<p> The dissertation examines an intersection of ethics, epistemology, politics, and religious consciousness in the work of Canadian political theorist Charles Taylor. The goal of the study is to bring to light the central or even unifying role of theism in Taylor's broader philosophical project. More specifically, the dissertation speaks to the constructive moral and anthropological-as opposed to any merely ideological-role that theism plays in Taylor's thought, focusing especially on the conception of transcendence that underwrites his political and ethical theory. A basic claim of the dissertation is that Taylor's conception of transcendence, while remaining attentive to the demands of religious pluralism, has a kenotic shape that gives rise to an ethics that emphasizes enfleshed enactments of agape.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

No / This is a reply to Sue Mitchell and Francisco J. Eiroa-Orosa’s ‘Love your enemy.’ The latter seeks to explore the self-transcending potential of altruistic behaviour through a dialogical paradigm. It not only initiates fresh discussion on the subject of altruism, but also advances new discussion on Bakhtinian aesthetics. For the continuation of this forward momentum, we suggest a more nuanced approach to the placement of the ‘researcher’ within the applied methodological matrix. Similarly, we also advocate for the synthesising of research tools, often appropriated by theological studies, into said methodological matrix. This is a reply to: Mitchell, Sue and Eiroa-Orosa, Francisco J. 2018. “Love your enemy? An aesthetic discourse analysis of self-transcendence in values-motivated altruism.” Global Discourse https://doi.org/10.1080/23269995.2018. 1511766

Paratexts to Non-Linear Media Texts: Paratextuality in Video Game Culture Jan Švelch Abstract The thesis explores paratextuality in the video game culture. This concept coined in 1982 by Gérard Genette in the context of literary publishing has been throughout the last thirty-five years adopted by other fields, including television and film studies, and game studies. However, the recent appropriations of the paratextual framework significantly deviate from its original conceptualization and cause terminological confusion. Still, paratextuality has the potential to provide a unique insight into cultural practices across various cultural industries, including video games. Figuratively described as a threshold, the concept of paratextuality deals with often overlooked elements of media ecosystems, such as promotional materials or instruction manuals. In the thesis, I present a thorough critical review of the current state of paratextual research. Due to its unsatisfactory state, I propose an updated paratextual framework, which builds on the theoretical foundations of textual transcendence. Its more practical dimensions then acknowledge the cultural specificities of the video game cultural industry. In the empirical part of the thesis, I focus on video game trailers and analyze both their formal qualities as...

i ABSTRACT The aim of the diploma thesis is to find out, whether in The Framework Educational Programme for Elementary Education there are topics related to transcendence and whether these topics can be found in textbooks for primary schools. Another aim is to suggest recommendations for teachers, how to develop transcendence in pupils of a primary school. The thesis is focused on development of the vertical direction of transcendence. The theoretical part deals with meaning of the term transcendence. Further, The Framework Educational Programme for Elementary Education is analysed. In the research part of the thesis there is described preparation and realization of the analysis of textbooks and also presentation and interpretation of the data gathered by this way. This part is complemented by preparation and realization of interviews with younger school- aged children. The realized interviews were concentrated on the observation of respondents' interest in topics related to the vertical direction of the overlap. In the conclusion of the thesis there are introduced specific recommendations for development of vertical transcendence in children of primary schools. The research showed considerable differences in the approach to the phenomenon vertical transcendence. In some textbooks these topics are...

Systematic Theology & Theological Ethics / (D.Th(Systematic Theology))

Purposes/Aims: The purpose of this study is to examine the role of self-transcendence along with illness perception and selected demographic factors in the experience of depression in Taiwanese men who have oral cancer. There are three main research questions: 1) What are the relationships among the following variables: demographic variables (age, education level, marital status, income, and work class), illness perception, self-transcendence, and depression? 2) How does self-transcendence relate to depression–directly or as a mediator between illness perception and depression? 3) What set of variables best explain the variance in depression? Significance and Conceptual Framework Oral cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths among men in Taiwan since 2003. Depression is common in oral cancer patients and is associated with poor quality of life and negative health outcomes, such as morbidity and mortality. Illness perception is the person’s understanding of his/her health threat based upon previous experiences and how perceptions affect an individual’s coping. Self-transcendence is an inner resource of which research evidence suggests that it promotes well-being and decreases level of depression in the context of significant life-altering health events. It is proposed then that during the crisis of diagnosis and treatment of oral cancer, self-transcendence may be an independent contributor to well-being, or function as a mediator in alleviating depression. Method: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive design. A convenience sample of men who have a confirmed diagnosis of oral cancer was recruited from the department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Oncology, which is located at two medical centers in the same county in Taiwan. The inclusion criteria are male, ages 18 or older, ability to communicate in Mandarin or Taiwanese, and agreeing to participate in this study. Participants completed a Demographic and Health Related Questionnaire, a Chinese version of the Self- Transcendence Scale, Chinese versions of the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire, and a Chinese version of Beck’s Depression Inventory. Data analysis included use of descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients, and multiple regression. Results and Implications The results of this study support a clinical focus on facilitating self-transcendence to improve healing outcomes during this stressful event. Obtaining information about the role of self-transcendence in Taiwanese men with oral cancer may be particularly helpful in designing interventions or support programs to prevent or minimize depressive symptoms. Self-transcendence practices may help mediate the impact of negative illness perceptions on the emotional distress of men with oral cancer. Continued research and evaluation of practice applications of the theory will contribute to nursing knowledge concerning the relationships of illness perception, self-transcendence and demographic and health-related factors in depression among Taiwanese men with oral cancer.

This study aims at exhibiting the strong correlation between the question of subjectivity and the question of being. If the question of subjectivity is to be formulated in terms of the relation between the inner realm of consciousness and the outer world, then the question will have an epistemological form and becomes the question of the objectivity of our knowledge. In the dissertation, however, it will be claimed with the German philosopher Martin Heidegger that the critical stand taken against the subject-object schema of the Cartesian epistemology must be of an ontological kind, and should criticize the substantial difference between the two realms of being. v In order to fulfill the aforementioned task, Dasein as the entity which is capable of asking the question of being will be claimed to be the ontological condition of possibility for something like subjectivity. By the help of the phenomenological concept of Dasein, we will claim that the most neutral and basic being-in-the-world of human beings is not cognizing or perceiving things, but caring for them. The last objective we hope to fulfill in this study is to show that the only question of philosophy for Heidegger, i.e., the question of being, can first become comprehensible when the philosopher&rsquo / s investigations of the modern philosophy have been well examined. It is our contention that, unless thedead-ends of the modern philosophy of subjectivity is apprehended well enough, the obligation of asking the question of being as such cannot be felt.

Growing very old into late life means increased suffering that may lead to despair and call for consolation. This thesis looks at the lived experience of very old people and aim at illuminating the meaning of growing very old and the meaning of consolation when growing old. It is part of the Umeå 85+ Study, and of the Consolation Study at the Department of Nursing, Umeå University. The participants were 85, 90, or 95 years old or over, living in the county of Umeå. The thesis comprises four studies with data from thematic interviews that are analysed using a phenomenological hermeneutic method (Studies I, II, IV) and qualitative content analysis (III). For Study I the transcribed interviews of 15 85-year-old people were analyzed and disclosed the meaning of growing very old as: maintaining one’s identity in spite of the changes that come with aging—that is, being able to balance change with feeling the same. This was based on four themes: balancing weakness and strength, balancing slowness and swiftness of time, balancing reconciliation and regret, and balancing connectedness and loneliness. In Study II, interviews with 12 people between 95 and 103 years old were analyzed and disclosed the meaning of being very old as living in hope and being on the move, based on two themes: Being in stillness and in movement, which involves being in one’s aged body, unable to move, and being in the stillness of the inner person occupied with remembering and reconciling life; and Being at the threshold ready to let go, which implies being at peace and feeling confident despite the anxiety of dying. Study III describes how 90-years old and older people perceive consolation. Qualitative Content analysis of 49 interviews revealed four categories perceiving consolation connected to God, others, self, and things and presented in two themes: “Living amidst consolation in the presence of God” and “Seeking consolation”. Study IV examines the meaning of being consoled when growing very old. The interviews with 13 people over 85 years who scored high on a self-transcendent scale were analysed and disclosed the meaning of being consoled as an immediate experience of being carried and embraced by God and supported by the loving care and affection from others and the world, being relaxed, peaceful and full of joy and experiencing hope. The interpretation was based on the main theme Feeling whole, comprising the following themes: Being connected to self, Feeling connected to fellow beings and the world, Feeling connected to God. The meaning of growing very old and the meaning of consolation when growing very old point at a way of aging into late life interpreted as living in consolation. Reminiscence, reflecting on life and transcendence are resources when growing very old that were interpreted to being related to consolation. Thus growing very old and living in consolation is to transcend and come in communion with the sacred; with goodness, light, joy, beauty and life and hope, carried by a connectedness to God (e.g. Higher power) and supported by a connectedness to fellow beings and the world.

This dissertation follows two interrelated lines of inquiry. The first, I formulate as follows: (1) How, historically speaking, has the discourse of literary criticism thought the book? How has it represented the book? Used the book? Put simply, what has the book become in the hands of the critic? Though, of course, answers to such questions will vary widely—especially as they intersect with related matters concerning the critic, herself, and what Henry Sussman refers to as the perceived “task of the critic”—it is my contention that the discourse of literary criticism remains unified by its inability to extricate itself from what I call the transcendent orientation to literature: an orientation that has both ancient and modern coordinates. In Part 1 of the dissertation, I map criticism’s ongoing historical affair with transcendence—an affair that begins as far back as the Platonic dialogues, but that can be traced right up through the twentieth century, in and through the work of any number of critics, and many prominent schools of literary critical thought. I, then, formulate the second of my two lines of inquiry as follows: (2) How might the materialist critic, imbued by Deleuzean sensibilities, think the book anew? And, by extension, how might the materialist re-think the role or task of the critic? In Part 2, I shift the focus from the transcendent to the immanent (or immanentist) orientation; that is, from the logic of representation to what philosopher Gilles Deleuze—a prominent voice within this dissertation—labels “the logic of sensation”; also, from fixed essences (i.e., fixed laws, identities) to potential powers; from being to becoming; from the regulated and scientized practices of the institutional critic (spawning predictable results) to the “co-creative” encounters of the critic-artisan (unleashing pure potentials from the book). In short, Part 2 of the dissertation explores the question of how the book opens up to its own becomings—i.e., its own difference, its own transformation. To that end, I will enter into a number of co-creative relations of my own with various works of American literature (including, Kerouac’s On the Road, Melville’s Moby-Dick, Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, and William Gass’s On Being Blue).

This dissertation follows two interrelated lines of inquiry. The first, I formulate as follows: (1) How, historically speaking, has the discourse of literary criticism thought the book? How has it represented the book? Used the book? Put simply, what has the book become in the hands of the critic? Though, of course, answers to such questions will vary widely—especially as they intersect with related matters concerning the critic, herself, and what Henry Sussman refers to as the perceived “task of the critic”—it is my contention that the discourse of literary criticism remains unified by its inability to extricate itself from what I call the transcendent orientation to literature: an orientation that has both ancient and modern coordinates. In Part 1 of the dissertation, I map criticism’s ongoing historical affair with transcendence—an affair that begins as far back as the Platonic dialogues, but that can be traced right up through the twentieth century, in and through the work of any number of critics, and many prominent schools of literary critical thought. I, then, formulate the second of my two lines of inquiry as follows: (2) How might the materialist critic, imbued by Deleuzean sensibilities, think the book anew? And, by extension, how might the materialist re-think the role or task of the critic? In Part 2, I shift the focus from the transcendent to the immanent (or immanentist) orientation; that is, from the logic of representation to what philosopher Gilles Deleuze—a prominent voice within this dissertation—labels “the logic of sensation”; also, from fixed essences (i.e., fixed laws, identities) to potential powers; from being to becoming; from the regulated and scientized practices of the institutional critic (spawning predictable results) to the “co-creative” encounters of the critic-artisan (unleashing pure potentials from the book). In short, Part 2 of the dissertation explores the question of how the book opens up to its own becomings—i.e., its own difference, its own transformation. To that end, I will enter into a number of co-creative relations of my own with various works of American literature (including, Kerouac’s On the Road, Melville’s Moby-Dick, Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, and William Gass’s On Being Blue).