As a result of changing cultural, economic and technological factors, television always exists in a perpetual state of transformation. The fragmentation of the mass audience and the disintegration of the network oligarchy catalyzed the emergence of a multi-channel universe and niche cable markets in the post-network era. HBO, perhaps the most successful premium cable channel to emerge during the changing TV landscape, implemented a subscription-service economic model, enabling it to produce uncensored, commercial free content unavailable on broadcast television. HBO has since been labeled as the leading purveyors of quality, auteurist-centered TV. For this report, I analyze how HBO has been constructed in the realm of academic discourse. Using Enlightened and showrunner Mike White as a case study, I examine how the series conforms to and deviates from HBO's established brand and reflects the network's struggle to redefine itself in the post-network era. Ultimately, I aim to reveal the mythologized, idealized and manufactured culture of production at HBO and examine how journalistic discourse surrounding the series presents the HBO brand identity in a state of crisis and transition. / text

This paper argues that “enlightened shareholder value” (“ESV”) offers a “third way” between the shareholder primacy and stakeholder theories of the corporation; one that maintains the creation of shareholder value as the corporation’s primary function, but requires directors to take into account the environmental impact of the corporations’ operations. ESV requires directors to “have regard to”, among other things, “the impact of the company’s operations on…the environment.” The obligation to “have regard to” should be interpreted as a procedural duty requiring directors to inform themselves as to the environmental impact of the corporation’s operations, which may in itself cause directors to reallocate corporate resources to environmental protection. ESV may also improve corporations’ environmental disclosure and impact social norms of corporate behaviour with respect to the environment. Any negative impact of ESV on present shareholder returns is justified by the obligation to avoid imposing foreseeable severe or irreparable environmental harm on future generations.

This paper argues that “enlightened shareholder value” (“ESV”) offers a “third way” between the shareholder primacy and stakeholder theories of the corporation; one that maintains the creation of shareholder value as the corporation’s primary function, but requires directors to take into account the environmental impact of the corporations’ operations. ESV requires directors to “have regard to”, among other things, “the impact of the company’s operations on…the environment.” The obligation to “have regard to” should be interpreted as a procedural duty requiring directors to inform themselves as to the environmental impact of the corporation’s operations, which may in itself cause directors to reallocate corporate resources to environmental protection. ESV may also improve corporations’ environmental disclosure and impact social norms of corporate behaviour with respect to the environment. Any negative impact of ESV on present shareholder returns is justified by the obligation to avoid imposing foreseeable severe or irreparable environmental harm on future generations.

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Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this dissertation, I grapple with the problem of global drug resistance and moral responsibility which, as far as I am aware, has so far not been presented as a topic of ethical inquiry. It represents a conundrum involving three major factors: microbial adaptation and change, human social factors and environmental changes. Drug resistance is a phenomenon in which certain microorganisms, when exposed to antimicrobial agents, may acquire the beneficial trait of drug resistance which ensures a better potential for their survival. The acquired trait of drug resistance I argue renders such microorganisms 'supra-natural '. Supra-natural is a term I coin for entities that have been imposed upon nature by human design; they do not follow the natural evolutionary processes of adaptation and change. Drug resistance is classified as an emerging infectious disease. Human social factors and environmental change (particularly population growth, density and consumerist practices) enhance the rise of emerging infectious diseases. Through such increasing destructive practices, stress is placed on the environment. Environmental stress facilitates the rise of new and old infectious diseases and the spread of drug resistant supra-natural microorganisms. Thus, our ability to treat successfully illnesses and injuries in humans, animals and plants is increasingly impaired. Morally, we are responsible for the problem of global drug resistance. Drug resistant microorganisms exist in nature and concerning this, we can do nothing. At best, we can only try to control the problem using prudential measures. The problem of global drug resistance represents both a biomedical ethical and an environmental ethical issue. Is there a way out of the human-nature debate? Through Bryan Norton's enlightened anthropocentrism, I identify the ways in which his thesis may be applied to the problem of human and environmental concerns and show its applicability in broadening the parameters of biomedical ethics education to include environmental concerns. Key words: biomedical ethics, environmental ethics, drug resistance, Supra-natural' microorganisms, ethics education, enlightened-anthropocentrism. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie proefskrif bespreek ek die probleem van die verskynsel dat mikroorganismes op 'n globale skaal weerstand begin bied teen mediese middels (globale middel-weerstandigheid) en die morele verantwoordelikheid wat dit oproep - 'n probleem wat, na my beste wete, nog nooit aangebied is as 'n tema van etiesfilosofiese ondersoek nie. Dit verteenwoordig 'n kompleks van drie belangrike oorwegings: mikrobiese aanpassings en veranderinge, menslike sosiale faktore, en omgewingsveranderinge. Middel-weerstandigheid is 'n verskynsel waarin sekere mikro-organismes, wanneer hulle blootgestel word aan antimikrobiese agente, die (vir hulself) voordelige kenmerk kan bekom van weerstandigheid teen die middel; iets wat 'n beter potensiaal vir hul eie oorlewing verseker. Hierdie bekomde kenmerk (middel-weerstandigheid) maak, volgens my argument, sulke mikro-organismes 'supra-natuurlik'. Supra-natuurlik is 'n term wat ek munt vir entiteite wat aan die natuur blootgestel is as gevolg van menslike ontwerp; hulle volg nie die natuurlike evolusionêre prosesse van adaptasie en verandering nie. Middel-weerstandigheid word geklassifiseer as 'n opkomende aansteeklike siekte. Menslike sosiale faktore en omgewingsveranderinge (veral bevolkingsgroei, -digtheid and verbruikerspraktyke ) vergroot die opkoms van aansteeklike siektes. Deur sodanige toenemende destruktiewe praktyke word stres geplaas op die omgewing. Omgewingstres fasiliteer die opkoms van nuwe en ou aansteeklike siektes asook die verspreiding van weerstandige supra-natuurlike mikro-organismes. Ons vermoë om siektes en beserings van mense suksesvol te behandel, word gevolglik toenemend ondermyn. Moreel gesproke is ons verantwoordelik vir die probleem van globale middelweerstandigheid. Middel-weerstandige mikro-organismes bestaan in die natuur, en aan daardie feit as sodanig kan ons niks doen nie. Ons kan, ten beste, probeer om die probleem te beheer deur middel van verstandige maatreëls. Die probleem van globale middel-weerstandigheid verteenwoordig sowel 'n biomedies-etiese as 'n omgewingsetiese kwessie. Is daar 'n uitweg uit die mens-natuur debat? Ek identifiseer, met 'n beroep op Bryan Norton se swak antroposentrisme, maniere waarop sy tese toegepas sou kon word op die probleem van menslike en omgewingsoorgwegings Ek wys ook op die toepaslikheid daarvan vir die verbreding van die parameters van biomediese etiek-opvoeding ten einde omgewingsoorwegings deel van lg. te maak. Kembegrippe: biomediese etiek, omgewingsetiek, middel-weerstandigheid, 'Supra- . natuurlike' mikro-organismes, etiek-opvoeding, swak antroposentrisme.

O estudo que apresentamos tem como finalidade investigar a ideia kantiana de uma educação cosmopolita. Compreendendo o contexto maior no qual se inserem as reflexões de Kant acerca da educação, a saber, a Ilustração do Século XVIII, procuramos diferenciar a proposta kantiana de educação por seu caráter cosmopolita. Em um primeiro momento, traçamos, baseados na noção de clima de opinião, um breve panorama da Ilustração e sua estreita relação com a questão da educação. Em um segundo momento, refletimos acerca da relação entre Rousseau e Kant no que se refere à educação, mostrando as convergências divergências existentes. Nos apoiando da distinção entre educação privada e pública, intentamos mostrar como Kant se opõe à Rousseau ao defender a educação pública, e como esta defesa nos ajuda a compreender a opção de Kant por uma educação com viés cosmopolita. Em um terceiro momento, apresentamos de um ponto de vista geral a concepção de educação kantiana, analisando sua relação com a filosofia da história, uma vez mais com a intenção de realçar a característica cosmopolita. Por último, apresentamos um quadro dos cosmopolitismos kantianos e debatemos como a educação cosmopolita pode ser vista como uma necessidade para Kant. / Our study aims at carrying out an investigation of the Kantian idea of a cosmopolitan education. Contextualizing Kants proposal of a cosmopolitan education within the broader scenario of the Enlightenment movement, we try to differentiate Kants education for its cosmopolitan trait. Firstly, we draw a short panorama of the Enlightenment and its relation with education, based on the concept of climate of opinion. Then, by contrasting Rousseau and Kant, we try to show their diverging proposals of education, based on a distinction current and the history of education between a private and a public education. By showing Kants support of a public education, we try to indicate that this very bias is a way of demanding a cosmopolitan education. In a third moment, we sketch Kants conception of education, then analyzing its relation with his philosophy of history. As a conclusion, we will try to summarize Kants cosmopolitanisms in order to debate Kants cosmopolitan education as a necessity.

This project explores the idea of visual absence in relation to the notion of Chinese classical aesthetics of emptiness. The approaches is located in between representation and abstraction by combining the painting skills and expressions of Chinese Gong Bi [工笔] and Xie Yi [写意] with focuses on complementing visual clarity and obscurity. The aim of the research is to explore visual absence as a painting strategy in contemporary art practice, referring to the painting method of reduction, incompleteness and metaphor that extends the painting space and meaning through visual presence, thus unfurling an extended art form and creative strategy from Chinese classical aesthetics. The outcome is a series of paintings as an exploration in extending the Chinese painting aesthetics. This project is constituted of 80% practice-based work, accompanied by 20% exegesis in approximately 11,600 words as a complement.

This paper argues that the despite the apparent rejection of the shareholder primacy model by the Supreme Court of Canada in Peoples Department Stores Inc. (Trustee of) v. Wise and BCE Inc. v. 1976 Debentureholders, there is a strong tradition of shareholder primacy in Canada that has persisted in jurisprudence and legislative materials. The dislodging of shareholder primacy as the guiding force in directors’ duties is discordant with this tradition and per incuriam. As such, at the moment, the duty of loyalty of directors to the corporation is adrift, lacking substantive guidance from the Supreme Court. This guidance, this paper argues, can be found in the “enlightened shareholder value” model embodied in s. 172 of the United Kingdom’s Companies Act 2006 which holds to shareholder primacy while exhorting directors to adopt an inclusive approach to the interests of non-shareholder stakeholders.

This paper argues that the despite the apparent rejection of the shareholder primacy model by the Supreme Court of Canada in Peoples Department Stores Inc. (Trustee of) v. Wise and BCE Inc. v. 1976 Debentureholders, there is a strong tradition of shareholder primacy in Canada that has persisted in jurisprudence and legislative materials. The dislodging of shareholder primacy as the guiding force in directors’ duties is discordant with this tradition and per incuriam. As such, at the moment, the duty of loyalty of directors to the corporation is adrift, lacking substantive guidance from the Supreme Court. This guidance, this paper argues, can be found in the “enlightened shareholder value” model embodied in s. 172 of the United Kingdom’s Companies Act 2006 which holds to shareholder primacy while exhorting directors to adopt an inclusive approach to the interests of non-shareholder stakeholders.

This project explores the idea of visual absence in relation to the notion of Chinese classical aesthetics of emptiness. The approaches is located in between representation and abstraction by combining the painting skills and expressions of Chinese Gong Bi [工笔] and Xie Yi [写意] with focuses on complementing visual clarity and obscurity. The aim of the research is to explore visual absence as a painting strategy in contemporary art practice, referring to the painting method of reduction, incompleteness and metaphor that extends the painting space and meaning through visual presence, thus unfurling an extended art form and creative strategy from Chinese classical aesthetics. The outcome is a series of paintings as an exploration in extending the Chinese painting aesthetics. This project is constituted of 80% practice-based work, accompanied by 20% exegesis in approximately 11,600 words as a complement.