It is my overall aim in this work to defend the view that knowledge is no more valuable than true belief or empirically adequate belief, and thus is not the primary epistemic good. I engage predominately with Jonathan Kvanvig‟s work for an assessment of the value of knowledge. In turn, I assess the arguments for the value of knowledge for their ability to support the view that knowledge is uniquely valuable. First I will consider an argument which relies on a purported connection between knowledge and proper action. It will then be suggested that arguments tying knowledge to our proper action are not adequate to justify this standard view of the value of knowledge. Furthermore, I will assess an argument that appeals to the value of truth to explain the superior value of knowledge. From this it will be concluded that truth is also less valuable than typically thought, consequently resulting in an overvaluation of knowledge. Lastly, I will investigate the possibility that knowledge has its value because of its stability and resistance to irrationality. Again, I will argue that this is insufficient justification of the standard view about the value of knowledge by offering counterexamples to both the stability of knowledge and knowledge‟s resistance to irrationality. After this I will discuss the implications of my analysis on the value of knowledge.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-46).

The theme of truth in the work of Alasdair MacIntyre has rarely been developed. The present thesis aims at filling this lack. In a long first part the goes in details through the whole of MacIntyre’s work with a special attention to the item of truth, which is omnipresent. This heuristic part leads to a hermeneutic part, in which the thought of the Anglo-Saxon philosopher is compared with that of Hans-Georg Gadamer - to whom he affirms to be widely indebted - in order to discern the proper of the Macintyrian researcher and that of his access to truth, which he considers as absolute. The unifying thread of it is the dichotomy Aristotle vs. Heidegger in Gadamer’s work. This dichotomy, which is suggested by the Anglo-Saxon philosopher, proves to be an important key of interpretation of his thought in the field of hermeneutic. In a third part the author studies a diversity of themes for a right understanding of the Macintyrian conception of truth: today’s context of plurality of traditions and civilisations, Macintyrian Thomism, the absolute and what is relative and truth as a good. This thematic part is built upon a confrontation with the thought of the second Hilary Putnam, that of "Reason, Truth and History", which is used as a safeguard in the work of MacIntyre when he tries to define the conception of truth in the tradition rationality. The author makes some critics of MacIntyre’s thought, notably on the credit given to human rationality: the Anglo-Saxon philosopher does not seem to understand the limits proper to it, on theoretical level and practical level as well. / Le thème de la vérité chez Alasdair MacIntyre restait trop peu connu. Cette thèse entend contribuer à combler ce manque. Dans une longue première partie, l’ensemble de l’œuvre macintyrienne est épluché en suivant le thème de la vérité, qui y est omniprésent. Cette partie heuristique débouche sur une partie herméneutique, où la pensée du philosophe anglo-saxon est confrontée à celle de Hans-Georg Gadamer, envers lequel il reconnaît une dette importante, afin de discerner quelle est la part propre de la situation de l’investigateur macintyrien et celle de son accès à la vérité, qu’il considère finalement comme étant absolue. La dichotomie Aristote vs Heidegger chez Gadamer en constitue le fil rouge. Cette dichotomie, suggérée par le philosophe anglo-saxon, s’avère être une clé d’interprétation importante de sa pensée dans le champ de l’herméneutique. Dans une troisième partie sont étudiés divers thèmes importants pour une juste compréhension de la conception macintyrienne de la vérité : le contexte contemporain de la pluralité des traditions et des civilisations, le thomisme macintyrien, le relatif et l’absolu, et la vérité comme (un) bien. Cette partie thématique est charpentée par une confrontation avec la pensée du second Hilary Putnam, celui de "Reason, Truth and History", qui sert en quelque sorte de garde-fou dans l’œuvre macintyrienne quand il s’agit de définir la conception de la vérité impliquée dans la tradition rationality. Certaines critiques de la pensée d’Alasdair MacIntyre sont faites, notamment en ce qui concerne le crédit qu’il accorde à la rationalité humaine : le philosophe anglo-saxon ne semble pas prendre la mesure des limites qui lui sont propres, tant au niveau théorique qu’au niveau pratique.

The theme of truth in the work of Alasdair MacIntyre has rarely been developed. The present thesis aims at filling this lack. In a long first part the goes in details through the whole of MacIntyre’s work with a special attention to the item of truth, which is omnipresent. This heuristic part leads to a hermeneutic part, in which the thought of the Anglo-Saxon philosopher is compared with that of Hans-Georg Gadamer - to whom he affirms to be widely indebted - in order to discern the proper of the Macintyrian researcher and that of his access to truth, which he considers as absolute. The unifying thread of it is the dichotomy Aristotle vs. Heidegger in Gadamer’s work. This dichotomy, which is suggested by the Anglo-Saxon philosopher, proves to be an important key of interpretation of his thought in the field of hermeneutic. In a third part the author studies a diversity of themes for a right understanding of the Macintyrian conception of truth: today’s context of plurality of traditions and civilisations, Macintyrian Thomism, the absolute and what is relative and truth as a good. This thematic part is built upon a confrontation with the thought of the second Hilary Putnam, that of "Reason, Truth and History", which is used as a safeguard in the work of MacIntyre when he tries to define the conception of truth in the tradition rationality. The author makes some critics of MacIntyre’s thought, notably on the credit given to human rationality: the Anglo-Saxon philosopher does not seem to understand the limits proper to it, on theoretical level and practical level as well. / Le thème de la vérité chez Alasdair MacIntyre restait trop peu connu. Cette thèse entend contribuer à combler ce manque. Dans une longue première partie, l’ensemble de l’œuvre macintyrienne est épluché en suivant le thème de la vérité, qui y est omniprésent. Cette partie heuristique débouche sur une partie herméneutique, où la pensée du philosophe anglo-saxon est confrontée à celle de Hans-Georg Gadamer, envers lequel il reconnaît une dette importante, afin de discerner quelle est la part propre de la situation de l’investigateur macintyrien et celle de son accès à la vérité, qu’il considère finalement comme étant absolue. La dichotomie Aristote vs Heidegger chez Gadamer en constitue le fil rouge. Cette dichotomie, suggérée par le philosophe anglo-saxon, s’avère être une clé d’interprétation importante de sa pensée dans le champ de l’herméneutique. Dans une troisième partie sont étudiés divers thèmes importants pour une juste compréhension de la conception macintyrienne de la vérité : le contexte contemporain de la pluralité des traditions et des civilisations, le thomisme macintyrien, le relatif et l’absolu, et la vérité comme (un) bien. Cette partie thématique est charpentée par une confrontation avec la pensée du second Hilary Putnam, celui de "Reason, Truth and History", qui sert en quelque sorte de garde-fou dans l’œuvre macintyrienne quand il s’agit de définir la conception de la vérité impliquée dans la tradition rationality. Certaines critiques de la pensée d’Alasdair MacIntyre sont faites, notamment en ce qui concerne le crédit qu’il accorde à la rationalité humaine : le philosophe anglo-saxon ne semble pas prendre la mesure des limites qui lui sont propres, tant au niveau théorique qu’au niveau pratique.

Syftet med uppsatsen var att på uppdrag av butiken Trolltyg beskriva företagets kunder utifrån deras grad av tillfredställelse och lojalitet till butiken. Samt att bidra med en bild av butikens styrkor och svagheter och på så vis även bidra med kunskap till företaget för att ge det möjligheter att stärka dess konkurrenskraft. Metoden hade en kvantitativ ansats och en enkät utformades för insamling av data. Vi kom fram till att respondenterna överlag var nöjda med butiken och med det bemötande de fått. De ansåg sig få en rättvis bedömning när det kommer till återköp och de upplevde att känslan de får av butiken är positiv. Respondenterna hade höga förväntningar på butiken som också uppfylldes, och många var så nöjda att de ofta berättade positivt om butiken för andra. Utefter detta drog vi slutsatsen att respondenterna är nöjda och lojala kunder, samt att en grupp, nämligen åldersgruppen 45-60 år, bör uppmärksammas lite extra då de kan anses vara väldigt lojala.

A story about Searching for truth, and finding More than you bargained.

Life is to be lived, savoured and engaged. Photography gives us permission to do that – to stop and simply look at something. As we hurry on with our day, it says, “Wait - over there! Look at that! Look how great that is!” If we stop to consider what we see, the looking may help restore our appreciation for the world around us. Photography, at its beginning, struggled with category; was it science or art, or was it something else? Once named photography – writing with light – we could place the craft among familiar practices of inscription such as writing and drawing. Unlike drawing and other forms of representation, however, as a trace photography constructs a direct and necessary relationship with its referent (its ostensible subject, if you will), creating a new set of questions and experiences. This condition is key to photography’s power, and the reason photography is a principle tool in modern-day story telling, and the culture of information. Why do we take pictures? What is it about photographs that intrigues and seduces us? What does photography have to offer architecture? Each time we take a picture we create a duplicate of experience, a duplicate that will exist unchanged. We create a second stream of existence for ourselves and immortalize a part of us. By doing so, we also give ourselves the opportunity and permission to return to that moment, and all that we associate with it, and to experience it again. The photographs we take and the photographs we see influence our experience. Photographic life is not found within the chaos of the world. It resides in fragments, millions of them, framed, cut off from any context. These pictures present us with evidence of moments, places and events. With them we can navigate the world in silence. And while the camera cannot be denied its objectivity, each photographer has a unique position, a developed opinion, and a personal practice; each photographer chooses what to show, and what to deny. Photographers select evidence to share with the world; as viewers we find our own meanings to the photographs that we see. We see texture, pattern, and forms created in light and shadow. We see a rhythm and episode and form we previously overlooked. When a photograph is successful, when there is some coincidence in the common relationship between photographer and viewer, via the photograph, that photograph becomes a site of experience.

Life is to be lived, savoured and engaged. Photography gives us permission to do that – to stop and simply look at something. As we hurry on with our day, it says, “Wait - over there! Look at that! Look how great that is!” If we stop to consider what we see, the looking may help restore our appreciation for the world around us. Photography, at its beginning, struggled with category; was it science or art, or was it something else? Once named photography – writing with light – we could place the craft among familiar practices of inscription such as writing and drawing. Unlike drawing and other forms of representation, however, as a trace photography constructs a direct and necessary relationship with its referent (its ostensible subject, if you will), creating a new set of questions and experiences. This condition is key to photography’s power, and the reason photography is a principle tool in modern-day story telling, and the culture of information. Why do we take pictures? What is it about photographs that intrigues and seduces us? What does photography have to offer architecture? Each time we take a picture we create a duplicate of experience, a duplicate that will exist unchanged. We create a second stream of existence for ourselves and immortalize a part of us. By doing so, we also give ourselves the opportunity and permission to return to that moment, and all that we associate with it, and to experience it again. The photographs we take and the photographs we see influence our experience. Photographic life is not found within the chaos of the world. It resides in fragments, millions of them, framed, cut off from any context. These pictures present us with evidence of moments, places and events. With them we can navigate the world in silence. And while the camera cannot be denied its objectivity, each photographer has a unique position, a developed opinion, and a personal practice; each photographer chooses what to show, and what to deny. Photographers select evidence to share with the world; as viewers we find our own meanings to the photographs that we see. We see texture, pattern, and forms created in light and shadow. We see a rhythm and episode and form we previously overlooked. When a photograph is successful, when there is some coincidence in the common relationship between photographer and viewer, via the photograph, that photograph becomes a site of experience.

Police officers on-site service eccounters are the service quality for the moments of truth . For face to face contact with the process of understanding and control, affect the public perception of service quality.In this research,according to the perspectives of police officers service encounters,through the public and their experience of interactive codes, enhance the public satisfaction with the police officers. Study aimed to survey the public and police officers interactive codes of service eccounters in their role of symbol,and probe into the different levels between the public and police officers interactive codes of service eccounters, furthermore comprehend the relationship between public satisfaction and police officers interactive codes of service eccounters. The first stage of critical incident techique , 70 police personnel from the recovery of the questionnaire were satisfied with 66 events, with 60 not satisfied with the events.Through the analysis classified includeing interactive codes of service eccounters of the body language, self-disclosure and behavior characteristics.Then by the second phase of validation study, using convenience sampling, issued 250 questionnaires and collected 248 questionnaires, 236 valid samples. By descriptive statistics, independent test, ANOVA, regression analysis and verified by two-way ANOVA analysis to explore the relationship between public satisfaction and police officers interactive codes of service eccounters. Research results, in the critical incident techique cases show that police officers feel the people are the most satisfied with the police¡¦s treatment response.It is obviously that people confirm the police officers treatment response ability of endangered public security.Police officers feel the people are the most unsatisfied with the congnitive differences of exchange messages,and account for the overwhelming majority.Therefore, to protect the legal and ban the illegal, police officers will apply law and unlawful message across service encounters people. People distrust the police because of the congnitive differences .Therefore, the public awareness and law-abiding is the concept of the underlying factors differ. Police service and sincere response to contact with the body language of the higher performance, care had more positive interactions, people will have better contact with the police service satisfaction;Service access to expose the higher self-disclosure in confidence, more positive relationship with the public,the more people have better satisfaction;Service contact to the better qualities of convenience services, expertise being more substantial, the public will be better satisfied.But it is also show that the level of police officers interactive codes of service eccounters did not affect satisfaction interactive source for significant differences in the change.

With respect to art, we mainly discuss the issue of 'space', and we generally believe that there exists the so-called 'art-space'. However, Heidegger considers art in a very different way which is phenomenological. With phenomenological reduction, he reinterprets how the art-space exists, and he also endows art with a brand new meaning, that is, ¡§opening¡¨ , which is the way one expresses oneself. Nonetheless, Heidegger explains art in a dialectical way, that is to say, the negative way. However, that is the reason for Chinese landscape painting to be painted. In this essay, I try to yield further evidence for Heidegger 's theory, by investigating into Chinese landscape painting. The 'art-space' is hidden by the 'blank' spot of the landscape painting, so it is not emptiness, but gathering 'space', 'space itself', and 'light' into a whole; at the same time, it shows truth, which is lived truth. The 'art-space' does not come from imitating, but from a 'text-space' between likeness and unlikeness.