The presented dissertation aims to present the concept of an object, which we can observe in Husserl's phenomenological philosophy. It highlights the four basic meanings of an object and tries to connect them. This work also presents a comprehensive history of key metaphysical concepts, mainly through analyzes of Aristotle's Metaphysics and interpretations of his philosophical theories over the ages. Emphasis is placed especially on the concept of οὐσία and on the changes in the understanding of this term in Medieval and Early Modern philosophy.

(anglicky): Michel Foucault can be hardly described as a convinced marxist, but at the same time, marxism serves as an implicit referential framework in his works against which he shapes his own approach. Nowhere is this ambiguous relation more discernible than in the case of Foucault's former teacher, a marxist theoretician Louis Althusser, with whom he also shares a certain connection with the tradition of french historical epistemology. His revision of marxist theory often displays a curious affinity to Foucault's theoretical projects which are always beyond the limits of marxism. The subject of this thesis will be a reconstruction of the relationship of Michel Foucault towards marxism through his - often hidden - interaction with Althusser's theory. In the first part, I will focus on the period of 1960s during which both authors from anti-humanist and almost structuralist positions reflected questions of epistemology or the position of subject in history. Afterwards both authors move issues such as constitution of subject, power and the marxist conception of ideology, which they either revise (Althusser) or fully abandon (Foucault). In the final part I will focus on the questions of politics and on strategies which are in the cases of both authors provoked by the political changes of their...

This thesis consists of the analysis of Peirce's essays Questions Concering Certain Faculties Claimed for Man and Some Consequences of Four Incapacities focused on the genesis of fallibilism and its dependence on the theory of representation. Peirce's epistemological position here is articulated as a rejection of foundationalism and its conditions (e.g. intuition and introspection) that are understood to be unfounded hypotheses due the character of our knowledge of the outside world. The aim of this thesis is to find out how Peirce's epistemology can work without the certainty of foundationalism. Keywords: Peirce, fallibilism, representation, critique of foundationalism, inference, epistemology

The present dissertation deals with the topic of the relationship between political and moral philosophy and the epistemological and methodological arguments of Friedrich August von Hayek. The aim of the dissertation is to defend in general the assertion that Hayek's philosophy is the application of epistemological and methodological positions to moral and political philosophy and that this application is implemented through the continuous process of defining the basic theoretical positions towards philosophical tradition. This general statement is elaborated on in several perspectives. The first perspective puts the concept of knowledge in the forefront, both in the sense of a certain concept of rationality, i.e. the nature of reason and human thinking, and also in the sense of defining the nature and limits of scientific inquiry. The latter follows the development of Hayek's thinking, pointing out the aspects of his philosophy, which are the elaboration of the theories of his predecessors in thought within the Austrian economic school or classical sociology. This perspective also shows that, at a certain stage of his thinking, Hayek considerably moves away from these predecessors, particularly in the context of grasping individualism. The third perspective shows the deeper roots of some of...

CE TRAVAIL ASSOCIE L'APPROCHE GEOGRAPHIQUE ET LES METHODES DE LA CARTOGRAPHIE SUR UN MEME ESPACE ; LE MONDE ARABE. IL S'AGIT, NON SEULEMENT DE VISUALISER UN ESPACE PARTICULIER A L'AIDE DE DIFFERENTES REPRESENTATIONS CARTOGRAPHIQUES POUR EN REALISER UN ATLAS, MAIS AUSSI, DE MENER UNE REFLEXION SUR LES +AGISSEMENTS; DES ACTEURS : LE CARTOGRAPHE ET LE GEOGRAPHE. LE TRAVAIL SE PRESENTE EN DEUX TOMES. LE PREMIER TOME : "LE MONDE ARABE ECRIT : ENTRE LE SU ET LE COMMENTE" EST UNE ANALYSE, UNE RECHERCHE ET UNE INTERPRETATION DES FORMES D'ORGANISATION DE L'ESPACE DU MONDE ARABE, MAIS ENCORE, UNE REFLEXION SUR LE METIER DE GEOGRAPHE-CARTOGRAPHE, SUR LES DISCIPLINES EN PRESENCE (GEOGRAPHIE ET CARTOGRAPHIE) ET SUR LEUR AVENIR. LE TOME II : "LE MONDE ARABE EN CARTES" EST UN RECUEIL DE 188 PLANCHES COMPRENANT ENVIRON 500 CARTES. CE TOME SERT DE SUPPORT PRINCIPAL AU TOME 1 ET NE DOIT PAS ETRE CONSIDERE COMME UN LIVRE A PART ENTIERE. IL PRESENTE LA GRANDE MAJORITE DES REPRESENTATIONS CARTOGRAPHIQUES ACTUELLES, DEPUIS LES CARTES THEMATIQUES +TRADITIONNELLES; (ANALYTIQUE OU DE SYNTHESE) JUSQU'AUX +CARTES PLUS MODERNES; (TRANSFORMATIONS CARTOGRAPHIQUES : CARTES EN 3D ET TRANSFORMATIONS UNIPOLAIRES), EN PASSANT PAR DES REPRESENTATIONS QUE L'ON PEUT OU NON CONSIDERER COMME DES CARTES : CARTES MENTALES ET MODELES GRAPHIQUES.

The National Curriculum Statement (2002), in line with the South African Constitution (1996), views human rights, inclusivity and social justice as priorities in all learning areas of the curriculum. However, a document such as the Manifesto on Values, Education and Democracy (2001) illustrates the complexities of addressing this in practice. One of the reasons is that there are misconceptions about how the concept of 'human rights' should be interpreted in the educational realm. This study sets out to explore how primary school learners understand human rights teaching-and-learning (from a moral and value stance) and what factors influence this. The intention is to rethink and redefine human rights teaching-and-learning from a learner's perspective as well as to investigate the notion that regards human rights as 'misunderstood'. This research offers a new perspective on human rights in that it focuses on primary school learners. Therefore this study will provide another lens through which to consider human rights teaching-and-learning in classroom practice. A literature study and empirical research have been undertaken to investigate how learners understand human rights teaching-and-learning. The literature study explores ontological, epistemological and methodological perspectives of human rights teaching-and-learning. Qualitative observation, written narratives and focus-group interviews formed the bases of this empirical research. Ongoing triangulation is used to ensure that the research findings are valid and trustworthy. It seems that primary school learners do have an understanding of human rights teaching-and-learning, which is characterized by an emphasis on legal rights and the contextualisation of human rights within South African, value and educational contexts. Educational and societal factors are two of the factors that influence this understanding. It is clear that learners' understanding of human rights teaching-and-learning is not one-dimensional. However, there are certain ontological ambiguities in the views that learners hold of the significance of human rights teaching-and-learning -both within and beyond the curriculum. An indication of this is that learners' responses reveal that they are often uncertain about why they have to learn about human rights and the contexts and/or learning areas (other than Life Orientation) in which human rights teaching-and-learning should take place. Recommendations highlight the need to gain a better understanding of classroom practices so that teaching-and-learning can infuse a culture of human rights; to acknowledge that human rights teaching-and-learning should be more flexible; to use an implicit way of generating an understanding of human rights; to make human rights teaching and learning in classroom practice more authentic; and to consider 'a human rights beyond the curriculum approach'. This study also identifies areas in which further research should be done. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

The National Curriculum Statement (2002), in line with the South African Constitution (1996), views human rights, inclusivity and social justice as priorities in all learning areas of the curriculum. However, a document such as the Manifesto on Values, Education and Democracy (2001) illustrates the complexities of addressing this in practice. One of the reasons is that there are misconceptions about how the concept of 'human rights' should be interpreted in the educational realm. This study sets out to explore how primary school learners understand human rights teaching-and-learning (from a moral and value stance) and what factors influence this. The intention is to rethink and redefine human rights teaching-and-learning from a learner's perspective as well as to investigate the notion that regards human rights as 'misunderstood'. This research offers a new perspective on human rights in that it focuses on primary school learners. Therefore this study will provide another lens through which to consider human rights teaching-and-learning in classroom practice. A literature study and empirical research have been undertaken to investigate how learners understand human rights teaching-and-learning. The literature study explores ontological, epistemological and methodological perspectives of human rights teaching-and-learning. Qualitative observation, written narratives and focus-group interviews formed the bases of this empirical research. Ongoing triangulation is used to ensure that the research findings are valid and trustworthy. It seems that primary school learners do have an understanding of human rights teaching-and-learning, which is characterized by an emphasis on legal rights and the contextualisation of human rights within South African, value and educational contexts. Educational and societal factors are two of the factors that influence this understanding. It is clear that learners' understanding of human rights teaching-and-learning is not one-dimensional. However, there are certain ontological ambiguities in the views that learners hold of the significance of human rights teaching-and-learning -both within and beyond the curriculum. An indication of this is that learners' responses reveal that they are often uncertain about why they have to learn about human rights and the contexts and/or learning areas (other than Life Orientation) in which human rights teaching-and-learning should take place. Recommendations highlight the need to gain a better understanding of classroom practices so that teaching-and-learning can infuse a culture of human rights; to acknowledge that human rights teaching-and-learning should be more flexible; to use an implicit way of generating an understanding of human rights; to make human rights teaching and learning in classroom practice more authentic; and to consider 'a human rights beyond the curriculum approach'. This study also identifies areas in which further research should be done. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Maps have been important elements of visual representation in the development of different societies, and for this reason they have mainly been considered from a practical and utilitarian point of view. This means that cartographers or mapmakers have largely focused on the technical aspects of the cartographic products, and cartography has given little attention to both its theoretical component and to its philosophical and epistemological aspects. The current study is dedicated to consider these views. In this study the main trends, thoughts and different directions in cartography during positivism/empiricism, neo-positivism and post-structuralism are reviewed; and cartography is analysed under the modernism and post-modernism periods. Some of the arguments proposed by philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper are examined as important contributions in our understanding of the development of cartography and mapping. This study also incorporates the idea or concept of paradigm, which has been taken from the field of the epistemology of sciences. The aforementioned opens a space to analyse cartography in terms of a paradigm shift. In the analysis of each trend within contemporary cartography – from the second half of the twentieth century until today – it is necessary to keep in mind the theoretical scheme of a scientific discipline (object of study, research aims, methods and approaches, and results). This helps to determine the body of knowledge in cartography. It is also important to consider the epistemological context in which the tendencies are developed: positivism/empiricism, realism/structuralism and idealism/hermeneutic. In this way, by considering three epistemological levels - essentialist/ontical (scientific), deconstructive (sociological), and ontological (emergent) - some paradigmatic tendencies are postulated. The first level results in tendencies such as cartographic communication, cartographic semiotics, analytical cartography and cartographic visualisation - all of these belong to the scientific-empirical perspective. In the second level, we have critical cartography, belonging to the critical perspective and that confronts the scientific stances. Finally, in the third level the so-called post-representational cartography arises in open opposition to the traditional representational cartography. / Im Entwicklungsprozess verschiedener Gesellschaften sind Karten immer wichtige Elemente visueller Darstellung gewesen. Karten wurden meist aus einer praktischen und utilitaristischen Sicht betrachtet. Das heißt, dass sich Kartographen oder Kartenmacher gezielt auf die technischen Aspekte kartographischer Produkte fokussiert haben, und Kartographie sich nur wenig mit den theoretischen Komponenten und philosophischen oder epistemologischen Aspekten auseinandergesetzt hat. Diese Arbeit verfolgt das Ziel, diese Sichten zu analysieren. Diese Studie untersucht die verschiedenen kartographischen Denkrichtungen, die während des Positivismus/Empirismus, des Neo-Positivismus und der Post-Strukturalismusperioden entstanden sind und analysiert Kartographie der Moderne und post-moderner Perioden. Argumente von Philosophen wie Ludwig Wittgenstein und Karl Popper werden untersucht als wichtige Beiträge zu unserem Verständnis der Entwicklung der Kartographie. Diese Arbeit berücksichtigt auch das Konzept des Paradigmas, welches aus dem Gebiet der wissenschaftlichen Epistemologie adaptiert wurde. Dies eröffnet die Möglichkeit, Kartographie hinsichtlich eines Paradigmenwechsels analysieren zu können. Wenn man die Tendenzen der zeitgenössischen Kartographie – von der zweiten Hälfte des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts bis heute – studiert, muss der theoretische Rahmen einer wissenschaftlichen Disziplin (Forschungsobjekt, Forschungsziel, Arbeitsmethodik und Ergebnisse) berücksichtigt werden. Dies erlaubt es, das gesammelte Wissen der Kartographie zu ermitteln. Ebenfalls wichtig ist die Berücksichtigung des epistemologischen Kontexts, in dem diese Tendenzen entstanden: Positivismus/Empirismus, Realismus/Strukturalismus und Idealismus/Hermeneutik. Unter Berücksichtigung dreier epistemologischer Ebenen – Essenzialisten/ontisch (wissenschaftlich), dekonstructiv (soziologisch) und ontologisch (emergent) – werden ausgewählte paradigmatische Tendenzen postuliert. Die erste Ebene ergibt Tendenzen wie die kartographische Kommunikation, die kartographische Semiotik, die analytische Kartographie und die kartographische Visualisierung, die alle zu der wissenschaftlich-empirischen Perspektive gehören. Zur zweiten Ebene gehört die kritische Kartographie, welche der kritischen Perspektive zugeordnet ist und die wissenschaftliche Standpunkte konfrontiert. Die so genannte post-repräsentative Kartographie entsteht aus der dritten Ebene im offenen Widerstand zur traditionellen repräsentativen Kartographie.

Eleven official languages are spoken in South Africa. Misunderstandings during communication seems to be inevitable. The researcher or psychologist often does not speak or have full command of the language of the group that is being investigated, and therefore has to rely on interpreters to understand the internally experienced world of these persons. Trained interpreters are scarce and this study endeavours to determine the extent of the validity of translations done by the available interpreters. This is done by means of a psychological-systemic perspective. The nature of this study is qualitative. Fifteen interviews were conducted with trauma patients at the Maxilla- and Face Surgery Department of the Garankuwa Hospital. Only eleven of these were useable. Mouth injuries etc. affected the quality of the other interviews not used. Four nurses from this department interviewed the patients and wrote up the interpreted answers on a semi-structured interview schedule made available by the researcher. A verbatim translation of the interviews was made from the tape recordings. Units of meaning were assigned and a comparison of the interpreted and the verbatim translations were made. Three perceptual styles were used to identify how much of the meaning the interpreter included (sharpening), excluded (levelling) and changed (assimilation) during the translation. The translation-interpretation process is analysed against the contextual background and paradigms of the participants The results make it clear that South Africa indeed has a problem with the validity of the outputs of interpreters being used as well as the availability of interpreters and their subject-specific training. Copyright 2005, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Barsby, A 2005, Die rol van tolke in onderhoudvoering : ‘n sielkundig-sistemiese perspektief en geldigheidsbepaling (Afrikaans), MA dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-10172005-152643 / > / Dissertation (MA (Research Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Psychology / unrestricted

Die Arbeit fragt zunächst nach der Existenz von Wissenschaftsphilosophie in Hegels System, da sie traditionellerweise von denjenigen geleugnet wird, die fest an den naturalistischen Wissenschaftsbegriff glauben. Es wird zwischen zwei Konzeptionen von epistemologischen Untersuchungen unterschieden, nämlich einer positivistischen-objektorientierten und einer selbstreflexiven. Hegels Wissenschaftslehre entspricht der letzteren, d.h. einer Art noesis noeseos, denn Wissenschaft ist für ihn das Selbstwissen des kollektiv verstandenen Geistes. In diesem Sinne kann Hegel als Mitbegründer der modernen Wissenschaftsphilosophie avant la lettre angesehen werden. Die Kernbestimmung von Hegels Metawissenschaft wird dann im Lichte der vor kurzem entfachten Debatte um seinen angeblichen Naturalismus des Geistes untersucht, weil auch diejenigen neueren angelsächsischen Hegelinterpretatoren, die einen epistemologischen Diskurs in Hegels System durchaus anerkennen, irreführend behaupten, dass Hegel die Geistaktivitäten und Geistentäußerungen naturalistisch auffasst. Es folgt die kritische Analyse von vier exemplarischen naturalistischen Hegellektüren und die Rekonstruktion von Hegels Argumentation für einen nichtnaturalistischen Geistbegriff sowie Naturbegriff. Im Gegensatz zu diesen Auslegungen, welche vom Menschen als bloßem Bedürfniswesen ausgehen, macht die Analyse der Hegelschen Texte deutlich, dass für Hegel der Geist nicht durch irgendein biologisches Interesse oder Organ allein bedingt ist, sondern vielmehr durch eine sozialkulturelle Seinsweise und dabei besonders durch sprachlich vermittelte generische Formen eines Wir-Subjekts. Hegel nimmt die Aufgabe auf sich, der Philosophie zu einer selbstbewussten Wissenschaft zu verhelfen, da er die gravierenden Probleme von rein empirischen, rein rationalistischen sowie romantischen „unmittelbaren“ Wissenskonzepten identifiziert und beheben will. Es wird gezeigt, dass trotz massiver Kritik der posthegelianischen Philosophie, sowohl der analytischen als auch der kontinentalen, Hegels Idee von Philosophie als Wissen des Wissens keinesfalls blinde Orientierung an der Methodologie gegebener Sach-Wissenschaften bedeutet. Vielmehr entwickelt Hegel eine allgemeine, begriffsorientierte und nichtformalistische Logik, die als innovative Theorie der Geisteswissenschaften verstanden werden soll.