<p> The purpose of writing this paper was to raise awareness about spiritual fitness within the Hawaii Army National Guard. A training program was developed to assist soldiers with increasing their spiritual fitness, thereby making them more resilient. </p><p> Chapter 1 outlines the current trends and ministry problem facing the Hawaii Army National Guard soldiers. A review of the US Army Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program is addressed, and it is shown how spiritual fitness is developed and increased. </p><p> Chapter 2 provides a review of literature relating to the topic of spiritual fitness, and the importance and place it has in our society. The development of the Four Spiritual Laws is addressed, and shown how the use of the booklet can very simply and directly help individuals grow their faith personally. </p><p> Chapter 3 sets forth the research methodology utilized in approaching the project, including the use of readily available training materials and resources. The purpose of the spiritual fitness inventory is discussed and the goals of each research area are defined. </p><p> Chapter 4 presents an analysis of the method used to gather supporting data. The methodology for the chaplain led intervention is outlined, so that others can use the program to engage their military units in the future replication of this program. </p><p> Chapter 5 assesses the data and points to the strategy for areas of further research across the Hawaii Army National Guard. The benefits of the program are discussed and shown to be applicable for implementation by other chaplains across the state.</p>

<p> This dissertation presents an in-depth investigation into the notion of paradox and its significance for Christian existence in the thought of the Danish philosopher and theologian S&oslash;ren Kierkegaard. The primary aim of the study is to explore and to develop various expressions of paradox in Kierkegaard&rsquo;s authorship in order to demonstrate the manner by which Kierkegaard employs paradox as a means of challenging his Christendom contemporaries to exist as authentic Christians, and more specifically to enter into the existential state I am identifying in this project as living within the sacred tension. With this aim in mind, I begin with a discussion of Kierkegaard&rsquo;s ethico-religious task in response to his Christendom culture and I provide a broad characterization of the notion of sacred tension as the telos of this task. For the majority of the study I then focus on four different expressions of paradox in Kierkegaard&rsquo;s thought. These four expressions are: paradox that is associated with the faith of Abraham (as presented in <i>Fear and Trembling</i>), paradox that is associated with the nature of the self and the task of selfhood (as presented in <i>The Sickness unto Death </i>), paradox that is associated with the God-man (as presented in <i> Philosophical Fragments, Concluding Unscientific Postscript</i>, and <i> Practice in Christianity</i>), and paradox that is associated with Christian love (as presented in <i>Works of Love</i>). In addition to arguing that Kierkegaard employs these expressions of paradox to help usher his contemporaries into a state of sacred tension, I also argue that such sacred tension can be understood in terms of various concrete Christian virtues. In this respect, I claim that Kierkegaard&rsquo;s ethico-religious task is not merely negative or deconstructive in nature, but rather it is infused with the robust positive content associated with Kierkegaard&rsquo;s particular understanding of Christianity. Viewing Kierkegaard&rsquo;s thought and writings in this manner helps to reaffirm the significance of the notion of paradox in Kierkegaard&rsquo;s thought and to highlight the value of the notion of sacred tension for a reassessment of both Kierkegaard&rsquo;s existentialism and its contemporary implications. </p>

No description available.

The primary aim of this project is to examine the nature of Socrates' influence on the Stoic Epictetus. While Plato's Socrates certainly influenced Epictetus, the Socrates portrayed in Xenophon's Memorabilia plays an even larger role in shaping the Socrates Epictetus seeks to imitate. This claim will be substantiated by drawing close parallels between passages in Epictetus' Discourses and Handbook and Xenophon's Memorabilia . The discussion here demonstrates that Epictetus' methodology is a reflection of Xenophon's approach, characterized by committed doctrines and proscriptive advice giving, rather than the searching dialectical approach ending with negative results found in Plato's Socratic dialogues. I begin by examining A.A. Long's claim that it is Plato's Socrates that Epictetus emulates, and providing a critical analysis of this argument. I then argue that the methodology of Epicetetus' Discourses , as well as the content and subject matter, are inspired by Xenophon's Socrates.

In this thesis, I argue two main points concerning the significance and development of Martin Heidegger's concepts of discourse and language. The first is that his concept of discourse, which for the Heidegger of Being and Time is the human practice of articulating meaning or intelligibility, has often been misunderstood as either (a) simply another name for natural languages, or (b) a wholly prelinguistic and precommunicative phenomenon. I attempt to find a middle way between these two interpretations that, on my view, is truer to the text, and argue that although discourse does sometimes manifest itself prelinguistically, it is also an essentially communicative phenomenon. The second point I argue is that contrary to the usual interpretation of his development, Heidegger's "turn" to "language" in his later works does not constitute an embrace of linguistic idealism, i.e. the belief that one can only encounter as meaningful objects that have been named in one's natural language. Instead, I argue that it remains, like discourse, a prelinguistic phenomenon, and I also note several interesting parallels between the two concepts. I conclude by making some suggestions about what is really at stake in the transition from discourse to language, and argue that the key difference lies in the fact that, for the later Heidegger, the articulation of meaning is no longer primarily a communicative phenomenon rooted in human activity.

<p> In this exploratory work I argue that Jesus&rsquo;s particularity as a Jewish, male human is essential for developing Christian theology about nonhuman animals.</p><p> The Gospel of John says that the Word became &ldquo;flesh&rdquo; not that the Word became &ldquo;human&rdquo;. By using flesh, John&rsquo;s Gospel connects the Incarnation to the Jewish notion of all animals. The Gospel almost always uses flesh in a wider sense than meaning human. The Bread of Life discourse makes this explicit when Jesus compares his flesh to &ldquo;meat,&rdquo; offending his hearers because they see themselves as above other animals. Other animals are killable and consumable; humans are not.</p><p> The notion that the Word became flesh has gained prominence in ecotheology, particularly in theologians identifying with deep Incarnation. Unless this notion is connected to Jesus&rsquo;s particularity, however, there is danger in sacrificing the individual for the whole. We can see this danger in two early theologians, Athanasius and St. John of Damascus. Both of these theologians spoke of the Word becoming &ldquo;matter&rdquo;. Yet they ignored Jesus&rsquo;s Jewishness and rarely focused on his animality, preferring instead to focus on cosmic elements. Consequently they often devalued animal life.</p><p> Jesus&rsquo;s Jewishness is essential to the Incarnation. His Jewishness entailed a vision of creation&rsquo;s purpose in which creatures do not consume one another, but live peaceably by eating plants. This Jewish milieu also entails a grand vision for transformation where predators act peaceably with their former prey.</p><p> Jesus&rsquo;s maleness is also connected to his Jewishness. In the Greco-Roman context in which he lived, his circumcision marked him as less male and more animal-like. Moreover, Jesus&rsquo;s Jewish heritage rejected the idea of a masculine hunter. His theological body was far more transgendered and connected to animality than the Roman ideal.</p><p> Finally, Jesus&rsquo;s humanity entails a kenosis of what it means to be human. By becoming-animal he stops the anthropological machine that divides humans from animals. We see this becoming animal most clearly in his identity as a lamb, but also in Revelation&rsquo;s idea that he is both a lion and a lamb. His eschatological body fulfills the Jewish vision for creation-wide peace.</p>

During a crucial period in the formation of modern-day pure mathematics, Georg Cantor wrote that "the essence of mathematics lies precisely in its freedom". Similarly, David Hilbert, in his landmark work on the axiomatization of geometry, took the view that we are free to interpret the axioms of a mathematical theory as being about whatever can be made to satisfy them, independently of pre-axiomatic ideas, seemingly intuitive truths, or typical empirical scientific applications of that theory. Cantor's and Hilbert's emphasis on the independence of pure mathematics from philosophical preconceptions, empirical applications, and so on raises the question: what is it about?In this dissertation, I argue that essential to mathematics is a certain kind of structural abstraction, which I characterise in detail; furthermore, I maintain that this abstraction has to do with combination and manipulation of symbols. At the same time, I argue that essential to mathematics is also a certain kind of conceptual reflection, and that there is a sense in which mathematics can be said to be a body of truths by virtue of the meaning of its concepts. I argue further that a certain ongoing interplay of intuitive content on the one hand and abstraction or idealization on the other hand plays a significant part in shaping pure mathematics into its modern, axiomatic form. These arguments are made in the course of analyzing and building on the work of both historical and contemporary figures. / À une période cruciale de la formation des mathématiques pures modernes, Georg Cantor déclara que « l'essence des mathématiques, c'est la liberté ». De même, David Hilbert, dont l'oeuvre sur l'axiomatisation de la géométrie fut une étape charnière de l'élaboration des mathématiques modernes, soutenait que nous sommes libres d'interpréter les axiomes d'une théorie mathématique comme se rapportant à tout objet qui leur est conforme, indépendemment des idés préconçues, de ce qui semble intuitivement vrai et des applications scientifiques habituelles de la théorie en question. L'emphase que mettent Cantor et Hilbert sur l'indépendance des mathématiques pures des conceptions philosophiques préalables et des applications empiriques suscite la question: sur quoi, au fond, portent les mathématiques?Dans cette dissertation, je soutiens qu'une certaine forme d'abstraction structurelle, que je décris en détail, est essentielle aux mathématiques; de plus, je maintiens qu'à la base de cette abstraction sont la combinaison et la manipulation de symboles. En même temps, j'estime qu'au coeur des mathématiques est aussi un certain type de réflexion conceptuelle et qu'il existe un sens dans lequel les mathématiques sont un ensemble de vérités en vertu de la signification de leurs concepts. Je conclue qu'une intéraction continue entre le contenu intuitif d'un côté et l'abstraction ou l'idéalisation de l'autre joue un rôle important dans le développement des mathématiques axiomatiques modernes. J'avance ces arguments sur la base d'une analyse de travaux tant historiques que contemporains.

This thesis offers a phenomenological description of "artistic creativity" as a merely descriptive property denoting a necessary aspect of the intentional structure of the genetic processes associated to the accomplishment of artworks. In the first chapter, I interpret Edward Young's Conjectures on Original Composition, a text reputed to be at the source of our modern usage of "artistic creativity", in order to distinguish its evaluative meaning from its essentially descriptive sense. Following Noël Carroll's indications, I then try in the second chapter to offer a first characterization of this property in terms of a "mental capacity". This endeavour's failure then leads me to a few necessary ontological considerations about the artwork's phenomenon, considerations without which a rigorous account of its genetic processes would be impossible. Turning to the philosophical contributions of David Davies and Timothy Binkley, I then establish, in the third chapter, the intentional structure of the accomplishment through which an artwork comes into being. I finally demonstrate, using a model generated by my analyses of Young's Conjectures and mobilising Martin Heidegger's phenomenological works, how the intentionality of such an accomplishment can be described as artistically creative. / Cette thèse propose une caractérisation phénoménologique de la créativité artistique en tant que propriété descriptive dénotant un aspect nécessaire de la structure intentionnelle des processus génétiques liés à l'accomplissement des œuvres d'art. J'interprète, au premier chapitre, les Conjectures on Original Composition d'Edward Young, texte réputé être à la source de notre usage moderne du concept de « créativité artistique », afin d'y distinguer un sens évaluatif de la « créativité artistique » d'une signification essentiellement descriptive. Suivant les indications de Noël Carroll, je tente au second chapitre une première caractérisation de cette propriété descriptive en termes de « capacité mentale ». L'échec de cette entreprise me mènera ensuite à des considérations ontologiques touchant à la nature du phénomène de l'œuvre d'art, considérations sans lesquelles une rigoureuse prise en compte des processus génétiques qui y sont associés est impossible. M'intéressant alors particulièrement aux contributions philosophiques de David Davies et Timothy Binkley, j'établis ensuite, au troisième chapitre, la structure intentionnelle de l'accomplissement grâce auquel une œuvre d'art vient à l'être. Je montre enfin, au moyen d'un modèle issu de mes analyses des Conjectures de Young et d'une mobilisation du travail phénoménologique de Martin Heidegger, en quoi l'intentionnalité de cet accomplissement se laisse décrire comme étant artistiquement créatif.

This research project attends to the social and political relations surrounding casual restaurant servers' production of "good service." Service standards have become so normalized as to be largely invisible in day-to-day life, yet their performance reproduces and reinforces sexualized gender roles and social differences. Restaurant service is consumed as part of the "experience economy," such that the interactions with service workers become a constituent part of the service commodity, making servers' intersubjective work directly productive for capital in a way that requires novel disciplinary and compensatory regimes, effectively entrepreneurializing service workers to motivate the good service that restaurants promise their customers. Good service depends on a series of illusions that enable customers to enjoy the subjective role of the sovereign consumer by engaging in the fetish of good service, where there is some understanding that the service relationship is normalized and habitual work for the server, but both parties pretend that it is autonomous, sincere and organic, a fetish I term the "illusion of spontaneity." Maintaining this illusion requires selectively eliding some features of restaurant work, in what I term the "eclipsed exertion," while other kinds of labour are showcased; for instance, the productive work of food production and cleaning is mostly performed in hidden kitchens, while servers' (often highly sexualized) bodies circulating on the restaurant floor are staged for their seated customers. The division between kitchen and dining room mimics the broader process of offshoring materially productive labour in the post-Fordist economy, but it does so within the space of the restaurant itself; the restaurant can in a sense be thought of as a microcosm of the processes of contemporary global capitalism. The structure of labour processes in restaurants thus directs attention to how theoretical accounts of affective and immaterial labour might be expanded to include the manual labour that makes this kind of work possible, as well as to the work and citizenship conditions extended to the repetitive manual workers in service's backstages.Eclipsed exertion also refers to the hidden work of servers, though, both the tasks (such as cleaning and restocking) that servers regularly do but that are not as prominently displayed as service rituals, and those parts of service, like the emotional modulation of presenting the mandated cheerful demeanor that are not cast as "work" per se in the service exchange, instead resting on a parasitical adoption of social habits of mutuality and reciprocity. Such occlusions, of service labour's status as labour, also interfere with considerations of service's status as skilled or meaningful work, since many of the traits of service, such as deference and care, are cast as "natural" aptitudes innate to the women who mostly do this work. Public recognition of affective labour's status as labour is crucial, particularly in restaurants where customers' proximity to workers appears to give them privileged access to workers' labour processes, and where customers play a central role in their disciplinization and compensation by tipping. The notion of good service provides a constructive access point to the intersection of emotional labour with other economic and social habits, norms and institutions because it illustrates how either self-motivated or imposed gestures of goodwill and courtesy are underscored by economic incentives, power relations and social norms. In short, it enables the study of how interpersonal communication between individuals are organized as commodities, providing a platform for thinking about service relationships politically, as well as addressing how capitalism adapts to incite the increased subjective labour needed as the services come to make up an ever greater part of the economy. / Ce projet de recherche étudie les relations politiques et sociales qui encadrent la production d'un « service de qualité » par des serveurs de restaurants de catégorie moyenne. De nos jours, les standards de service ont été normalisés au point de passer largement inaperçus. Cependant, la prestation de ces services sert la reproduction et l'intensification de rôles de genre sexualisés et de différences sociales. Le service au restaurant est consommé dans le cadre d'une « économie de l'expérience », de sorte que les interactions avec le personnel de service font partie intégrante du service marchand. Il en résulte que le travail intersubjectif des serveurs devient directement productif pour le capital et requiert des régimes compensatoires et disciplinaires nouveaux qui transforment le personnel de service en entrepreneurs motivés à offrir le service de qualité que les restaurants vendent à leur clientèle.Ce service de qualité est tributaire d'un ensemble d'illusions qui permettent au consommateur de jouir du rôle subjectif de consommateur souverain en se livrant au fétiche du service de qualité. Même s'il est entendu que la relation de service est ici normalisée et relève d'un travail pour le serveur, les deux parties font comme si elle était autonome, sincère et organique, phénomène que nous nommons « illusion de la spontanéité ». Le maintien de cette illusion demande qu'on élude certains aspects du travail en restaurant au profit de certains autres, procédé que nous appelons « occultation de l'effort ». Ainsi, les travaux productifs de ménage et de production des aliments sont en grande partie effectués à l'abri des regards dans les cuisines, tandis que les corps des serveurs (souvent fortement sexualisés) circulent dans la salle comme sur une scène destinée aux clients. La division entre la cuisine et la salle de service reproduit, dans le cadre spatial du restaurant, le processus plus large de délocalisation du travail productif matériel qui caractérise l'économie postfordiste; il est ainsi possible de concevoir le restaurant comme un microcosme des processus du capitalisme global contemporain. La structure des processus de travail en jeu dans la restauration permet ainsi de voir de quelle manière les descriptions théoriques sur le travail affectif et immatériel pourraient être enrichies et inclure le travail manuel qui en est la condition de possibilité, attirant l'attention, du même coup, sur les conditions de travail et de citoyenneté consenties à ceux qui effectuent les tâches manuelles et répétitives dans les coulisses du service.Le concept d'occultation de l'effort renvoie aussi au travail caché des serveurs, qu'il s'agisse de tâches (comme le ménage ou le réassortiment) effectuées sur une base régulière sans avoir pour autant la même visibilité que les rituels de service, ou de ces éléments (comme la modulation émotionnelle qu'implique une aménité de rigueur) qui ne sont pas considérés comme du travail en tant que tel dans l'échange de service mais plutôt comme le résultat de l'adoption parasitaire d'une habitude de réciprocité. Ces formes d'occultations du travail propre aux services sont aussi liées à des considérations sur le statut du service comme travail qualifié et significatif, dans la mesure où bon nombre des caractéristiques du service, telles que la déférence et la sollicitude, sont présentées comme des aptitudes « naturelles » innées aux femmes qui, la plupart du temps, exercent ces emplois. La reconnaissance publique du travail affectif comme travail proprement dit est essentielle, particulièrement dans les restaurants où la proximité des clients avec le personnel leur donne un accès privilégié aux processus de travail de ces derniers et où les clients, par la pratique du pourboire, jouent un rôle central dans leur disciplinarisation et leur compensation.

Although their work is separated by three-quarters of a century, Novalis and Nietzsche both operated within the intellectual context engendered by an Enlightenment-era discussion of the human vocation. Both respond to the need for a new human identity that addresses questions about the ability of the human being to know its nature and the nature of the universe, act freely, know right from wrong, and find meaning and value in existence. At the two ends of the nineteenth century, they present different responses to the problem of alienation within this new context, as Novalis attempts to salvage a broadly Christian framework for the human vocation, while Nietzsche reacts against Christian values and ways of providing meaning, as well as those of its secular successors.Despite this important difference, Novalis and Nietzsche share a goal of providing an affirming model of life that escapes the conventional dichotomy of immanent and transcendent. I compare their models of creative affirmation to highlight their insights and weaknesses and to identify characteristics of their work useful for a new response to alienation. The first and second parts of the thesis examine their respective attempts to enable affirmation, analysing their accounts of death and suffering, community, and myth, and questioning the extent to which these avoid relying on the transcendent. The third part identifies aspects of their work that can contribute to a life-affirming response to alienation. I argue that, while neither provides a fully satisfying response to the modern situation of alienation that motivated them, both have insights that should be used in attempts to cope with the disorientation and isolation associated with the loss of an authoritative statement of the vocation of humankind. Nietzsche's thoroughgoing rejection of the transcendent and highlighting of tensions characterising human life must form part of a response to alienation, while Novalis' models of freedom, communication, and community better promote fulfilling ways of making sense of life in the face of its darker aspects. My concluding chapter outlines a form of immanent affirmation based on these strengths, arguing that this can take place in a dialogical community of creative individuals. / Bien que trois quarts de siècle séparent leurs travaux, Novalis et Nietzsche opéraient dans le contexte intellectuel favorisé par la question de la vocation humaine, comme il a été discuté au cours du siècle des lumières. Tous deux répondent au besoin d'une nouvelle identité humaine qui s'interroge sur la capacité de l'être humain de connaître sa nature et la nature de l'univers, de se comporter librement, de différencier le bien du mal et de trouver un sens et une valeur à l'existence.Les deux écrivains présentent des réponses différents au problème de l'aliénation de soi dans ce nouveau contexte. Novalis tente de garder un cadre chrétien pour la vocation humaine, tandis que Nietzsche s'oppose aux valeurs et références chrétiennes. Bien que leur projet, sous cet angle important, diffère autant, Novalis et Nietzsche ont en commun l'objectif de fournir une explication affirmante de la vie qui échappe à la dichotomie conventionelle de l'immanence et de la transcendance. Je compare leurs explications de l'affirmation créative pour mettre en lumière leur perspicacité et leurs limites et pour identifier les caractéristiques de leurs travaux qui sont utiles pour une nouvelle réponse à l'aliénation. La première et la deuxième parties de la thèse analysent leurs explications respectives de la mort et de la souffrance, de la communauté et de la mythologie et évaluent dans quelle mesure ces explications évitent de s'en remettre à la transcendance. La troisième partie identifie les aspects de leurs travaux qui peuvent contribuer à un message affirmant de vie contre l'aliénation. Le rejet complet de Nietzsche de la transcendance et son invocation des tensions qui caractérisent la vie humaine doivent constituer une réponse a l'alienation. Cependant les visions de Novalis de la liberté, de la communication et de la communauté favorisent des façons enrichissantes de donner un sens à la vie face à ses aspects sombres. Dans mon dernier chapitre, j'expose les contours d'une affirmation immanente sur la base de ces qualités et je suggère que cette affirmation peut être effectuée dans une communauté dialogique entre individus créatifs.