Thesis (Masters) -- Simmons College, 2009.

Thesis (Masters) -- Simmons College, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (l. 71-80)

One-fifth the U.S. public, and over a third of young Americans under twenty-five years of age, report they are religiously unaffiliated (termed the “Nones”). Campus ministry programs, typically arranged by denomination or tradition, often neglect this group and need to be recalibrated in order to serve Nones better. Chapter Two synthesizes key findings from three prominent commercial surveys about the current religious landscape in the country, among young adults, and on campuses in general. Chapter Three reviews recent works about the larger role of religion on campus and introduces a topology of the Nones. Chapter Four outlines a series of concrete initiatives taken at one site, Simmons College, and draws some conclusions.

An experiment has been completed which demonstrated quantum mechanical tunneling of electrons between two gold electrodes separated in vacuum. The tunneling current between the gold electrodes has been measured, for fixed voltages of 0.1 and 0.01 volts, as the electrode spacing was varied from a distance of approximately 2.0 nm down to a point where the electrodes touched. Current-voltage characteristics for fixed electrode spacing in the direct tunneling region have also been measured. Numerical calculations of the tunneling current based on the free-electron model of the electrodes and the barrier, an image-potential reduced barrier, and a WKB approximation for the tunneling probability have been performed and compared with Simmons' theory and with the experimental results. Within experimental error the results indicate that an image potential reduced barrier with the modifications suggested by Lang and Kohn gives a close approximation to the true barrier for metal-vacuum-metal tunneling. For the first time, the work function of the electrodes in a tunneling experiment has been deduced from experimental parameters independent of the tunneling device.

The purpose of this essay is to increase the understanding of the discussion of political obligation. This concern the questions if, how, and to what extent people are required to obey state commands. More specifically the purpose is to increase the understanding of one of the topics main theories, the natural duty of justice. This account states that people have a natural duty to comply with just institutions that apply to them, independent of any voluntary actions.  For this a discourse surrounding the theory has been examined and evaluated. It consists of Rawls argument for the theory, a criticism formulated by Simmons, and a defence formulated by Waldron. Rawls argues that for a just society to be stable, the natural duty of justice is necessary, and also sufficient for basing political obligations. Simmons criticises this account for dispensing of voluntary actions that he sees as necessary for political obligation. Without these, the application of just institutions is morally insignificant. Waldron then defends the account by adding additional requirements for institutions to apply, besides justice. Institutions also have to be effective, in the sense that they are able to enact justice, and legitimate in the sense that they are preferable to other alternatives.  I will argue that justice of institutions is necessary but insufficient for them to apply to people. Voluntary actions like consent will also be argued to be unnecessary for institutions application to be morally significant. If institutions are not only just but also effective and legitimate, in the sense that they are the most just and effective in relation to the viable alternatives, then their application and commands has moral significance. The conclusion of this essay then is that the natural duty of justice can account for political obligations, given high demands for institutions to apply.

The philosopher A. John Simmons has early on put forward a defense for philosophical anarchism. He believes that he has succeeded to establish that the different non-voluntaristic attempts to explain state legitimacy all fail to give a solid explanation of how states can be legitimate without expressed consent. In the light of the huge problems to establish legitimacy on pure voluntaristic grounds he concludes that it there might not exist any legitimate states. In the reality of this, he believes philosophical anarchism must be considered as a possible theory in political thought.An important notion in Simmons’ philosophical anarchism is to distinguish between legitimacy and justification. In the Kantian understanding of justification, it entails legitimacy. This is not so in the Lockean way of thinking, according to Simmons. This distinction is crucial for understanding Simmons’ version of philosophical anarchism where one could endorse and regard a state as justified without having to admit that it is legitimate.Luara Ferracioli has tried a slightly different approach and has argued for that there is a contradiction within philosophical anarchism. She has tried to show that a liberal state is the only guaranty to safeguard the autonomy of children. This creates a conflict for the anarchist where both the endorsement and the disproval of the state renders the anarchist to deny a group autonomy (children or adults).In the end, I argue for that Simmons’ philosophical anarchism survives this attack by maintaining his weaker form of philosophical anarchism and sticking to his distinction between justification and legitimacy of the state. The downside of his theory, however, seems to be that we are left with a rather lukewarm theory that may not change much in practice.

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Thesis (MSc (Mathematics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: See full text for abstract / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sien volteks vir opsomming

The four novels Hyperion, The Fall ofHyperion, Endymionand The Rise of Endymionconstitute the Hyperion Cantosby the American science fiction writer Dan Simmons. Thisgalactic-empire,epic,science fictionnarrative containsa plethora ofliterary references. The dominant part comes from the nineteenth-century Romantic poet John Keats. The inclusion of passages from his poetry and letters is pursuedin my analysis.EmployingLubomír Doležel’scategorizations of intertextuality—“transposition,” “expansion,” and “displacement”—I seek to show how Keats’s writings and his persona constitute a privilegedintertext inSimmons’s tetralogyand I show its function.Simmons constructs subsidiary plots, some of which are drivenby Keats’s most well-known poetry. In consequence, some of the subplotscan be regarded as rewrites of Keats’s works.Although quotations of poetry have a tendency to direct the reader’s attention away from the main plot,slowing down the narrative,such passages in the narrativesevokeKeats’s philosophy of empathy, beauty andlove,which is fundamental for his humanism.ForKeats, the poet is a humanist, giving solace to mankind through his poetry. I argue that the complex intertextual relationships with regards toKeats’s poetryand biographyshow the way Simmons expresses humanism as a belief in man’s dignity and worth, and uses it as the basis for his epic narrative.