in the form of disturbing dreams and satanic presences. It then considers some epistemological problems as related to the experience of such conflicts: reason, especially right reason; knowledge, conscience and memory; and free will. Focusing on the texts of John Milton, Aemilia Lanyer, Richard Norwood, and John Bunyan, this study shows that these radical religious writers refuse to conform to the general tendency in Reformation theology to discount the use of reason. Eve's dream in Milton's Paradise Lost reveals the proper use of right reason in spiritual warfare, while the actual temptation scenes in Paradise Lost and Lanyer's Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum point to a fundamental failure of reason in the fall. Norwood's Confessions, Milton's Comus, and Milton's Samson Agonistes portray the triumphs of human reason over evil and temptation, though there remains an awareness of the constraints placed upon reason by their fallen nature such that reason needs the aid of divine grace to function as right reason. Milton's Paradise Regained and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress point to the extraordinary victories gained by Christ and Christian through the use of right reason and memory to direct the will toward the highest goods. These texts offer a counter-voice to those who would dismiss the possibilities of the powers of right reason. Despite the awareness of the inherent limits of fallen reason, these radical reformists generally find reason an indispensable tool in spiritual battles that helps direct their wills to the highest good.

In the past studies showed that if employees in the organization perform their organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), the service quality and consumer satisfaction will promote. Additionally, OCB is helpful for team interaction and promoting team efficiency. It is because employees will cooperate, help each other or work hard to maintain or push others¡¦ welfare and benefit in their organization. However, there are few studies about how OCB is affected by different employment status in public section, and there is little discussion about moderating variables that affect OCB and employment status. In the organization, employees are the most important assets, but are the most difficult factor to control. This study is aimed at analyzing in the Control Yuan how employees with different employment status will affect their willingness to perform OCB. Besides, the study tries to find if ¡§working reason¡¨ and ¡§turnover intention¡¨ of contracted employees will affect the performance of their OCB. The major findings of this study are as following: (1) Relative to formal employees, contracted employees are less faithful than formal employees. Additionally, the contracted employees with turnover intention are less en-teamed than formal employees. There is not significantly different between ¡§devotion¡¨, ¡§loyalty¡¨ and ¡§activity¡¨. (2) In moderating variables about working reasons, no matter that contracted employees get the job willingly or unwillingly, there is no significant difference in their performance of OCB. (3) In moderating variables about turnover intention, the OCB of contracted employee is affected by turnover intertion in ¡§en-team¡¨ and ¡§position-fulfill¡¨. However, there is no significant difference in ¡§devotion¡¨, ¡¨loyalty¡¨ and ¡§activity¡¨ between formal employees and contracted employees.

ABSTRACT The primary goal of this study is to examine the reason of conflict between the administrative personnel and the teachers¡¦association; and the relationship among the modes of conflictive management, the reason of conflict, and the strategy of conflictive management. Firstly, the relevant literatures concerning the reason of conflict and the strategy of conflictive management at the schools were collected, reviewed, and analyzed. Secondly, the procedure of the study was presented and a questionnaire was designed. A pilot study was conducted and then the questionnaire was developeded. The subjects included 778 administrative personnel chosen from 51 public elementary schools through stratified random sampling. In this study, 644 copies of questionnaire were collected, and the total valid copies were 600. The percentage of questionnaire was as high as 85.7%. Following that, the statistic methods including descriptive analyses, t-test, one-way ANOVA, randomized block design ANOVA, and Pearson correlation were applied to analyze the data. The major findings of this study are as follows: 1. With respect to the reasons of conflict between the administrative personnel and the teachers¡¦association, uncertain responsibilities is the most common variables, the unequal distribution of interests and bad communication the second, and different values the least. 2. The strategies used to cope with the conflict between the administrative personnel and the teachers¡¦ association were collaboration, compromise, competition, accommodation, and few avoidance. 3. The reasons of the conflict between the administrative personnel and the teachers¡¦ association were different in some parts with the background variables. 4. The strategies used to cope with the conflict between the administrative personnel and the teachers¡¦ association were different in some parts with the background variables. 5. The correlation between the administrative personnel¡¦s perception of the conflict and the strategies they use was significantly related. Based on the findings mentioned above, some suggestions are proposed as the following: 1. The educational authorities should enhance principals¡¦ leading skills and assist the teachers¡¦ associations at schools in developing and performing appropriately. 2. The school leaders should facilitate the opportunities of communication between the administrative personnel and teachers. Moreover, the clear demarcation of the staff¡¦s responsibility and the methods to solve the conflict should be made as well. 3. The administrative personnel should improve their skills in communication. In addition, the collaboration between the administrative personnel and the teachers¡¦ association should also be promoted. 4. For further studies, some other suggestions regarding the subjects, research methods, and research variables are proposed. Key words: elementary school, administrative personnel, conflictive reason, strategy of conflictive management

<p>Den här magisteruppsatsen analyserar domen mot Microsoft i EG-domstolens första instans. Domen fastställde att Microsoft genom användningen av kopplingsförbehåll, missbrukat sin dominerande ställning enligt artikel 82 i EG-fördraget. Kopplingsförbehållet i det aktuella fallet bestod i att Microsoft uteslutande sålde två separata produkter tillsammans, operativsystemet Windows och mediaspelaren Windows Media Player. Före Microsoft-fallet tillämpades inom EG-rätten ett per se-förbud mot kopplingsförbehåll, vilket innebar att de automatiskt ansågs olagliga utan att effekterna av det individuella kopplingsförbehållet utreddes. Kopplingsförbehållet i Microsoft-fallet ansågs däremot ha en så komplicerad karaktär att en vidare utredning var nödvändig. Därför gjordes en övergång från per se-förbudet till en bedömning med inslag av rule of reason. Den nya bedömningen innebar bland annat en granskning av den effekt som kopplingsförbehållet hade på marknaden. Det var också möjligt för Microsoft att visa att kopplingsförbehållet hade konkurrensfrämjande effekter och effektivitetsvinster som övervägde kopplingsförbehållets konkurrenshämmande effekter, vilket skulle anses som sakligt skäl. Om det bedömdes att det fanns sakliga skäl till kopplingsförbehållet, skulle det kunna tillåtas.</p><p>I ett närmast identiskt fall av kopplingsförbehåll i USA, även det gällande Microsoft, ansågs en bedömning enligt rule of reason vara bättre än tillämpningen av ett per se-förbud. Det fanns dock betydande skillnader mellan den rule of reason-bedömning som förespråkades i USA och den europeiska bedömningen som hade inslag av rule of reason. I USA ansågs exempelvis testet som användes för att fastslå att kopplingsförbehållet bestod av två separata produkter som alltför tillbakablickande och riskerade att hämma teknologisk utveckling och innovation. Det synsättet fanns inte i Europa och därför tillämpades testet vid bedömningen av Microsofts kopplingsförbehåll. Den europeiska metoden för att bedöma kopplingsförbehåll ställde överlag betydligt hårdare krav på svaranden än den amerikanska motsvarigheten. I det europeiska fallet var det upp till Microsoft att visa att kopplingsförbehållet var ”indispensible”, det vill säga nödvändigt för att effektivitetsvinsterna och de konkurrensfrämjande effekterna skulle erhållas. Något krav på svaranden att visa att kopplingsförbehållet var nödvändigt ställdes inte i USA.</p><p>Trots att vi ställer oss positiva till avsteget från ett per se-förbud, anser vi att det nya sättet att bedöma kopplingsförbehåll har svagheter. Metoden att fastslå effekterna av kopplingsförbehållet är mycket spekulativt och kravet på att svaranden måste visa att kopplingsförbehållet är nödvändigt för att uppnå konkurrensfrämjande effekter är alltför hårt. Det råder fortfarande osäkerhet kring vilka konsekvenser den nya europeiska metoden kommer att få i framtiden vid bedömningen av kopplingsförbehåll enligt artikel 82 i EG-fördraget. Sedan Microsoft-fallets avgörande har det inte tagits upp något annat fall av kopplingsförbehåll, varken av Kommissionen eller EG-domstolen. Det är därför än så länge oklart om per se-förbudet är avskaffat och en rule of reason-inriktad bedömning kommer att göras i fortsättningen.</p>