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Three issues related to the prediction of aesthetic response of natural landscapes were investigated. First, information regarding the degree of correspondence between two conceptually different yet commonly used criteria of aesthetic response--ratings of scenic quality and preference ratings--was sought. Second, the relative efficiency of and interrelationships between predictor variables stemming from different philosophical paradigms of landscape aesthetics was of interest. Examination of such a variety of predictors towards the same criteria utilizing the same settings as stimuli had not been previously researched. Direct comparison of types to one another, and in combination as predictors, would indicate both whether different approaches were measuring similar aesthetic response variance, and in what ways they differed. Third, the extent to which a motivational choice model based in expectancy theory could predict environmental preference was of interest. This model represented an aesthetic predictor in terms of environmental utility, i.e., meaningfulness within the context of potential activity, and was thus a departure from traditional predictors based on design elements and the arrangement of physical features. Data were gathered from a total 354 subjects responding to 60 different natural landscape scenes (color slides) from a wide variety of United States' biomes. Results indicated that the two aesthetic criteria were nearly identical, both in relation to one another (r=.98) and through their correlate patterns to 33 predictor variables. Predictor variables from three paradigms: the psychophysical (physical features of the environment), the cognitive (transactional variables involving interpretive patterning of physical variables), and the experiential (environmental utility in terms of potential for activity) were all highly effective. Multiple regression equations for specific types had predicted R-Squares ranging from .47 to .84. In turn, detailed analyses of the transactional and utility variables via multiple regression (using the physical variables as predictors) indicated they could be defined by these managerially controllable terms. Finally, the environmental utility variable was examined in more detail through a variety of expectancy models. Of major interest was that environmental familiarity was a strong moderator of the utility effect, with highly familiar settings yielding more accurate prediction than unfamiliar settings. A number of managerial implications and suggestions for follow-up research are made. / Ph. D. / incomplete_metadata

Career exploration and decision making can be a stressful experience, and is often accompanied by dysfunctional thinking regarding the world of work and one’s place in it. Individuals who are able to modify their negative career thoughts are more likely to navigate career exploration successfully. Factors which may influence a person’s ability to cope with dysfunctional thoughts include cognitive ability (IQ) and the inadequately explored construct of emotional intelligence (EI). Establishing the validity of EI by demonstrating its relationship to important outcomes is necessary. This study sought to determine the extent to which IQ and EI were associated with negative career thoughts and negative career thoughts change as a result of career exploration. This correlational study measured IQ using a standard measure and EI using an ability-based instrument. In addition, negative career thoughts were measured both before and after a career exploration program. One hundred ninety three unemployed adults between the ages of 25 and 60 participated in the study. Significant correlation relationships were found between IQ and aspects of negative career thoughts post program. Only one branch of the EI model, managing emotions, was seen to correlate significantly with all aspects of negative career thoughts, both before and after career exploration. No correlations were found between either IQ or EI with negative career thoughts change. Regression analysis indicated that IQ predicted overall negative career thoughts as well as decision-making confusion, but only after career exploration. Overall EI scores did not predict negative career thoughts. However, among the four branches of EI, managing emotions predicted negative career thoughts both before and after career exploration for all of global negative career thoughts, decision-making confusion, commitment anxiety, and external conflict. Neither IQ nor EI predicted negative career thoughts change. The results show that the ability to manage emotions is associated with reduced dysfunctional thinking both before and after career exploration, suggesting that EI managing may be a psychological resource that individuals use in coping with stress. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

O objetivo principal da presente dissertação é mostrar a brilhante solução dada por Diderot à questão de Molyneux que foi proposta à Locke por Molyneux e tinha o seguinte enunciado: um cego de nascença que aprendeu a identificar uma esfera e um cubo pelo tato, quando curado e puder enxergar, poderá distinguir estes objetos apenas pela visão? Esta questão leva a discussões filosóficas a respeito de percepções táteis e visuais. Ampliando a abordagem do problema podemos questionar outros pontos, tais como: 1) O cego que recupera a visão pode transferir para o domínio visual o conhecimento adquirido pelo tato?; 2) Pode este homem perceber a tridimensionalidade do espaço?; 3) A percepção do espaço é inata ou adquirida? Diderot vai além desta investigação e questiona: 1) Como o cego recém-operado relataria suas novas sensações?; 2) Por esta investigação específica não seria possível descobrir como o indivíduo adquire seu conhecimento do mundo?; 3) Pode-se afirmar que a moral e a religião dependem da percepção?; 4) Existe alguma relação entre a percepção e a linguagem?; 5) No caso desta relação de fato existir, quais são suas implicações epistemológicas? As considerações de Diderot sobre o tema encontram-se na Carta sobre os cegos para o uso dos que veem (1749). Nesta obra, o filósofo francês mostra como as nossas ideias dependem dos nossos sentidos e conduz um estudo muito interessante sobre a origem do conhecimento e de que maneira a falta de um dos cinco sentidos modifica as noções adquiridas com relação aos conceitos de visão, moralidade e a existência de Deus. Diderot empenha-se em compreender como a abstração de certas percepções pode conduzir um indivíduo a determinados conceitos. Ele retoma várias vezes o problema de Molyneux para analisar como o cego de nascença pode representar o espaço e em todas suas afirmações encontra a solução no conhecimento da geometria. O texto possui três momentos fundamentais. No primeiro, Diderot interroga o cego de nascença Puiseaux e relata como esse cego vive em seu mundo e como ele define objetos dos quais não pode possuir nenhum conhecimento sensível devido à falta de visão. Na segunda parte do texto, Diderot descreve como o matemático Saunderson, cego desde um ano de idade, adquiriu conhecimentos pelo tato como se não fosse privado da visão. Em seguida, Diderot atribui a Saunderson, em um diálogo com o reverendo Holmes, um discurso no qual especula os conceitos de Deus, do bem e do mal em um indivíduo privado de um dos sentidos. Dessa forma, ele mostra como nossas ideias concernentes à existência de Deus e à moral não são absolutas e sim relativas à nossa condição física e à conformação de nossos órgãos. No terceiro momento da Carta, Diderot expõe o problema de Molyneux e reponde à questão, comparando suas considerações com as de Locke e Condillac. / The main objective of this thesis is to show the brilliant solution given by Diderot to Molyneuxs question which was proposed to Locke by Molyneux. It said: a born blind man who learnt to identify a globe and a cube by his touch, when having his sight restored and being able to see, will he be able to distinguish these objects just looking at them? This question leads to philosophical discussions regarding to tactile and visual perceptions. Extending the approach to the problem we can ask other points, such as: 1) Can the blind man who recovers his sight transfer to the visual domain the knowledge acquired by touch?; 2) Can this man perceive the three dimensions of the space?; 3) The perception of space is innate or acquired? Diderot goes further and asks: 1) How would the new-sighted man present his new sensations?; 2) Through this scientific investigation, could it not be possible to discover how an individual acquires his knowledge of the world? ; 3) Can one say that moral and religion depend on perception?; 4) Is there any relation between perception and language?; 5) If this relation really exists, what are its epistemological implications? Diderots accounts on the subject can be found in the Letter on the blind (1749). In this text, the French philosopher shows how our ideas depend on our senses and he guides a very interesting study on the origin of knowledge and how the lack of one of our five senses can modify the acquired notions regarding to the concepts of sight, morality and the existence of God. Diderot strives to understand how the abstraction of some perceptions can lead the individual to certain concepts. He retakes Molyenuxs problem many times to analyse how the born blind man can represent the space and in all his assertions he finds out the solution for the problem in geometry. The text has three fundamental moments. In the first one, Diderot questions the born blind Puiseaux and reports how that blind man lives in his world and how he defines objects of which he cannot have any sensible knowledge due to his lack of vision. In the second part of the text, Diderot describes how the mathematician Saunderson, blind since one year old, acquired knowledge by touch as he was not deprived of sight. After that, Diderot attributes to Saunderson, in a dialogue with Reverend Holmes, a speech in which he speculates the concepts of God, of good and evil in an individual deprived of one of the senses Thus, he demonstrates how our ideas related to the existence of God and to the moral are not absolute, but relative to our physical condition and to the conformation of our organs. In the third moment of the Letter, Diderot exposes Molyneuxs problem and answers to the question, comparing his considerations to Lockes and Condillacs.

Dan Simmons's far-future science fiction epic Hyperion Cantos, in which seven disparate individuals become enmeshed in a convoluted plot to enslave humanity, provides extensive support for British theologian John Hick's theory of transcendental pluralism. Using the central figures of the Shrike, a mysterious killing machine, and the Technocore, a collective of autonomous artificial intelligences, Simmons demonstrates Hick's postulation that all major Western religions actually focus on the same divine being (God) by creating a negative divine being, akin to Satan, to which characters of various religions react in similar ways. Simmons's pilgrims each represent a particular spiritual outlook, from specific organized religions to less-defined positions such as secularism and agnosticism, but each pilgrim's tale contributes to the evidence of transcendental pluralism. This thesis explores each characters' experiences as they relate to the Shrike, the Technocore, and, ultimately the theory of transcendental pluralism. / by Zachary Stewart. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Cette recherche se propose de montrer l’existence de ce que nous appelons des « niveaux psychologiques » chez Platon, en empruntant à la théorie des types logiques, formulée par B. Russel et A.N. Whitehead, puis revisitée par l’anthropologue G. Bateson au sein du mouvement cybernétique. Par « niveaux psychologiques », nous entendons des états psychiques d’être en relation avec le réel sur le mode analogique. Nous défendons la thèse selon laquelle la théorie platonicienne des formes n’oblige pas à penser des degrés de réalité de la chose mais bien un processus de réalisation de l’objet en soi par le sujet de l’expérience. En tant que tels, les niveaux psychologiques correspondent donc à des niveaux d’apprentissages de la réalité. Ainsi, la méthode dialectique utilisée par Socrate accompagne le progrès de l’âme, pilotée par l’intellect, au moyen de la raison qui relie et distingue les phénomène sensibles. Cette double fonction caractérise l’exercice du langage et rend compte du mouvement de la pensée. La succession et la répétition des ajustements opérés à partir de l’expérience conduisent ainsi à une meilleure définition de la forme de l’objet en soi, i.e. une saisie plus nette de ce qui, de l’intelligible, passe dans le sensible. De ce fait, la théorie platonicienne de la connaissance apparaît comme une théorie du processus et non comme une théorie du contenu de savoir, qui mène du théâtre intérieur de nos représentations, limitées par le temps d’une vie et l’espace d’un corps, au spectacle de l’infini. En outre, parce qu’il existe un seul chemin pour penser ce qui est réellement, l’examen psychologique des causes de soi rejoint nécessairement la recherche philosophique sur les causes du monde, dans une cosmologie. / This research intends to demonstrate the existence of what we call "psychological levels" in Plato's philosophy, taking from the theory of logical types, formulated by B. Russel and A.N. Whitehead, then restyled by the anthropologist G. Bateson, inside the cybernetic movement. By "psychological levels", we mean psychic states of being in relation with reality under an analogical scheme. We defend the argument that Plato’s theory of Forms does not imply degrees of reality in the thing but a process of realization of the object in itself through the subject experiencing it. As such, psychological levels refer to levels of learning what is reality. Thus, the Socratic dialectical method accompanies the soul’s progress, driven by the intellect, thanks to reason which relates and distinguishes the sensible phenomena. This double function characterizes what language is and gives reason for the movement of thought. Succession and repetition of the adjustments made from the experience of the thing lead to a better definition of the Form of the object in itself, i.e. a clearer acquisition of the intelligible part of the thing that is passing through its sensible expression. Hence, Plato’s theory of knowledge stands like a process theory more than a content theory, by conducting the search for truth from the inner theatre of our representations, limited by a lifetime and the space of a body, to the spectacle of the infinite. Furthermore, since there is only one path in order to think what exists in reality, the psychological research into the causes of thyself necessarily fits in the philosophical research into the causes of the world — a cosmology.