The main objective of this thesis is to develop a critical approach to the recent anti-aging discourse which has become popular after the 1990&rsquo / s. Anti-aging movement is concerned with certain implementations which aspire to make individuals live longer and healthier by controlling and disciplining their bodily conditions and lifestyle choices. This study attempts to examine certain perceptions and assumptions of anti-aging discourse about body, living and keeping alive peculiar to late modern times by taking into consideration three popular emblematic anti-aging books. For this aim, the techniques, recommendations, suggestions and basic premises of popular anti-aging books are examined in terms of the question whether anti-aging discourse presents a new project concerning body and lifestyle, or not. In order to answer this question, Foucauldian theory on &ldquo / the power over life&rdquo / and Sontag&rsquo / s approach to &ldquo / the metaphorical representation of illness in late modern times&rdquo / are employed for constructing the theoretical basis of this thesis. The examination of anti-aging discourse reveals that, this discourse redefines the meaning of age and reinterprets human temporality by narrating aging process with certain metaphors. Moreover, it is seen that anti-aging discourse transforms the aging process into a performative sphere by representing the aging as a merely biological and controllable situation.

The aim of this study is to examine the meaning and the morality of suicide through the history of philosophy. To this aim, firstly, the historical evaluation of the concept of suicide is explained in detail. The effects of sociological and the religious transformations on the meaning of suicide are analyzed. Afterwards, the moral theories about suicide are discussed. The anti-suicide arguments about suicide in the history of philosophy are classified under three parts mainly. These anti-suicide arguments &mdash / that suicide is a violation of our duties to God, to the society and to the self &mdash / are handled and explained in detail with their counter arguments. Then, the problem of the permissibility of suicide is analyzed and whether suicide is morally permitted under some conditions or it is absolutely forbidden is discussed. Next, the philosophical meaning of suicide in literature is investigated by analyzing the meanings that are given to suicide by Dante iv and Dostoevsky. In the conclusion, a brief summary is given, and the moral theories about suicide are criticized. ,

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:12:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 LourivalBCJ_TESE_Parcial.pdf: 250865 bytes, checksum: f14aa43941c04261875d66a11af3e2e4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-20 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / 2020-01-01 / Este trabalho tem como objetivo geral mostrar que no F?don de Plat?o, a associa??o entre o argumento dos contr?rios e o argumento da reminisc?ncia (72e 77e) seguida da analogia da investiga??o do eclipse do sol (99d-102a), que serve de modelo ao m?todo de investiga??o ideal mostra que o m?todo naturalista de investiga??o direta dos fen?menos (99c-100b) n?o conduz, necessariamente, ao verdadeiro conhecimento. Como m?todo, adotou-se uma leitura comparativa e uma interpreta??o por aproxima??o do texto fonte. O resultado aqui obtido ? a no??o de como se d? o conhecimento no referido di?logo. Como conclus?o se afirma que, nessa obra o conhecimento ? uma esp?cie de recorda??o que se d? como reciprocidade entre um processo negativo de cogni??o e o estado cognitivo inato

This dissertation aims at presenting and discussing the proofs for immortality of the soul in Book I of the Tusculan Disputations by Cicero, a philosophical work written in the form of a dialogue in which why man must not fear death is discussed. Before directly approaching the theme, in the proem to Book I, Cicero presents his conception about philosophy and about the requirement of producing philosophy in Latin. Concerning its subject, the dialogue of Book 1 can be divided into two great parts: the first one consisting of an argumentation favourable to the immortality of the soul, that proves death is something good (18-71), and the second one, consisting of a reservation that death is not only something good, but it cannot be something bad (82-119). In accordance to the main goal of this work and based on several different translations which allowed us to do the work with a philological stance where necessary, and which guided a great part of our investigation through notes and valued suggestions of a secondary bibliography we analysed the first part of Book 1, showing that the argumentation in favour of the immortality of the soul, is according to Cicero, absolute and praiseworthy to the best philosophers. We also noticed that the immortality of the soul had been denied as an axiom of ancient philosophy by Hellenistic thought, such as Stoicism and Epicureanism. Cicero refuses the Stoic views about duration of the souls and despises the Epicurean concept on the proof of the mortality of the soul. There are four proofs of immortality of the soul in Book 1, in which we can find the following discussions: the argument consensus omnium gentium, the soul as warm air, the soul as the principle of movement and the soul as the fifth nature (quinta natura). For this work the last discussions are the most important ones: the discussion of the soul as a principle of movement, from Phaidro by Plato and the discussion of the soul as the fifth nature from the lost dialogues of Aristotle, by means of which, Cicero demonstrates that the soul is eternal and divine, thus, establishing a difference between the nature of the soul and the nature of the body. As it may be seen in the conclusion of this work, the immortality of the soul is restricted to the mind, a part of the soul, provided with reason. Remaining after death of the material body, the soul owns perception and intelligence, as it presents the same nature of god, thus pertaining to the celestial realms. / Esta dissertação tem como objetivo principal apresentar e discutir as provas da imortalidade da alma no Livro I das Discussões Tusculanas, de Cícero, uma obra filosófica escrita em forma de diálogo em que se discute, dentre outras coisas, por que o homem não deve temer a morte. Antes de abordar o tema de forma direta, Cícero apresenta no proêmio ao Livro I sua concepção acerca da filosofia e da necessidade de produzir filosofia em latim. Quanto a seu tema, o diálogo do Livro I pode ser dividido em dois grandes momentos: o primeiro consiste numa argumentação favorável à imortalidade da alma, que prova que a morte é um bem (parágrafos 18 a 71); e o segundo consiste na ressalva de que a morte não apenas é um bem, mas sequer pode ser um mal (parágrafos 82 a 119). Alinhados ao objetivo principal deste trabalho e munidos de diferentes traduções que nos permitiram o trabalho de cunho filológico, quando necessário, e nortearam, pelas notas e indicações de bibliografia secundária, grande parte de nossa pesquisa, analisamos a primeira parte do Livro I, mostrando que, para Cícero, a argumentação em favor da imortalidade da alma é primorosa e digna de filósofos superiores (Platão e Aristóteles). Constatamos, também, que a imortalidade da alma, como uma doutrina da filosofia antiga, havia sido negada pelas correntes helenistas, o estoicismo e o epicurismo. Cícero rejeita o ponto de vista do estoicismo sobre a duração das almas e despreza a prova da mortalidade de Epicuro. Quatro são as provas da imortalidade da alma encontradas no Livro I. Delas constam os seguintes argumentos: consensus omnium gentium, a alma como ar aquecido, a alma como princípio de movimento e a alma como quinta natureza. Para este trabalho, os dois últimos são de maior importância: o argumento da alma como princípio de movimento, extraído do diálogo Fedro, de Platão; e o argumento da alma como quinta natureza, noção retirada dos diálogos perdidos de Aristóteles, já que, com eles, Cícero demonstra que a alma é eterna e divina, estabelecendo uma diferença entre a natureza da alma e a natureza do corpo. Como poderá ser visto na conclusão, a imortalidade da alma restringe-se à mente, parte da alma provida de razão. Permanecendo após a morte do corpo, a alma possui percepção e é dotada de inteligência, tem a mesma natureza de deus e, assim, pertence à região celeste. / Mestre em Filosofia

The full text of this thesis/dissertation is not available online. Please <a href="mailto:upetd@up.ac.za">contact us</a> if you need access. Read the abstract in the section 00front of this document. / Dissertation (MA (Semitic Languages))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Ancient Languages / unrestricted

This thesis is a study of the ways in which the fear of death, and its natural consequence, the desire for immortality, is manifested in the major characters of three post-Romantic works. In each case, the fear of death is unconscious, and has to "be interpreted from the dreams and illusions of the characters, which may not appear to have any immediate connection with death or immortality. In Madame Bovary, the blind man is the symbolic antithesis of Emma's dreams of finding a means of transcendence within the world itself. He is the embodiment of the horrifying vision of biological process that lies at the heart of her flight from reality. The pharmacist, Homais, is also considered to be attempting to establish a symbolic form of immortality for himself through the glorification of his reputation and his sentimental belief in scientific progress. In Niels Lyhne, the young hero attempts to free himself from the romantic influences of his childhood by proclaiming a new philosophy that is based, on atheism. However, his temperamental attachment to the idea of "infinity", and his inability to accept the physical nature of human beings betray his unconscious desire for a state of being in which he will be invulnerable to the forces of aging and death. In John Gabriel Borkman the three major characters attempt to find a means of denying the inevitability of their approaching deaths. Borkman tries to gain control over the forces of life through the exercise of power and through an identification with rocks and metal that seem to hold the promise of conferring their immutability onto him. Borkman's wife wants her son to devote his life to the glorification of the name of Borkman, that her husband has dishonoured. She hopes that her idealized self-image will live on"in the "monument" that Erhart will "erect" to the family name. Ella Rentheim, her sister, also plans to use Erhart for the establishment of a symbolic form of immortality, by trying to persuade him to adopt her family name after she has died. The method of this thesis could be applied to works from any age of literature, but I have chosen the nineteenth century because of the particular social and intellectual influences that existed in Europe after the Enlightenment'. All the artistic movements of the nineteenth century were conditioned by the legacy of metaphysical uncertainty that the religious skepticism of the Age of Reason had bequeathed to the future. In these three works, the characters devote the same religious fervour to the worldly objects of their desires as, formerly, man had devoted to God. The unconscious hope in all their attempts is that they will discover a means of being delivered from death. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Dans notre société où la mort est taboue, où le deuil doit être vécu en cachette et le sujet évité dans les sphères publiques, deux sphères ont cependant le loisir de l’aborder de manière attendue : la religion et l’art. L’art qui a retenu mon attention est le jeu vidéo pour sa capacité à mettre le joueur au contrôle de sa mort. Chaque œuvre vidéoludique présente un univers différent et chacune traitera différemment le joueur lorsqu’il échoue à une tâche. En m’intéressant à ces punitions et aux morts numériques qui en découlent, je traite de l’imaginaire mythique auquel est confronté le joueur en jouant à des jeux vidéo. Ce mémoire se découpe en quatre chapitres. Le premier chapitre pose les thématiques et les concepts opératoires de la recherche. Une première section porte sur le jeu, puis plus spécifiquement sur le jeu vidéo. Une fois les définitions posées, je me suis intéressé à la possibilité du jeu à influencer le joueur. Dans une deuxième section, j’aborde la mort ainsi que les discours sur celle-ci (eschatologiques) et je commence à l’associer avec le jeu vidéo. Dans le deuxième chapitre, j’aborde la problématique, à savoir que si la plupart des arts présentent une mort définitive, le joueur ne peut mourir dans le jeu vidéo. Cette problématique s’articule autour de la notion de l’évolution et de l’atteinte de l’immortalité. Le troisième chapitre présente mon cadre théorique et ma méthodologie. J’explique la formation de mon corpus de jeux vidéo et j’explique comment il a été analysé. Le jeu vidéo est appréhendé comme un récit mythique capable de nous informer sur les mystères de la mort. Dans ce contexte, j’utilise la mythanalyse développée par Gilbert Durand pour déterminer dans chacun des jeux le rapport entre le joueur et la mort. Le dernier chapitre présente mes résultats en regroupant les jeux par types. Je présente le rapport entre le joueur et la mort dans chacun des types ainsi que dans les jeux présentant un rapport unique à la mort. / In our society where death is a taboo, where mourning must be lived in secret and the topic avoided in public spheres, two spheres have the leisure to approach it without difficulty: religion and art. The art that caught my attention is the video game for its ability to put the player in control of his death. Each video game presents a different universe, and each will treat the player differently when he fails a task. By taking an interest in these punishments and the digital deaths that ensue, I examine the mythical imaginary that the gamer faces while playing video games. This thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter sets out the themes and concepts of my research. The first section deals with games, then more specifically with video games. I then address the ways by which the game can influence the player. In a second section, I discuss death and the discourses on it (eschatological) and I begin to associate it with video games. In the second chapter, I develop my problematic, namely that if most of the arts present a final death, the player cannot truly die in video games. This issue is woven around the notion of evolution and the attainment of immortality. The third chapter presents my theoretical framework and my methodology. I explain the formation of my video game corpus and explain how it was analyzed. The video game is understood as a mythical story capable of informing us about the mysteries of death. In this context, I use the mythanalysis developed by Gilbert Durand to determine in each game the relationship between the player and death. The last chapter presents my results by grouping the games by type. I present the relationship between player and death in each of the types, as well as in the games with a unique relationship to death.

This paper analyzes the concept of immortality as expressed in Stephenie Meyer’s vampire romance novel Midnight Sun (2021). By way of a comparison with the authors Mormon faith, I intend to highlight how the main characters portray key parts of LDS soteriology. Using Synne Myreböe’s notion of actualization (aktualisering) the paper considers Mormonism as a lens rather than as an institutionalized religion.  Although Midnight Sun makes use of numerous religious themes, it is in my opinion not to be regarded as a theological text. After all, Meyer is a novelist. Her religiosity motivates the questions posed by the study, but the connection between her writing and explicit Mormon theology is established by me. By making the Mormon concept of immortality a lens through which I view the material, I intend to highlight aspects of the narrative which otherwise would be less apparent.  Midnight Sun is a paraphrase of Meyer’s earlier work Twilight (2006). The latter tells the story of Bella, a student who falls in love with an ancient vampire called Edward. In Midnight Sun the story is inverted, making Edward the main narrator. Due to Midnight Sun’s disposition, my work relies on a resource not available to prior studies on Twilight, namely Edward’s voice. In this paper, I examine how the character relates to his father figure, thus paraphrasing the Mormon concept of priesthood.

Who wants to live forever? Jeder. Keiner. Die Suche nach irdischer Unsterblichkeit ist als Gegenstand von Erzählung so alt wie das Erzählen selbst: Seit Anbeginn der Überlieferung bildet diese Suche einen zentralen Stoff menschlicher Fantasie, der sich bis in die aktuellen Formen auch audiovisuellen Erzählens fortgesetzt hat. Ihre Narrative begleiten dabei ein ganz reales Streben um die Verlängerung des Lebens, das sich vom Okkultem zum Religiösen, vom Magischen zum Wissenschaftlichen und bis in die rezenten Life-Science des Silicon Valley an immer neue Kontexte zu heften verstand. Dem Wechselspiel beider Sphären widmet sich die vorliegende Arbeit: Sie verfolgt, wie sich im fortlaufenden Gespräch über die Unsterblichkeit Legenden und Beobachtungen, Geschichten und Untersuchungen, Visionen und Studien, kurz Fiktion und Forschung annähern. Gerade an der entstehenden Schnittstelle kann Erzählung ihr ganzes Potential entfalten: Wo sie zum Simulationsraum einzig in der Fiktion durchzuspielender Phänomene wird, da ist ihr Zugang exklusiv. Ihre Unsterblichen stecken den Rahmen für ein zukünftiges Operieren mit realen Lebensverlängerungsangeboten ab. Ihre Aushandlung von Unsterblichkeit generiert Deutungsangebote, die mit Philosophie, Publizistik und auch Naturwissenschaft um die Legitimität auch einer Interpretation bereits gegenwärtiger Konflikte konkurrieren.:1. Der Wunsch nach ewigem Leben 5 2. Konzepte der Unsterblichkeit 16 2.1 ›Der unsterbliche Sterbliche‹ 19 2.2 Gegenbilder – Weitere Unsterblichkeitskonzepte 22 2.3 Zwischenfazit 33 3. Tücken der Unsterblichkeit 36 3.1 Der Horizont der Religion 37 3.1.1 Unsterblichkeit im antiken Mythos 37 3.1.2 Abrahamitische Legenden – Der wandernde Jude und Al Chadhir 46 3.2 Vom Glaubensrahmen zum Erzählexperiment 64 3.2.1 Aufklärung über die Ewigkeit – Jonathan Swifts »Struldbruggs« 64 3.2.2 Provokation und Ermächtigung – Robert Maturins »Melmoth der Wanderer« und Mary Shelleys »Der sterbliche Unsterbliche« 72 3.2.3 Philosophie der Ewigkeit – Karel Čapeks »Die Sache Makropulos« 82 3.2.4 Die ewige Wiederkehr – Simone de Beauvoirs »Alle Menschen sind sterblich« 91 3.3 Moderne Fantasy – Die Elben des Tolkien-Universums 107 4. Trotz und Trost 118 5. Life-Science und third culture: Fortschritte zur Unsterblichkeit? 127 5.1 Eine Alternative zum Tod? 129 5.2 Annäherungen an die Unsterblichkeit 139 5.3 Mediale Inszenierungen des Lebensquells 153 5.4 Die neuen Herren des Todes 159 6. Narrative Reflexionen des Fortschritts – Neue Tücken der Unsterblichkeit 172 6.1 Leib, Seele, Identität 179 6.2 Distribution und Apartheit 195 6.3 Überbevölkerung 209 6.4 Gerontokratie 219 6.5 Stagnation 228 7. Vision und Warnung 237 8. Popularisierung und Medien 248 8.1 Trost und Trotz im Bild 252 8.2 Vision und Warnung im Bild 263 8.3 Transfer in weitere Erzählräume – Anime, Graphic Novel, Kinderbuch, Gaming 281 9. Fazit 296 10. Quellen- und Literaturverzeichnis 307 10.1 Erzählungen 307 10.1.1 Literatur 307 10.1.2 Audiovisuelles 312 10.2 Forschung und Forschungsquellen 316 10.2.1 Kulturwissenschaft 316 10.2.2 Philosophie 334 10.2.3 Life-Science 342

This dissertation is a philosophical examination of the concept of reincarnation from an African point of view. It does so, largely, from the cultural perspective of the Akan people of Ghana. In this work, reincarnation is distinguished from such related concepts as metempsychosis and transmigration with which it is conflated by many authors on the subject. In terms of definition, therefore, the belief that a deceased person can be reborn is advanced in this dissertation as referring to only reincarnation, but not to either metempsychosis or transmigration. Many scholars would agree that reincarnation is a pristine concept, yet it is so present in the beliefs and worldviews of several cultures today (including those of Africa). A good appreciation of the concept, it can be seen, will not be possible without some reference to the past. That is why some attempt is first made at the early stages of the dissertation to show how reincarnation was understood in the religious philosophies of ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Indians, Chinese and the Incas. Secondly, some link is then established between the past and present, especially between ancient Egyptian philosophy and those of contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. In modern African thought, the doctrine of reincarnation has not been thoroughly researched into. Even so, some of the few who have written on the subject have denied its existence in African thought. The dissertation rejects this denial, and seeks to show nonetheless that reincarnation is generally an irrational concept. In spite of its irrationality, it is acknowledged that the concept, as especially presented in African thought, raises our understanding of the constitution of a person as understood in the African culture. It is also observed that the philosophical problem of personal identity is central to the discussion of reincarnation because that which constitutes a person is presumed to be known whenever a claim of return of a survived person is made. For this reason, the dissertation also pays significant attention to the concept of personal identity in connection, especially, with the African philosophical belief in the return of persons. / Philosophy & Systematic Theology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Philosophy)