Le sujet se concentre sur un cycle majeur de l’Histoire de l’art et du design français d’après-guerre, pourtant largement méconnu. Durant cette période de croissance plus communément appelée Trente Glorieuses, une lignée de onze jeunes designers français s’impose ainsi dans le paysage de la création de modèles de série. Cette génération s’attachera à promouvoir le design dès la sortie de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, se basant sur la doctrine du fonctionnalisme social défendue plus tôt par Francis Jourdain, père du mobilier de série français et membre de l’UAM, puis par ses disciples René Gabriel et Marcel Gascoin. Leur formation commune au sein des meilleures écoles ou des bureaux d’études de leurs aînés, la similitude des parcours professionnels et l’existence d’affinités personnelles nous permettent ici d’avancer l’hypothèse d’un phénomène générationnel encore jamais identifié en tant que tel. Ensemble et séparément, ces designers s’attachent donc à défendre le rationalisme à la française et une production dépouillée de tout artifice, mais plus largement l’alliance du créateur et de l’industriel pour des formes justes et l’affirmation du beau dans l’utile. En outre, avec eux apparaît le statut de designer qui doit concevoir mobilier et aménagements d’intérieur de qualité, fonctionnel et accessible à tous. Cette génération fondatrice, pourtant reléguée au second plan de l’histoire du design, mérite à ce titre d’être inscrite dans la genèse d’une profession et d’une discipline dont nous tirons encore aujourd’hui les enseignements. / The topic is focused on a main period of the history of art and French post-war design but which is though largely unknown. During this period of growth also called « Trente Glorieuses », a line of eleven young French designers impose their self in the landscape of the model’s creation. This generation tries hard to promote the design from the end of the Second World War by basing on the social functionalism’s doctrine which is defended before by Francis Jourdain, father of the French serial furniture and member of the UAM, and then by his disciples René Gabriel and Marcel Gascoin. Their communal training in the best schools or in the design offices of their eldests, the similarity of their careers and the existence of personal affinities may allow us to claim the possibility of a generational phenomenon never identified in itself yet. Together or separately, this designers desire to defend the French rationalism and a production without any artifice, but above all the collaboration of the creator and the manufacturer for relevant forms and the proclamation of the beauty in the utility. Moreover, it is with them that appears the designer status who has to conceive furniture and interior organisations of quality and which is functional and reachable for everyone. This pioneer generation, relegated at the middle ground of the design history, deserves to have their place in the genesis of a profession and a discipline from which we still learn lessons.

Rapporten syftar till att beskriva och problematisera kvalitet i idéburen, social välfärd. Ansatsen är att utmana antagandet att idéburen verksamhet drivs av goda intentioner och därför levererar omsorgstjänster av god kvalitet. Resultatet visar att idéburna organisationer erbjuds en särställning i välfärden tack vare sina särdrag. Genom Idéburna Offentliga Partnerskap (IOP) kan de undgå ordinarie kvalitetskrav, samtidigt som det saknas empiriska belägg för att särdragen leder till kvalitet. Idéburen omsorg är av god kvalitet enligt människors uppfattningar, men inte alltid enligt dess faktiska kvalitetsarbete. Rapporten är en teoretisk dokumentstudie och behandlar tidigare forskning, politiska skrivelser och partnerskapsdokument från IOP i en kommun. Resultatet har analyserats med stöd av Webers idealtyper. Författaren utgår från en kritisk rationalistisk grund och rapporten har två inriktningar. Dels är den en förberedande undersökning om kvalitet i idéburen välfärd, och dels är den en vetenskapsteoretisk reflektion och modellutveckling av Webers idealtyper. Rapporten kan därför läsas utifrån ett intresse för idéburen välfärdsverksamhet men även utifrån ett intresse för vetenskapsteori och metodologi.

This diploma thesis is a single-case study analyzing promotion of the concept of Flexicurity principle in the CR through the Open Method of Coordination (OMC). The concept of flexicurity began raising European integration actors' awareness since early 2000s. That was due to considerations how to strenghten competitiveness of the EU Member States' economies during growing expansion of more liberal markets such as China, and in the same time to maintain the European social model based on the concept of welfare state. In 2007, there was adopted EU's definition of Flexicurity. Flexicurity began to be promoted by the OMC. This thesis responds to the lack of studies analyzing the influence of the OMC in specific policy areas. The author analyzes literature, relevant legislation as well as their explanatory reports, National Reform Programmes, Czech government's policy statements, and interviews with representatives of tripartite actors who take part in social dialogue. The study explores how does the OMC work in the case of Flexicurity promotion. The aim is to find out which of the selected theories is more suitable for describing the way Flexicurity is anchored in the CR. Selected theories are the Rational Choice Theory (RCT) and the theory of Sociological Institutionalism (SI). The author concludes...

This diploma thesis is a single-case study analyzing promotion of the concept of Flexicurity principle in the CR through the Open Method of Coordination (OMC). The concept of flexicurity began raising European integration actors' awareness since early 2000s. That was due to considerations how to strenghten competitiveness of the EU Member States' economies during growing expansion of more liberal markets such as China, and in the same time to maintain the European social model based on the concept of welfare state. In 2007, there was adopted EU's definition of Flexicurity. Flexicurity began to be promoted by the OMC. This thesis responds to the lack of studies analyzing the influence of the OMC in specific policy areas. Tha author analyzes literature, relevant laws as well as thier explanatory reports, National Reform Programmes, Czech government's policy statements, and interviews with representatives of tripartite actors who take part in social dialogue. The study explores how does the OMC work in the case of Flexicurity promotion. The aim is to find out which of the selected theories is more suitable for describing the process of Flexicurity promotion through the OMC. Selected theories are the theory of Multi-Level Governace (MLG) and the theory of Sociological Institutionalism (SI). The author...

Auguste Perret made his mark in history as the first architect to make use of ferroconcrete as an expressive material. The Rue Franklin apartments, the Garage Ponthieu, and the Church in Le Raincy are all milestones in the development of world architecture. In my dissertation, I have outlined the situation in the French architectural criticism in the first decades of the 20th century in order to provide background to Perret's career, which is chronologically treated in another part of the dissertation and completed with an overview of Perret's important buildings. I also wanted to demonstrate the interconnection of his projects with his theoretical thinking. I have referred to the sources of Perret's doctrine and presented the themes that this architect consistently developed throughout his creative life. In my research I took advantage of a rich collection of preserved archives of Perret's office, and both historical and contemporary literature. In another part of the dissertation, I attempted to find answers to the questions of Perret's reception in the Czech context and his contacts with Czech architects. I was also interested in Perret's relation to Czech architecture and in the last section I examined whether we can find works in Czech architecture that directly reflect Perret's influence. We...

My dissertation, In the Beginning was the Sign, examines the entangled histories of literary modernism and mathematical modernity and revisits their claim to a radical rupture with the past. Informed by Lacanian psychoanalysis, media theory, and deconstruction, I trace how the interplay of literary and mathematical form transformed classical imaginations of the human. Authors like Carl Einstein, Robert Musil or Ernst Cassirer challenge the organic concept of subject formation as Bildung with a new and purely symbolic kind of mathematical abstraction that informs their writing on both thematic and formal levels. In the tradition of Plato’s Meno, they adduce these new forms of mathematical knowledge to find genuinely modern answers to the classical question of the good life. Paradoxically, in striving to portray their own time as a radical novelty that was able to break with its cultural heritage, these authors summon the canon at its most canonical. The mathematician Hilbert, for instance, rewrites the opening of the Gospel of John, translating logos as ‘sign’ rather than ‘word.’ Analyzing literary, philosophical, and mathematical texts in German, English, and French, I show that the questioning of the logical foundations of thought in the so-called foundational crisis in mathematics was re-mediated through a new genealogical exploration of the foundations of European rationality in the texts of classical antiquity.

Cette thèse de doctorat étudie la manière dont Aristote, Platon et Isocrate font du recours à la notion d’empeiria et de la promotion d’une certaine conception de l’expérience, le moyen de se défendre contre l’accusation d’inexpérience qui les vise et de polémiquer entre eux sur la question de l’excellence, dans les domaines théorique, technique et pratique. Cet examen permet d’éclairer sous un jour nouveau la question de l’empirisme antique, en considérant, d’une part, la critique que Platon et Aristote adressent à une certaine conception empirico-sophistique des savoirs et de la pratique, en reconsidérant de l’autre, le supposé empirisme d’Aristote. Si la notion d’empirisme n’a pas d’équivalent en grec, Platon fait de la notion d’empeiria, désignant une forme de pratique non-technique ignorant les causes, un instrument polémique permettant de souligner le défaut de technicité des différentes techniques, que les sophistes se font forts de transmettre. En mettant l’accent sur « l’expérience de la vérité », Platon remet en question l’empirisme de ceux qui ignorent la valeur théorique et pratique de la connaissance des réalités intelligibles. Aristote poursuit la réflexion, en reconsidérant le rôle positif, cognitif et pratique, de l’empeiria comme connaissance acquise à partir de la sensation. Aristote poursuit la critique d’un certain empirisme, dont se rendent coupables tous ceux qui échouent à s’élever à la connaissance de l’universel, tout en déplorant le défaut d’empeiria de ceux dont le savoir est purement théorique. Si comme Platon, Aristote n’est pas un empiriste, parce qu’il refuse de faire de la sensation le principe de la connaissance et le critère du vrai, son rationalisme diffère de celui de Platon, par le rôle reconnue à la sensation et l’expérience dans les domaines théorique, technique et pratique. Cette étude entend révéler l’urgence de distinctions en philosophie de la connaissance dans le cadre des études anciennes, comme la distinction entre le rationalisme logique de Platon et le rationalisme empirique d’Aristote, par exemple, permettant de mesurer l’originalité des doctrines antiques sur des problèmes aussi fondamentaux que l’origine et le principe de la connaissance et de l’action bonne. / This dissertation investigates how Aristotle, Plato and Isocrates use the notion of empeiria and promote a certain conception of experience, in order to defend themselves from the charge of inexperience made against them, and also in order to debate about the question of excellence in the theoretical, technical and practical fields. This study sheds some new lights on ancient empiricism, by investigating, on one hand, Plato’s and Aristotle’s criticism against an empiricist sophistic approach of knowledge and action, and, on the other hand, the so-called Aristotelian empiricism. Although the concept of ‘empiricism’ has no equivalent in Greek, Plato uses the notion of empeiria to designate a non-technical form of action, in order to underlie a lack of technicality and to question the value of what some sophists claim to teach under the name of technai. While insisting on a philosophical kind of experience of truth, Plato criticizes what appears to be the empiricism of those who ignore the theoretical and practical value of the knowledge of intelligible realities. Aristotle goes beyond this stance by re-evaluating positively the role of empeiria, both in its cognitive and practical aspects, as a specific kind of knowledge, derived from sense-perception. He still criticizes the empiricism of those who fail to reach a certain kind of knowledge, namely the knowledge of universals, but also adds a criticism against those who lack the knowledge of particulars acquired through sense-perception and experience.If Aristotle is no more an empiricist than Plato, since he does not recognize sense-perception as the principle of knowledge and as the criterion of the truth, his rationalism is quite different from Plato’s, because of the important role he gives to sense-perception and experience in all areas. This study intends to break through in the direction of some distinctions in ancient philosophy, such as the distinction between Plato’s logical rationalism and Aristotle’s empirical rationalism, which would enable us to re-evaluate the originality of the Ancients on some fundamental issues like the problem of the origin and principle of knowledge and of good action.

The mission over the last few decades, especially of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, has focused on “confessionalism”. In this specific sense of mission growth—numeric growth— has been a priority, and, unfortunately, not caring for “broken” people. The emphasis has been placed on the age-old proclamation of the “truth”, at the expense of social involvement, as it seems that “truth” transcends the needs of people, even of Christians. This has led to the restricting of the scope of pastoral care, and has limited it to an “applied theology”, where the Old Testament and New Testament studies have dictated its structure and methodology. Within Adventism its view and use of Scripture has dominated its ministry, indicating a number of different methods and approaches. These differences in both the conservative and the liberal orientations only represent their own possibilities. These approaches are the result of a basic understanding of Scripture as a body of divine teachings that needs to be accepted, believed, and obeyed. Consequently, this perception has moved the focus away from caring to the “so-called” correct doctrine of “truth” and proclamation. Postmodernism, however, is challenging the assumptions of modernism and is now confronting us with the understanding that there is no “objective truth”, and that there cannot be a completely detached observer. We observe reality, experience and Scripture not objectively, but rather discern them through the eyes of our own context, experience and history. The thesis, therefore, postulates as useful, just and proper that we experience reality in a narrative fashion within a secular postmodern world. It is through stories that we grasp and appreciate the important factors in our lives. Consequently, a narrative approach is appraised as being a more meaningful tool in approaching Scripture and pastoral care. Narratives are like rituals, they preserve the memory of past events in a way that they still have power for us in the present. As Jesus is a servant of everybody His narratives are transposed and they become accounts of our involvement in the lives of our fellow “sufferers”. / Practical Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)

The 'postmodern challenge' is increasingly felt in the 'end of modernity' to which Gianni Vattimo refers. The West and the world has hitherto been dominated by what Andrew Gamble characterises as the Modern or Western Ideology. But the validity of that worldview and its associated ways of thinking, going back to the 'Enlightenment' and beyond, has come to be radically questioned. It is within this context that the work and thought of CS Lewis is examined. Although Lewis is generally recognised, and regarded himself, as conservative and even reactionary, there is a paradoxical quality to his conservatism, the elements of which coexist with features which might be regarded as liberal and as radically socialist respectively. Similarly, his commitment to the religious and cultural tradition of Western Europe co-exists with a vehement anticolonialism. A paradoxical association of postmodermism with 'premodernity' has been widely noted in Buddhism and, by Derrida, in Eastern Christian theology. This thesis seeks to demonstrate that a paradoxical postmodernism is evident in the thought of Lewis. One source suggested for this is his interest in Eastern Christianity. Another is identified as the influence on Lewis of the opposition of Romanticism to 'Enlightenment' modernity. But Lewis's own engagement with modernity is also shown to be significant. Two broad trends in postmodernism are discussed. The affinities of Lewis's thought with the nihilistic tradition of postmodernism, going back to Nietzsche, is traced with regard to issues such as rationalism, science, the autonomy of the subject, and authorship. But the ambivalent relationship of Lewis to spiritually-oriented, affirmative postmodernism, and particularly Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy, is also analysed. The crucial role of Scholasticism in the development of Western thought is investigated in a comparison of Steiner's views with the Christian position of Lewis. It is concluded that there are grounds to regard Lewis as. 'prophet of postmodernism', and he is compared with Nietzsche and Pope John-Paul II in this regard. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Church History)

The purpose of this study is to examine if the experiences of volunteers within women s rugby at both rugby clubs and at the 2010 Women s Rugby World Cup (WRWC) in England provide the basis for the continuation of such activities as well as the transfer of volunteer effort to event-based or club-based activity within the specific sports concerned or across sports to contribute towards society s broader sporting needs. Sport volunteering in the UK accounts for 26% of the total formal voluntary activity, and largely takes place within the Voluntary Sport Club (VSC) system (Sport England, 2003). It provides the basis for the development of grassroots sports. Sport volunteering also takes place at sport events which provide the foundation for elite level sport development. It is known, however, that if the volunteering experience is satisfying then this may lead to higher levels of commitment with the sports organization, the event or the voluntary cause, which may affect volunteers longevity and intentions to continue volunteering (Doherty, 2009). Women s rugby was selected as a case study, as the 2010 Women s Rugby World Cup was held in England. This facilitated comparisons between club and event volunteers. With the cooperation of the Rugby Football Union for Women (RFUW), research participants were identified and recruited via an email invitation including a link to an internet-administered questionnaire. A total of 70 individuals that volunteered for the 2010 WRWC and 168 volunteers involved in the women s rugby clubs completed the online survey. The results indicated that overall and despite some variation in the emphasis of the findings there is evidence in support of the relevance of the widely known determinants of volunteering such as motivation to volunteer, socio-demographic characteristics, satisfaction with the volunteering experience, engagement to sport and volunteering at to the continuation of future club or event volunteering as well as its transfer to other rugby and other sport events. Consequently, event organisers should work closely with club authorities to help volunteers to make a better connection from their club to the sport more widely and with the role of clubs and events to support the sport generally, to develop a shared identity in both clubs and events, that is across the whole sporting experience and to increase volunteers development opportunities through deploying their efforts in more than one setting which may then lead to the development of social capital.