The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the often-ignored inherent philosophical connection between Charles Taylor¡¦s ontological argument (philosophical anthropology) and his political scheme. Taylor articulates a moral realist understanding of the plurality of values and an ontological statement of human agency, and tries to demostrate a possibility of reconciliation between essentially conflicting values and cultures. In Taylor¡¦s view, ¡§the many¡¨ does not necessarily entail tragical choices among values, as Isaiah Berlin famously asserted, but can be possibly mediated through the common human agency with the hope that we can eventually reach one true consensus. Based on this uniquely Taylorian understanding of human condition, Taylor¡¦s political scheme can be seen as an effort to ameliorate the deep-rooted malaise within Western modernity, and find a common ontological ground among community members and citizens by which deliberations can be facilitated. The thesis will go on to examine Taylor¡¦s two most inspiring political assertions, namely, the polilics of recognition and civic humanism, in detail. I will argue that although Taylor optimistically believes that a common moral and cultural understanding can help forming and be transformed into a common political common good within a given community, the connection between these two levels of commonality is fairly weak. Moreover, what liberals object is precisely Taylor¡¦s attempt to equate cultural common understanding with a form of political common good.

Precis The Political philosophy of John Gray touches a number of topics and also has gone thrue a couple of modifications. However this thesis aims to show that there can be found a consistent political doctrine of agonistic liberalism in Gray's thought that arises from his critigue of rationalistic theories of liberalism. Agonistic liberalism is based on the naturalistic ethical theory of value-pluralism which Gray adopted whit some modifications from Isaiah Berlin. On the ground of incommensurability and uncombinability of some values within individuel lives as well as within life forms Gray comes to conclusion that the conflict of values is ineradicable part of our lives. And that's the reason why any legel or political theory cannot set up a set of liberal principles that could claim universal validity. That is why Gray sets up the concept of modus vivendi, political ideal of coexistence of individuals, groups and societies based on mutual toleration. With regard to the rational indeterminacy of conflicts over values, according to agonistic liberalism these conflict has to by resolved by political means.

L’objectif principal du mémoire est de répondre à une lacune dans la littérature en philosophie politique concernant la laïcité. En effet, la totalité des interprétations de celle-ci entretient une forme ou une autre de monisme, la doctrine métaphysique selon laquelle les valeurs peuvent, en principe, être harmonisées en un tout unifié. Les défenseurs de la « laïcité ouverte », par exemple, empruntent à l’idée de consensus par recoupement élaborée par John Rawls selon laquelle les sociétés démocratiques et libérales reposeraient sur un accord fondamental sur une conception politique de la justice. En revanche, le pluralisme de valeurs ne reconnaît pas qu’un tel accord soit possible, ni même souhaitable. En nous appuyant sur les grands penseurs du pluralisme de valeurs, Stuart Hampshire, Isaiah Berlin et Bernard Williams, nous souhaitons réfléchir à la laïcité en prenant véritablement au sérieux la pluralité des valeurs et leur manière de concevoir les conflits qui traversent nos sociétés. Ce faisant, nous proposerons une conception pluraliste de la laïcité pour laquelle les accommodements raisonnables sont un aspect essentiel afin de garantir l’équité des institutions de résolution de conflit. / This dissertation aims to fill a gap in the political philosophy literature on secularism. So far, virtually all writings on the subject assume a form of monism, the moral metaphysical doctrine according to which values can be reconciled without compromise as parts of a unified whole. For example, Rawlsians adopt a notion of overlapping consensus for liberal democratic societies. However, value pluralists such as Isaiah Berlin, Stuart Hampshire and Bernard Williams argue that monism is both impossible to be realised, and damaging. This thesis takes their argument seriously. In so doing, it proposes a pluralist conception of secularism for which compromises, and so accomodations, play a central role in realising the justice of our institutions as regards the question of religion in the public sphere.

Grönområden i urbana miljöer bidrar med många centrala funktioner vilka är livsviktiga för både djur och människor, exempelvis biologisk mångfald, ekosystemtjänster och positiva hälsoeffekter. Förekomsten av grönområden och dess funktioner hotas däremot av den snabba globala urbaniseringen som ger upphov till förändrad markanvändning. Enligt Göteborgs Stads lokala miljömål ämnar staden att bli ekologiskt hållbar till år 2030 och detta ska uppnås genom en ökad biologisk mångfald och bevarande av grönområden. Göteborg har blivit utnämnd till Sveriges grönaste stad, men samtidigt har grönområdena minskat mellan åren 1986-2019 och fortsätter att minska på grund av exploatering. Syftet med examensarbetet var därmed att öka kunskapen om vad som ger upphov till att det tas beslut som orsakar reducering av urbana grönområden trots uppsatta mål för bevarande av dessa, vilket var ett eftersatt forskningsområde. För att uppnå syftet användes en induktiv kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet analyserades genom miljöpsykologiska, miljöetiska och policyteorier, nämligen värden, goal-framing theory, värdepluralism och lömska problem. Studien kom fram till att Göteborgs stadsplanering innefattade flera lömska problem och värdekonflikter vilka uttrycktes genom målkonflikter, som tillsammans med starka hedonistiska och egoistiska värden samt vinstdrivande mål hade en negativ inverkan på förekomsten av Göteborgs grönområden. / Green spaces in urban areas contribute with many key functions that are vital for both animals and humans, such as biodiversity, ecosystem services and positive health effects. However, the existence of green spaces and their functions are threatened by the rapid global urbanization that is causing land use changes. According to the City of Gothenburg’s local environmental goals, the city aims to become ecologically sustainable by the year of 2030 through increased biodiversity and nature conservation. Gothenburg has been named as Sweden's greenest city, although the green spaces in Gothenburg have decreased between the years 1986–2019 and will continue to decline due to exploitation. The purpose of this bachelor’s thesis was thus to increase knowledge about what stimulates decisions that cause a reduction of green spaces in Gothenburg despite set conservation goals, which was a neglected research area. To achieve the purpose, an inductive qualitative method was used with semi-structured interviews. The results were analyzed through theories of environmental psychology, environmental ethics and policy, namely values, goal-framing theory, value pluralism and wicked problems. The study concluded that Gothenburg's urban planning included several wicked problems and value conflicts that were expressed through goal conflicts, which negatively affected Gothenburg’s green spaces. Furthermore, strong hedonistic and egoistic values as well as gain goals, also had a negative impact on the existence of Gothenburg's green spaces.