<p>A classic question in moral philosophy asks "Why be moral?" In other words, what reason or motive do people have to act in accordance with the requirements of morality? In the tradition of Thomas Hobbes and David Hume, this project defends the thesis that nearly all people have reason to be moral nearly all of the time, because moral conduct generally serves individuals' desires and needs. It's argued, first, that a reason for action must be capable of motivating an agent to act, and second, that reasons for action motivate through the desires of the agent. This view is defended against the objection that reasons for action are not contingent on any particular agent's desires. Turning to morality, the case is made that the desires of an individual can be consonant with the demands of morality in any of three possible ways: (1) moral action serves one's other-regarding desires to help others; (2) moral action serves one's moral desires, which are formed when one internalizes the moral norms of his or her community; and (3) moral action serves one's self-regarding desires to avoid punishments that one incurs by violating moral norms. In the final chapter, it is acknowledged that the moral norms which happen to prevail in a society sometimes conflict with the moral convictions of individuals. Under certain conditions, however, it can be rational for nearly all members of a society to collectively change existing moral norms. Furthermore, it is within the power of individuals to foment the conditions for collective transitions to alternative moral norms.</p> / Dissertation

Taiwan had been colonized by different regimes and thus experienced several waves of immigration in history. Traditionally, there are two forms of writings in Taiwanese language (not Chinese language) --The Chinese character and the Romanized Taiwanese in different historical perspectives -- as a result , it can be problematic especially in its written form. The establishment of the newspaper T&#x00E2;i-o&#x00E2;n-h&#x00FA;-si&#x00E2;ⁿ K&#x00E0;u-hōe-p&#x00F2; which was founded in 1885 had gradually increased the works of Taiwanese literature. This research analyzes the writing problems of Taiwanese literature in the aspects of Epistemology and Aesthetics. It had different totalitarian rules in modern Taiwan have caused two big controversies in the ways of writing systems in Taiwanese literature. Along the controversies on Taiwanese language and its writings that I quoted, the thinking of the movement of ¡§consistency between speech and writing¡¨was originated from the modern Japanese literature, especially the viewpoint¡§inner man¡¨and¡§scene. On the other hand, language issues in European philosophy already has a very long tradition of reflection, which, at first appearance, considers of philosophy that language as merely a tool to represent thinking. After the linguistic turn and the rise of literature, European philosophy of thinking about language problems, has transformed the thinking about language problems from the appearance from the classical theory into the viewpoint that regards language as the material and the machine to my research. This research embarks from the idea of¡§consistency between speech and writing¡¨in the ¡§scene¡¨ regarding the epistemological mechanism, and the philosophy developed by Maurice Merleau-Ponty as to body language, body language as an expression of ideas, reflecting on the perception and cognition mechanism of Taiwan philology system, whit which is formd during this ¡§abstract movement¡¨ . And is how the ¡§abstract movement¡¨ becomes as abstract machine? This research employed Gill Deleuze¡¦s concept of ¡§body without organs¡¨ and ¡§machine¡¨ to analyze the writing problems of Taiwanese literature. From the viewpoints of Deleuze and Guattari, the issue about written forms of Taiwanese literature can be considered as a progress from epistemological mechanism into the ¡§machine¡¨, and thus forms a virtual power of aesthetics.

In this thesis the roles of the sexually preadtory male character in Jane Austen&#039 / s Sense and Sensibility, Charlotte Bronte&#039 / s Jane Eyre, Anne Bronte&#039 / s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Elisabeth Gaskell&#039 / s Ruth and Mary Barton are analyzed, based on the theory of psychiatrist Karen Horney and the reader-response theory of Wolfgang Iser. The hypothesis is that the male sexual predator represents a reflection of the pursued heroine&#039 / s idealized image, an unrealistically idealized and preferred self-image in Horney&#039 / s terms, and makes the education and vindication patterns of the novels possible.

The main objective of this master&rsquo / s thesis is to analyze the place assigned to the phenomenon of desire by Hegel and Spinoza, and to show that the main difference between two philosophers in terms of their understanding of desire and human phenomenon consists in their understanding of the relation between the substance and particulars. In order to fulfill the requirements of this objective, what is focused on is, as different from a certain philosophical thought excluding desire from a true account of human phenomenon due to two aspects of desire, namely being an immediate drive and being purely self-referential, which are not regarded as being capable of explaining the specific distinctness of human being, how Spinoza and Hegel give an account of desire, and how they conceive mentioned aspects of desire. Throughout the thesis, first Spinoza&rsquo / s ontology, as it is elaborated in the Ethics, and the place of the phenomenon of desire in this ontology are explained. Then through an analysis of the fourth chapter of the Phenomenology of Spirit, it is argued that Hegel&rsquo / s conception of desire enables one to conceive the distinctive human institutions such as sociality, morality, and etc., as derivatives of desire. Finally it is argued that, since Hegel conceives the relation between the substance and particulars as a total detachment, he is able to give the spiritual dimension of human phenomenon in terms of desire. In this way moreover the specific distinctness of the human phenomenon is preserved in the philosophy of Hegel.

<p> </p><p>Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie, utifrån en fenomenografisk ansats, var att beskriva lärares uppfattningar av vad elevers tilltro till eget tänkande och egen förmåga att lära matematik innebär och hur de gör för att främja detta. Datainsamlingen bestod av intervjuer med lärare från förskoleklass till och med år sex.</p><p>Lärares uppfattningar beskrevs i att eleven visar lust, mod, stolthet och ansvar, särskilt när eleven vågat ta sig igenom en utmaning som den först inte trott sig klara. En förutsättning för tilltro var ett tryggt gruppklimat.</p><p>I främjandet av tilltro tog lärarna utgångspunkt i elevers erfarenheter med positiva förväntningar på eleverna i en lustfylld och kommunikativ undervisning. Uppmuntran och utmaningar på adekvat nivå, som skapar förståelse är kännetecknande för att eleven ska känna att den lyckas.</p><p>Det omgivande samhället har stor betydelse för elevers tilltro. Lärarens engagemang, nyfikenhet och uppmärksamhet på elevers tillägnade kunskaper för att erövra nytt matematiskt kunnande var av vikt för tilltron. Det framkom att eleverna bör uppmärksammas på att matematiska kunskaper och beräkningar ligger bakom de produkter som finns i vår omgivning.</p><p> </p> / <p> </p><p>The purpose of this qualitative study, based on a phenomenographical approach, was to describe teachers' perceptions of what the students' confidence in their own thinking and their own ability to teach mathematics and how they are doing to promote this. Data collection consisted of interviews with teachers from pre until year six.</p><p>Teacher perceptions were described in the student show desire, courage, pride and responsibility, especially when they dared to get through a challenge as the first not thought to cope. A prerequisite for faith was a safe group environment.</p><p>The promotion of confidence took the teachers based on students' experiences with positive expectations for students in a luscious and communicative teaching. Encouragement and challenges at the appropriate level, which creates understanding is characteristic for the student to feel that they succeed.</p><p>The surrounding community is very important for the students' confidence. The teacher's dedication, curiosity and attention devoted to the pupils' knowledge to conquer new mathematical literacy was important for confidence. It appeared that the students should be aware of the mathematical knowledge and calculations behind the products that are in our surroundings.</p>

The Bhagavad Gītā, a classical Sanskrit text, describes a spiritual practice called karma yoga. Central to this practice is niṣkāma karman or action without desire. A number of philosophical issues present themselves in connection with this teaching. First, while the Gītā enjoins action, action seems prima facie problematic in the Gītā in light of metaphysical claims that seem to deny human freedom. Second, Western scholars who hold that desire is necessary for action find the Gītā's desirelessness requirement problematic. Finally, while the sense of karma yoga seems clear enough, the teaching is connected with two notions that are obscure: transcendence of the guṇa-s and surrender of action to Krishna. This dissertation explores and seeks solutions to these problems. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the Gītā's philosophy and selected classical Indian commentaries. Chapter 2 tackles the assumption by some scholars that the Gītā shares tenets of the determinist metaphysics of classical Sāṃkhya. This assumption is shown false and the argument made that the Gītā, as a yogic text, implies voluntarism. Chapter 2 offers an analysis of the Gītā's concept of guṇa (literally 'strand'), and argues that the puruṣa, or self, which is called a 'consenter' exercises agency in consenting. Chapter 3 addresses the worry that niṣkāma karman, or desireless action, is a contradictory notion because desire is necessary for action. Based on examination of the Gītā's theory of action, it is shown that the Gītā does not hold desire necessary for action and that in fact the text articulates four distinct types of niṣkaāma karman. Chapter 4 explores the concepts of transcendence of the guṇa-s and surrender of action to Krishna and develops a definition of karma yoga involving these concepts. The chapter concludes with an argument that karma yoga requires creativity. The dissertation closes with the suggestion that through karma yoga a practitioner might come to enjoy an extraordinary sort of freedom that surpasses the ability to exercise will. / text

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The Internet is increasingly becoming a key medium through which people establish social contacts and form interpersonal relationships. In particular, online dating websites are gaining popularity and rapidly expanding around the world. This study explores the discourse that constitutes the practices of the deai-kee-saito 'encounter-oriented sites' in Japanese, as observed in three major personal ad websites, namely 1) Ekisaito furenzu 'Excite Friends', 2) Match.com, and 3) Yahoo!Japan paasonaruzu 'Yahoo!Japan Personals'. It focuses on the ways that self-advertisers express their socio-sexual desires and describe their ideal partners and relationships, and analyzes them with respect to the reproduction of social asymmetries.More specifically, it examines the discursive construction of the kinds of personae (personality characteristics) and bodies (physical features) that advertisers aged 20-29 wish in their future partners, as well as the kinds of practices (activities and actions) they wish to engage in with their partners, what they wish to do for their partners, and/or wish the partners to do for them in their envisioned interactions. Out of the 1200 ads collected from these websites, a total of 463 ads are identified as target-gender-explicit and analyzed at lexical, morphosyntactic, phrasal, clausal, sentential and discourse levels. It pays close attention to the linguistic resources utilized in the articulation of socio-sexual desires and desirability, and the textual formation of the addresser(advertiser)-addressee(ad reader) relationships, including adjectives, nouns, verbal phrases, person references, desideratives, conditionals, and the formula yoroshiku/o-negai shimasu 'Thank you in advance'. It also analyzes para-linguistic resources, such as emoticons, symbols, and unique use of hiragana/katakana syllabaries. These discursive processes involve prioritization, or hierarchization, of personal attributes and consequently of the owners of those attributes. It argues that socio-sexual desirability is reflective of the hegemonic ideologies of gender and sexuality in today's Japanese-speaking communities.In addition, it examines explicit and implicit language related to race, class, and similar constructs. It also investigates the functions of style-shift that advertisers use in expressing desire. This study shows that individuals' 'innocuous' expression of socio-sexual desires through personal ads is a locus for the reproduction and contestation of the hegemonic order of gender, sexuality, race and class.

This thesis proposes that an investigation into the phenomenon of doubling may engage architecture with a type of desire that has deep rooted connections with the complexities of human nature, with the very human condition of desiring to know who/what/where/when/how we are. It proposes that an experience of doubling is suggestive of a specific kind of affective space that tests this relationship, expanding into the interval we have formed between our body, its being and space. The proposal is to explore the material, spatial, and psychological characteristics of such a phenomenon - to understand the virtual space created through this doubling and its architectonic characteristics. The design ambition of this thesis is to construct an architectural fiction that engages with this doubling. If architecture has the capacity to embody the ambitions and anxieties of society, the work produced attempts to invoke, through choreographed doublings manifested by the movement of figure and light through constructions in time, that human condition of desire that is concerned with finding/defining itself in the unknown, not to provide an answer for what the unknown is, but to engage with its enigmatic nature. By engaging in the protean dynamics of doubling and desire, this thesis attempts to poeticize the interval between the body and its built environment.

In a famous argument at the beginning of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle argues that the function and good of the human being is the "actuality of the soul in accordance with virtue". Presenting a view critical of the widespread intellectualist reading of Aristotle's Ethics, in this thesis I argue that the characteristic function of the human being is constitutive of a distinctly human life as a dynamic formal cause teleologically operative in human awareness. I argue for the validity of my own view in a preliminary way in the introduction by way of Aristotle's critique of the Platonic forms. In the second chapter, I argue that the processes of the non-rational part of the soul are acquired and actively operate once acquired independently of singular dictates of active reason within the individual. By this I mean that the virtues do not obey reason in the sense that they receive individual commands from discursive reason to desire or feel in certain ways. Rather, although the moral virtues are formed gradually by repeated acts of choice, as affective states, they are activated by being affected from without by external stimuli. These external stimuli produce impulses in the soul which are conducive to virtuous action, including a cognitive element: primarily, non-rational and non-discursive evaluative judgments of phantasia, which supply a human agent immediately with the ends of his action and the beginning-points of deliberation. These judgments are the awareness of sensible particulars as pleasant. In the third chapter, I turn to the De Anima in order to illuminate the cognitive conditions of human praxis. Following on the arguments contained in the second chapter, I argue that there are two primary cognitive moments which are necessary conditions of action. While the ends of desire are immediate objects of awareness and move humans as unmoved movers, motivational desires, which move as efficient causes, are initiated by a distinct cognitive power: proclamations to pursue or avoid.