This dissertation investigates two of W.G. Sebald’s novels, "Die Ausgewanderten" and "Austerlitz" as examples of a unique kind of Holocaust fiction by a non-Jewish German author. Sebald’s fiction represents a radically different German depiction of the Holocaust and its effects on Jewish victims, as it deconstructs critical discourse and debates about the Holocaust in Germany, establishing an ethical approach to Jewish suffering and the idea of coming to terms with the Nazi past in the German context. Through the narrative structure, ambiguity and the language of the German narrators, what I term its language of uncertainty, Sebald’s fiction avoids appropriating the Jewish voice as well as identifying with Jewish Holocaust victims and survivors, while giving voice to the underrepresented Jewish perspective in contemporary German literature. In addition, this dissertation examines competing discourses on representation, victimization and memory in regard to the Nazi past and views Sebald’s work as a critical response to these discussions. Indeed, Sebald’s fiction moves the discussion beyond the trope of Vergangenheitsbewältigung (“mastery of the past”), which has for so long dominated discussion of the Holocaust in Germany, towards a reconsideration of the victims, whose voice has been marginalized in the focus on the non-Jewish German handling of the Nazi past. / text

In this dissertation I argue, first, that an Aristotelian/Kindist approach to ethics is superior to the dominant approach of the 20th Century because it avoids deep meta-ethical puzzles, and second, that we should reject traditional Aristotelian approaches to ethics and adopt what I call Cultural Kindism instead. The view that dominated the last century mandates that we think of some things -- e.g. pleasure, knowledge, virtue -- as good “full stop,” or good simpliciter. I argue that a) this approach entails a set of seemingly irresolvable disagreements about the nature of goodness, namely, whether we ought to be (anti)realists, (non)cognitivists, (non)naturalists, etc., b) Aristotelians avoid these debates, and c) we have strong reason to favor an approach that avoids these debates. According to traditional Aristotelianism, evaluations of living things are, when justified, grounded in facts about the species of which the object of evaluation is a member. A member is defective and (thereby) lives a deprived life, just in case the member fails to meet the standard for good members of its kind. Against these philosophers I argue that the idea that we can ground (moral) evaluations of people by reference to their membership in the biological kind ‘human being’ is at best without foundations, and at worst (for the Aristotelian), pushes us to the dominant approach of the 20th Century. On the Aristotelian approach I defend, it is not a person’s membership in a biological kind (or species) that grounds evaluations of her, but rather her membership in what I call a cultural kind. Cultural kinds include parent, spouse, friend, philosopher, citizen, and so on, and are defined by the set of ends appropriate to a member of that kind. A parent has the end of the welfare of her children, a spouse the welfare of his spouse, a philosopher the end of wisdom and the pursuit of wisdom, and so on. According to Cultural Kindism, people become objects of evaluation not because they have been born into a particular biological kind, but because they come to be members of various cultural kinds. / text

published_or_final_version / Literary and Cultural Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Bioethics has been central to living donor liver transplantation (LDLT), which mandates a high recipient benefit and an acceptably low donor risk. The double equipoise imposes the contextual features of this already technically complex treatment. This research aimed at looking into key bioethical issues of LDLT in the light of the contemporary practice standards. In adult LDLT, in order to provide a partial graft of adequate size, donor right hepatectomy is often required. This procedure pioneered by The University of Hong Kong is now being performed at many centers and by many surgeons. Through close guidance and gradual granting of surgical privilege, newer surgeons can now perform this operation safely with low blood loss (400 mL) and low complication rates ( 30%). Analysis of our series also showed that right liver donors with a smaller remnant left liver had higher peak bilirubin level and longer peak prothrombin time after the operation. Severe complications were associated with hyperbilirubinemia (p=0.031) while prolonged hospital stay was associated with prolonged prothrombin time (p=0.011) and smaller remnant left liver (p=0.036). Facts need to be known to potential right liver donors before operation. Donor left hepatectomy, which carries a lower donor risk, is more feasible for donors with a larger left liver and recipients with a smaller body size. Lowering the graft size requirement also allows more LDLTs being done using left livers. The percentages of left liver LDLTs feasible with a graft to standard liver volume (G/SLV) ≥ 40%, ≥ 35%, ≥ 30%, and ≥ 25% were 5.8%, 12.5%, 29.1%, and 62.3% respectively. For every 5% decrease in G/SLV ratio, twice as many left liver LDLTs could be performed. The 5-year survival rate was 85.7% for liver transplantation recipients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) within the Up-to-7 criteria, unaffected by the presence of microvascular invasion (88.2% vs. 85.1%, p=0.652). This is comparable with that of liver resection patients with HCC without microvascular invasion (81.2%, p=0.227) but far superior to that of liver resection patients with lesions with microvascular invasion (50.0%, p<0.0001). Primary liver transplantation for HCC with microvascular invasion and within the Up-to-7 criteria in fact doubled the chance of cure as compared with liver resection. LDLT has been criticized of fast-tracking patients with more aggressive HCC for transplant. Waiting does select out patients with better survival to undergo transplantation. With careful selection though without waiting, LDLT nevertheless does not confer poorer survival. Progressive liver failure following a major hepatectomy for HCC is a known and uncommon cause of mortality. Proceeding to LDLT is an ethical challenge because of the possibility of coercion. Tumor status as confirmed by histopathological examination of resected specimens can demonstrate features of more aggressive cancer, which warns against a rescue transplantation for the increase in chance of tumor recurrence. In order to overcome ABO blood group incompatibility, paired donor interchange (between two pairs: A to B and B to A) has been practiced for the liver. The extension to matching with one pair of universal donor (O) and universal recipient (AB) was also performed at our center. The obvious biological advantage of this treatment modality has to be weighed against the potential increase in risks to patients involved. Media coverage of advances and successes in liver transplantation stimulates deceased donor organ donation (DDOD). The relation between widely reported key events and DDOD can be recognized as celebrity hero influence, medical success, or emotional response. An accountable liver transplant service answerable to the public is vital to a region where the DDOD rate is low. Selective disclosure of patient information to the media for public interest in promoting organ donation can be justified. LDLT now has a two-decade history of clinical practice. Basic and clinical research has provided a clearer picture of the efficacy and fallibility of LDLT. We can now be more accurate in defining and interpreting the applicability of LDLT for a wider spectrum of disease indications. / published_or_final_version / Medicine / Master / Doctor of Medicine

Filial piety is regarded the most fundamental values of the Chinese culture, and the root of all good virtues. When Buddhism first came to China, it faced the criticisms from Chinese scholars, especially from the Confucianism, the dominant ideology of Chinese society, on ethical grounds. Confucian scholars criticized the life of Buddhist monks, who were required to leave their homes and families, shave their heads, and live in celibacy, was incompatible with the Confucian practice of filial piety. In order to survive in Chinese society, Buddhism had to search for the converging point with the Confucianism. This thesis attempts to explore the importance and practice of filial piety in early Buddhism. It also discusses how Chinese Buddhists responded to the criticisms both in theoretical argumentation and in practice. Finally, it concludes the main content and features of filial piety in Chinese Buddhism. This thesis divides into four chapters. The first chapter discusses the origins of filial piety in Chinese society, from particularly due to the agriculture economy, worship of ancestors, patriarchal clan system, and the development of ideology of filial piety from Confucius. The second chapter mainly illustrates the importance and practice of filial piety in early Buddhism. The third part concentrates on Chinese Buddhists’ respondents on the “unfilial practice” accusations by (i) translations of and references to Buddhist sutras that taught filial behavior; (ii) writing scholarly refutations to defend the “unfilial practices” charges, and (iii) interpreting Buddhist precepts are equivalent of the concept of Confucian filial piety. In practice, they responded by (i) composing apocryphal scriptures, (ii) annual celebration of the Yulanpen (ghost) festival, popularizing stories and parables as by way of painted illustrations, public lectures. The third chapter discuss the main content and features of filial piety in Chinese Buddhism, which are(i)to requite parents and all sentient beings with gratitude and equality; (ii) to differentiate “this worldly filial piety” and “supramundane filial piety”; (iii) to infuse Buddhist precepts and Confucian filial piety together;(iv)to chant the name of Amitābhaḥ Buddha as a way of religious discipline and the practice of filial piety. / published_or_final_version / Chinese Language and Literature / Master / Master of Arts

abstract / Politics and Public Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

<p> The quality of health care in the United States is often measured by the patient&rsquo;s satisfaction. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) was developed by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS) along with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in 2002 to standardize the assessments and measures of patient satisfaction (Koch, 2014). Healthcare organizations are mandated to report their HCAHPS results to CMMS and AHRQ. Because of the significant role nurses take in the care and overall experience of hospitalized patients, this project explored RN scores on the Judgments About Nursing Decisions (JAND) instrument by Dr. Shake&rsquo; Ketefian (1984) and patient satisfaction data. The findings from the project suggest that RNs who are functioning in the post-conventional area of Kohlberg's Moral Development Theory as measured by the JAND may have an influencing effect on patient satisfaction outcomes as measured by the HCAHPS.</p>

<p> The ethics training program of the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Alaska District, a recipient of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) 2010 Education and Communication Award, was studied to determine if the training fostered employee awareness of unethical situations within the workplace. The study fills a gap in scholarly literature in that never before had a peer-review study been done to examine how ethics training fosters awareness within an award-winning federal agency. The method and design used for collecting the data was the qualitative exploratory case study. Seven data sources were analyzed using NVivo 10 ^&reg; software and Microsoft Excel and conclusions drawn by use of data source triangulation. Two primary data sources used were responses from two sets of interview questions: one set with 15 employees and another set with two ethics training coordinators. The other five sources of data evidence used were the OGE 2009 Education and Commission Awards Announcement, the OGE 2009 Education and Communication Award Application Form submitted by Alaska District to OGE, samples of the <i>Ethics Monthly Treats,</i> and comments made by the interviewees on the 2-minute ethics video (<i>Secret Ethics Man</i>), and brownbag lunches. The framework for this study was Gagne&rsquo;s theoretical instructional design model. The three emerging themes were: ethics information was distributed frequently, innovative delivery methods, and content of ethics instruction. The results of the study indicate that the design, delivery, and components of the training program may have been effective in fostering employee awareness of unethical situations within the workplace.</p>

<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>

In this dissertation, I argue for a Rousseauvian vision of an ideal society: one in which the people constitute a group agent, unified under a collective will, willing action that constitutes the common good. Most have tended to believe that the contrasts between an individual agent and an entire people are stark, and so accounts of the commonwealth that appeal to group agency at all usually emphasize the differences between them. I will argue, however, that members of a society collectively constitute an agent that resembles an individual agent more closely than is normally supposed. Specifically, I will argue that a society is under normative pressure to engage in projects and activities that are good or worthwhile, that it may permissibly impose burdens on some members as it attempts to realize the common good, and that when properly constituted it possesses a collective will that has authority over its members. I begin in Chapter 1 by giving an account of what it means for a group to engage in action. Then, in Chapter 2, I argue that the people of a region naturally constitute a rational group agent, and that state institutions that function properly help to facilitate collective action that is generally worthwhile or good. In Chapter 3, I argue that an individual has duties to herself similar to those that a commonwealth has to its members. For this reason, I suggest that investigating individual agency has the potential to shed light on what the commonwealth may or may not permissibly do. In Chapter 4, I draw a parallel between an individual agent pursuing her own good while trying to avoid wronging herself, and an entire commonwealth pursuing its overall good while trying to avoid wronging its members. There I conclude that by realizing the common good, the commonwealth compensates members who are burdened in its pursuit. In Chapter 5, I consider how a commonwealth, understood as a group agent, can choose its action, arguing that democratic institutions possess authority over the commonwealth, and thus constitute the society’s General Will. Finally in Chapter 6, I consider whether philosophers in the liberal-republican tradition have given sufficient reason for us to reject the Rousseauvian view that I argue for in the first five chapters. / Philosophy