This thesis expands upon Philip K. Dick’s philosophy surrounding ‘androidization’, a process of degradation leading to the devolution of individuals into what he termed as ‘reflex-machines’. Often used interchangeably with Dick’s reference to the human-android, existing criticism has applied the ‘reflex-machine’ label broadly to characters throughout his work. This thesis aims to clarify the implications of such a state through a close reading of his three works, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, A Maze of Death, and A Scanner Darkly while detailing the processes that comprise the androidization which produces it. In doing so, it proposes that androidization is made up of a series of stages. This distinction is vital for understanding what Dick suggests for the potential recovery of the individual from the state of a reflex-machine and his hope for humanity at large. Split into two parts, this essay first examines the production of the reflex-machine with the support of theories by Louis Althusser, Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, Michel Foucault, and Jean Baudrillard. It then considers the solutions that Dick proposes for the individual undergoing androidization by referencing theories by Carl Jung, as well as Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari.

Esta investigación constituye como tema principal el binarismo de género el cual, a lo largo de la historia, se ha hecho presente por la asignación normativa de formas de expresión, actuar y apariencia física a los sexos hombre y mujer. Este espectro, al clasificar los sexos en únicamente dos géneros (masculino y femenino), ha conllevado a que se construyan roles de género e ideales, los cuales han producido estigmas y patrones de género que perjudican a las personas que no se identifican y/o se expresan de forma distinta a su género asignado al nacer. Por ello se ha realizado un análisis teórico que estudia al binarismo y su vínculo con la indumentaria, lo cual permite entender de qué manera se manifiesta visualmente la diferenciación entre sexos y hasta qué punto trasciende esto a las conductas y formas de expresión de las personas. El presente trabajo busca estudiar a un grupo de jóvenes para entender su percepción acerca del binarismo de género en la indumentaria y como se manifiesta o no en la forma que visten. Posteriormente, al análisis teórico se buscará respuesta al objetivo principal mediante entrevistas y focus group, para analizar de una forma más cercana sobre sus experiencias, conocimientos y percepciones, en base a la teoría del binarismo de género y sus manifestaciones. / This research constitutes the main theme of gender binarism which, throughout history, has been made present by the normative allocation of forms of expression, action and physical appearance to the sexes of men and women. This spectrum, by classifying the sexes into only two genders (male and female), has led to the construction of gender roles and ideals that have produced stigmas and gender patterns that harm certain people who do not identify and / or express themselves differently from their gender assigned at birth. For this reason, a theoretical analysis has been carried out that studies binarism and its link with clothing that allows us to understand how it manifests itself visually and to what extent it delimits the behavior of people according to their assigned gender. This work seeks to study a group of young people to understand their perception of gender binarism in clothing and how it is manifested or not in the way they dress. Subsequently, the theoretical analysis will seek an answer to the main objective through interviews and focus groups, to analyze more closely about their experiences, knowledge and perceptions, based on the theory of gender binarism and its manifestations. / Trabajo de investigación

This thesis examines the forces that affect subjectivity in two novels by the author Philip K. Dick, Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. The close reading of these two novels makes use of postmodernist theory as its theoretical foundation. In these works, stable subjects are fractured through a series of disconcerting incidents originating in a “reality shift,” an event that sees the seemingly solid state of Dick’s speculative future worlds collapse. Split into three sections, this paper first positions Dick within a postmodernist tradition developed mainly by Lyotard, Hutcheon, and Baudrillard, supported by critics such as Sim, Malpas, and Kellner, among others. It then defines the reality shift and its underlying causes, three types of science fictional drugs across the two novels: Can-D, Chew-Z, and KR-3. Finally, this essay examines the full extent of Dick’s inquiry into subjectivity by exploring the metamorphoses the subjects of his novels endure.

Saint Francis' quest for the Crucified through the San Damiano Cross Abstract The encounter with the Crucified is the constitutive element of the spirituality of Saint Francis of Assisi. The objective of my thesis is finding the deeper understanding of Francis' perception of the cross. The topic should be elucidated by the San Damiano Cross Icon and other moments of the Saint of Assisi's life. The study of Francis' relation to the cross will be put into an appropriate context: the theology of the cross is mainly ingrained in the Jesus Christ's Mystery of Easter. This knowledge is deepened in life of the Early Church and, through the enriching epoch-making interposition even the "poor little" of Assisi may experience its fruits. In the fundamental part of the text I will organize the key materials for the study of Francis' relation to the crucified Christ contained in the franciscan sources with the help of the newest literature. Therefore the thesis will offer a complex view to one of the crucial moments of Francis' conversion. Keywords Saint Francis of Assisi, San Damiano, icon, cross, theology of the cross, The Crucified, history of the cross, speaking cross, franciscan sources, St. Paul, St. Bonaventure

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Le 4 novembre 1847, Mgr de Bruillard, évêque de Grenoble, institue une commission d'enquête destinée à préparer le jugement doctrinal qu'il doit porter sur l'apparition alléguée de la Vierge Marie à La Salette le 19 septembre 1846. S'il ne fait en cela que reprendre les règles classiques de l'Eglise en matière de discernement des esprits, il innove en définissant de façon rigoureuse le cadre canonique dans lequel doit s'exercer ce discernement, selon une procédure calquée pour partie sur celle préconisée en matière de canonisations par le De servorum Dei beatificatione et de beatorum canonizatione (1734-1738) de Prospero Lambertini, futur pape Benoît XIV. Pour exemplaire que se veuille cette procédure – adoptée par un nombre croissant d'évêques concernés par des faits d'apparitions dans leurs diocèses –, pour efficace qu'elle se révèle, elle se heurte rapidement à divers obstacles montrant ses limites, obstacles dont les moindres ne sont pas, au XXe siècle jusqu'au concile Vatican II, les interventions de plus en plus fréquentes du Saint Office auprès des évêques. Après Vatican II, une plus grande latitude sera laissée aux évêques, mais les répercussions au niveau mondial de certaines mariophanies amèneront la Congrégation pour la doctrine de la foi à édicter en 1978 des Normes générales, véritable feuille de route destinée aux évêques. Ces Normes seront néanmoins rendues bientôt inapplicables à cause de l'émergence de nouveaux types de mariophanies, dont la matrice est le “phénomène Medjugorje” (1981) : qualifiée d'apparition de rupture, cette mariophanie pose, par ses implications non seulement religieuses, mais également sociétales et même politiques, la question de la réaction de l'institution ecclésiale face à des faits et des attitudes qui, tout en se réclamant de l'Église, prétendent se soustraire pour partie à son jugement sous le prétexte d'une plus libre et immédiate insertion dans l'histoire actuelle des hommes, et où l'efficacité temporelle du phénomène le dispute à son authenticité spirituelle et à sa fonction ecclésiale, au risque de constituer le principal critère de jugement de la mariophanie. / On the 4th of November 1847, Msgr de Bruillard, the Bishop of Grenoble, sets up a commis-sion of inquiry aimed at clearing the way for the doctrinal judgment he will have to pass on the alleged apparition of the Virgin Mary at La Salette on the 19th of September 1846. In doing so is merely applying once again the usual rules of the Church in matters pertaining to the discernment of spirits, but he actually does innovate by rigorously definiting the canonical framework within which this judgment must be exercised, following – in matters regarding the question of canonization – a procedure which, to some extent, faithfully reflected the one already favoured by the De servorum Dei beatificatione et de beatorum canonizatione (1734-1738) by Prospero Lambertini (the future pope Benedict XIV). Even though it aims to serve as a model (adopted by a growing number of bishops having to come to terms with events of apparitions in their dioceses), and however efficient it proves to be, this type of procedure soon meets with a variety of obstacles exposing its own limitations : among these obstacles one could not minimize the increasingly frequent interference of the Holy Office in its dealings with the bishops, before the Second Vatican Council. After the Council, the bishops are given more leeway, but the repercussions – on a world scale – of certain mariophanies will induce the Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith to edict in 1978 a set of general Norms, offering the bishops the guiding lines of a roadmap. Nevertheless, these norms will soon become inapplicable, in the face of newly emerging types of mariophanies, whose primary source is the 'Medjugorje case' (1981). Because of its implications – not just religious, but political and societal as well – this mariophany has been dubbed the breaking point apparition, raising the question of how the ecclesiastical Institution should respond to facts and attitudes which, while pretending to speak in the name of the Church, claim the right to disregard part of her decisions, by using as an excuse the need for a more open-minded and a more immediate involvement in the history of mankind – as it appears nowadays ; so much so that, conflicting with the judgments on the authenticity of the case and its relevance for the Church, the claimed fruitfulness of the event runs the risk og beeing viewed as the principal criterion for a judgment on the phenomenon itself.