Depuis plusieurs décennies, nombre d'experts dans divers champs du savoir ont émis des avis convergents concernant l'état des ressources planétaires. Le verdict rendu : le mode de vie et de consommation occidental est abusif. Il a considérablement fragilisé et dégradé la biodiversité de la planète. La déforestation à travers le monde et au Québec en est un exemple. Or, peu d'actions susceptibles de changer radicalement la situation ont été mises sur pied. Pourquoi un tel constat, en dépit des avertissements? Ce mémoire de maîtrise cherche à montrer que les problèmes environnementaux soulèvent des questionnements éthiques. Si l'humanité est soumise à une obligation morale de responsabilité envers la nature et les générations futures, sur quoi repose ce devoir? Hans Jonas s'est penché sur ce problème épineux et a tenté de fonder cette obligation de responsabilité dans une métaphysique de l'être. À la lumière de sa réflexion, nous avons examiné si le gouvernement québécois a fait preuve, au cours du dernier siècle, de responsabilité dans la gestion de notre patrimoine forestier.

Ce mémoire propose d'étudier d'un point de vue philosophique la pratique en occident des soins palliatifs et de l'euthanasie. Le premier chapitre tracera un bref historique de ces deux pratiques et aidera à situer de façon générale les questions éthiques qui en découlent. Dans le deuxième chapitre, nous présenterons des extraits d'entrevues réalisées avec des médecins spécialisés en soins palliatifs : nous ferons part de leurs réflexions sur le développement des soins palliatifs et les défis que comporte cette pratique; nous parlerons aussi de leur position face à l'euthanasie, de leur attitude générale face à une telle demande de la part d'un patient. Les troisième et quatrième chapitre verront tour à tour les fondements philosophiques de ces pratiques : pour les soins palliatifs, nous étudierons l'humanisme tel que présenté par Hans Jonas; le quatrième chapitre portera sur le nihilisme chez Nietzsche, considéré comme le fondement philosophique de l'euthanasie. Enfin, la conclusion générale permettra de faire une synthèse à partir de laquelle nous tenterons de proposer des pistes de réflexion concernant, d'une part, les messages véhiculés par ces théories philosophiques et, d'autre part, la possibilité éthique de voir coexister les soins palliatifs et l'euthanasie dans une même société.

This thesis sets out to explore the lives of homosexuals in the AIDS epidemic in Sweden in Jonas Gardell´s trilogy Torka aldrig tårar utan handskar (Don´t Ever Dry Tears Without Gloves). How is queer space able to unfold in connection to concrete places? The thesis utilizes the perspective of queer theory, where the useful terms of queer space and heteronormativity are found.   The analysis is divided into two parts based on the important themes of life and death found in the trilogy. The metal ring at the central station called Bögringen (The Gay Ring) and other public places such as parks and streets make up the first part. It becomes evident that these spaces are vital to the very existence of the homosexual lives of the men in the book-series. In these places, they are able to create their own (queer) space, which exists in parallel to the heteronormative surroundings. The concrete spaces that become these queer spaces are nevertheless often challenged by their surroundings, both verbally and physically.   Funerals make up the second half of the analysis. Here, two opposite funerals are being looked closer at. These are the funerals of two of the most important men in the trilogy: Rasmus and Paul. In Rasmus´funeral, there is no room for anything (or anyone) that might be associated with homosexuality and AIDS – a queer lifestyle ­– at all, and the boyfriend and all the other friends of the deceased Rasmus are not welcome. Everything queer is banished. The other funeral, Paul´s funeral, celebrates everything that is different, and here, it is the heteronormative, conservative views and thoughts that are being pushed aside. This funeral brings hope (and power) to the queers.

No final da década de 1960 e início da seguinte, dentro do contexto que se convencionou chamar de cinema experimental ou de vanguarda norte-americano, um número sem precendetes de cineastas dedicou-se à elaboração de filmes-diário ou autobiografias filmadas. Esse movimento é acompanhado, no caso de alguns dos realizadores, por um interesse por outras formas (literárias ou pictóricas) de autorre- presentação e escrita de vida e por um esforço reflexivo sobre as possibilidades, usos e potências dessas formas no cinema. Partindo do entendimento que a autobiografia transforma-se em um campo de interesses para cineastas, críticos e público apenas a partir deste momento, esta tese pretende abordar como ela é formulada e inventada por cineastas como uma forma possível para o cinema. A partir da análise de textos e filmes de três cineastas centrais para essa elaboração, notadamente Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas e Hollis Frampton, demonstramos o papel do gênero na transformação de um panorama artístico e criativo. De um lado, como se verá, a autobiografia afirma-se e inventa-se como uma tentativa de dialogar e responder a uma história artística que incluí o próprio cineasta, de outro, ela propõe-se como um lugar de singularização e transformação dessa história. / On the threshold of the seventies, the autobiographical genre emerged as one of the main tendencies of the north-american avant-garde film. This event was followed by a growing interest in other forms of self representation and life narratives in painting and literature and by an intellectual effort to reflect on the uses, qualities, possibilities and predecessors of the new form in film. Understanding that autobiography becomes a field of interest for filmmakers, critics and public alike only at this moment in time, this dissertation intends to broach how autobiography is fashioned by filmmakers into a form viable for cinema. Relying on a vast documentation of writings by Jonas Mekas, Stan Brakhage and Hollis Frampton, three filmmakers whom we consider to be central to the understanding of the genre as such, and on close readings of their autobiographical films we demonstrate the role played by the genre in the transformation of a creative and artistic environment. As will be seen, the emergence of the genre responds to a historical and aesthetic transformation in experimental films and offers itself as a peronal narrative for this changing history.

Den 17 september 2006 röstade det svenska folket för ett maktskifte i riksdagen. Den nya regeringsmakten gick under namnet Allians för Sverige och bestod av partierna Moderaterna, Centerpartiet, Folkpartiet och Kristdemokraterna. För skapandet av denna allians utarbetade partierna en tydlig gemensam politik och ett gemensamt valmanifest. Detta är en undersökning om vad dessa fyra partier har fått offra av sin egen politik till den gemensamma politikens fördel, samt om något eller några partier har fått åsidosätta större del politik än resterande partier. Den beroende variabeln är därmed graden av office-seeking. För undersökningen har partiernas valmanifest 2002 varit utgångspunkten. På denna grund har partiernas politiska meningsskiljaktigheter noterats. Partiernas respektive ståndpunkter har därefter jämförts mot vad den gemensamma politiken från 2006 och framåt avser. För att visa på eventuella vinnare och förlorare avseende partiernas genomslag av den egna politiken har spelteorin Chicken race används. Chicken race, vars namn härstammar från spelet om att vika undan eller riskera kollision, visar hur partierna har agerat i frågor som karaktäriserats av olika åsikter. Resultatet visar att de tre mindre partierna i Allians för Sverige har högre grad av office-seeking än vad det större partiet Moderaterna har.

No final da década de 1960 e início da seguinte, dentro do contexto que se convencionou chamar de cinema experimental ou de vanguarda norte-americano, um número sem precendetes de cineastas dedicou-se à elaboração de filmes-diário ou autobiografias filmadas. Esse movimento é acompanhado, no caso de alguns dos realizadores, por um interesse por outras formas (literárias ou pictóricas) de autorre- presentação e escrita de vida e por um esforço reflexivo sobre as possibilidades, usos e potências dessas formas no cinema. Partindo do entendimento que a autobiografia transforma-se em um campo de interesses para cineastas, críticos e público apenas a partir deste momento, esta tese pretende abordar como ela é formulada e inventada por cineastas como uma forma possível para o cinema. A partir da análise de textos e filmes de três cineastas centrais para essa elaboração, notadamente Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas e Hollis Frampton, demonstramos o papel do gênero na transformação de um panorama artístico e criativo. De um lado, como se verá, a autobiografia afirma-se e inventa-se como uma tentativa de dialogar e responder a uma história artística que incluí o próprio cineasta, de outro, ela propõe-se como um lugar de singularização e transformação dessa história. / On the threshold of the seventies, the autobiographical genre emerged as one of the main tendencies of the north-american avant-garde film. This event was followed by a growing interest in other forms of self representation and life narratives in painting and literature and by an intellectual effort to reflect on the uses, qualities, possibilities and predecessors of the new form in film. Understanding that autobiography becomes a field of interest for filmmakers, critics and public alike only at this moment in time, this dissertation intends to broach how autobiography is fashioned by filmmakers into a form viable for cinema. Relying on a vast documentation of writings by Jonas Mekas, Stan Brakhage and Hollis Frampton, three filmmakers whom we consider to be central to the understanding of the genre as such, and on close readings of their autobiographical films we demonstrate the role played by the genre in the transformation of a creative and artistic environment. As will be seen, the emergence of the genre responds to a historical and aesthetic transformation in experimental films and offers itself as a peronal narrative for this changing history.

ABSTRACT And concrete diction Carl Jonas Love Almqvist’s Drottningens juvelsmycke (The Queen's Tiara; 1834) is, along with Amorina, the work primarily associated with the ”poetic fugue” – a concept the author develops in ”Om enheten av epism och dramatism; en aning om den poetiska fugan” (”On the unity of epism and dramatism; a notion of the poetic fugue”; 1821); an essay often considered vague and theoretical by researchers in the field. The meaning of the poetic fugue has been regarded unclear, but mainly considered as some kind of synthesis of epic and dramatic writing. This essay argues that that is not the case, and that this one-dimensional approach both limits the interpretations of the essay and the poetic fugue as a whole. From a multidisciplinary perspective, with myself and my own reader as a part of the fugue itself, the aim of this essay is to highlight a very important overseen aspect of the poetic fugue, and Almqvist’s writing in general – the connections to mathematics, the analogies between abstract and concrete levels, and how these are deeply intertwined. The results in this essay are derived from a close reading technique based on mathematical problem solving called the ideotic method (den ideotiska metoden), and analyzed with Douglas Hofstadter's theory of Strange loops in Gödel, Escher, Bach – an eternal golden braid (1979). This analysis shows that this analogy is not just about the composition of a poetic piece of art, a synthesis of epic and dramatic writing, or the relation between music and text. Instead the results do point to an alternative interdisciplinary interpretation, where the relations between parts and units, realities and fictions, readers and texts, make the poetic fugue more of an analogy for the universe as a whole – a living and breathing ”animal coeleste” in contrast to the Newtonian ”mechanical coeleste”. An analogy which, thanks to its mathematical construction and way of looking at time as non-linear, is connected to both Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum theory – the science of the very big and the very small, parts and units, of everything, including ourselves.

Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Abstract: The African continent has been riddled with conflict for many years. Angola and Somalia are prime examples of countries having experienced protracted wars. During those wars, warlords have played a definite role in perpetuating the fighting. The thesis investigates warlordism in Africa. Specifically, it is a comparative analysis of Jonas Savimbi of Angola and Farah Aideed of Somalia. The thesis investigates the concept of warlords and uses the examples of Aideed and Savimbi to illustrate the impact of warlords on the respective countries. The examples of Aideed and Savimbi are further used to show that there are different ways to becoming ultimately labelled as a warlord. The role of state weakness and ethnicity will be investigated in the two cases. The discussion will highlight the points that state weakness (i.e. lack of governmental functionality) and the use of ethnicity play a profound role in the rise and survival of warlords. The case studies of Aideed and Savimbi will emphasise the influence of state weakness and ethnicity in their formation as warlords. The concept of state weakness is defined and the thesis illustrates that there are different levels of state weakness. The thesis compares Angola and Somalia, and shows that Savimbi and Aideed acted under vastly different conditions as warlords. Ethnicity is defined and linked to the idea that the effects of colonialism played a profound role in creating ethnic divisions, enabling warlords such as Aideed and Savimbi to use their ethnic backgrounds to mobilise followers to wage war. The thesis investigates how Aideed and Savimbi maintained their military organisations. Their ability to do so is related to both state weakness and ethnicity. State weakness and ethnicity create conditions which are conducive to the emergence of warlords.

Thesis (MA (Political Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to describe the factors that led to the creation of warlords in Angola and Sierra Leone so as to better understand the dynamics and origins of warlord politics. The two warlords that were focused on, and compared, were Jonas Savimbi (Angola) and Charles Taylor (Liberia and Sierra Leone). Authors like Mary Kaldor (2006), William Reno (1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007) and Collier and Hoeffler (2004) contributed toward the base of this study. Their work captured the issues contributing toward the warlord phenomenon and generated thought surrounding the context in which these warlords arose. John Mackinlay (2000) was used to describe and analyse the origins of warlordism and how the warlord phenomenon has changed with the onset of new wars, especially in the late 20th and 21st centuries (Kaldor, 2006). Furthermore, the work of Thomas H. Greene (1984) was used in guiding this thesis into a systematic study, focusing mainly on the leadership, following, organization, techniques and external support of both Jonas Savimbi and Charles Taylor as examples of contemporary warlords. Through utilizing the contributions of the above authors on this topic, the similarities and differences between the two warlords were explored. The study found that while Jonas Savimbi and Charles Taylor emerged from different eras and contexts (Savimbi out of the Cold War and Taylor as a result of globalization), they both became typical warlords. Savimbi only became a warlord after 1992. Before, Savimbi used Maoist ideology while an insurgent against Portugal, whereafter he became a rebel in the Angolan civil war. Taylor was a warlord in diamond-rich neighbouring Sierra Leone. Both used identity politics to gather a following while Taylor used brute force and the manipulation of the youth. They both manipulated illicit criminal networking and operated internationally, smuggling diamonds. The main difference, however, is that Taylor was an insurgent in Liberia where he seized power in 1990 and became president in 1997, while a warlord in neighbouring Sierra Leone. Savimbi, on the other hand, never attained presidential power even though he participated in the 1992 Angolan elections which he lost, whereafter he ceased to be a revolutionary, and became a real warlord without the external support he previously had. Savimbi was assassinated in 2002 and Taylor abdicated in 2003, currently standing trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. He stands trial for the human right atrocities committed in Sierra Leone. Their legacies live on. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie was om die faktore te beskryf wat gely het tot die ontstaan van krygshere (“warlords“)in Angola en Sierra Leone, en om die dinamika van krygsheerpolitiek beter te verstaan. Die twee krygshere waarop gefokus en vergelyk was, is Jonas Savimbi (Angola) en Charles Taylor (Liberië en Sierra Leone). Die denke van skrywers soos Mary Kaldor (2006), William Reno (1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007) en Collier & Hoeffler (2004) het bygedra tot die basis van hierdie studie. Hulle werk het ingesluit die aspekte wat bygedra het tot die krygsheer fenomeen, en het besinning aangemoedig oor die agtergrondsfaktore waaruit hierdie twee krygshere ontstaan het. John Mackinlay (2000) se werk is gebruik om die oorsprong van krygsheerpolitiek te beskryf, asook hoe die krygsheerfenomeen verander het met die uitbreek van “nuwe oorloë“ (Kaldor, 2006), veral aan die einde van die 20ste en 21ste eeue. Verder is die werk van Thomas H. Greene (1984) gebruik om hierdie tesis ‘n sistematiese struktuur te gee wat gefokus is op die leierskap, volgelinge, organisasie, tegnieke en eksterne ondersteuning van Jonas Savimbi en Charles Taylor. Hierdie twee persone is albei voorbeelde van kontemporêre krygshere in die jongste verlede. ‘n Vergelykende studie verg dat ooreenkomste en verskille tussen die twee krygshere verken word deur gebruik te maak van die bydraes van bogenoemde skrywers. In die studie is bevind dat alhoewel Jonas Savimbi en Charles Taylor uit verskillende eras en agtergrond kom (Savimbi uit die Koue Oorlog en Taylor as gevolg van globalisasie), albei tipiese krygshere geword het. Savimbi het Maoistiese ideologie gebruik terwyl hy ’n insurgent teen Portugal was. Daarná het hy ’n rebel in die Angolese burgeroorlog geword. Hy het eers na 1992 ‘n krygsheer geword nadat hy die verkiesing verloor het en sy buitelandse steun verloor het. Taylor, aan die ander kant, was ‘n krygsheer in die diamantryke buurland, Sierra Leone. Altwee krygshere het identiteitspolitiek gebruik om volgelinge te kry, terwyl Taylor ook brutale krag en die manipulasie van die jeug gebruik het. Hulle het beide internasionale diamante gesmokkel deur kriminele netwerke te gebruik. Die groot vi verskil is egter dat terwyl Taylor ‘n krygsheer in Sierra Leone was, was hy ook ‘n insurgent in Liberië, waar hy in 1990 mag gekry het en in 1997 president geword het. Savimbi, aan die ander kant, het nooit presidensiële mag verkry nie, alhoewel hy deelgeneem het aan die 1992 Angolese verkiesing. Hy het daarna opgehou om ‘n revolusionêr en ‘n rebel te wees en het ‘n ware krygsheer geword (sonder die eksterne ondersteuning wat hy voorheen gehad het). Savimbi is in 2002 vermoor en Taylor het in 2003 abdikeer. Taylor is tans onder verhoor in Den Haag waar hy tereg staan by die Internasionale Strafhof vir oorlogsmisdade en menseregteskendings in Sierra Leone. Beide hierdie krygshere se nalatenskap leef egter voort.

Maria Gripe’s shadow-series consists of four novels written in the 1980s and feature a character who present themselves as both as a girl and a boy. Carolin, also known as Carl has got a mysterious and captivating aura that leaves everybody fascinated and most people enamoured with him/her. Carolin shares many similarities with the 19th century author Carl Jonas Love Almqvist’s character Tintomara from the novel The Queen’s Tiara (Drottningens juvelsmycke). This essay examines the desire that is aimed at Carolin and explores the queer situations that arises as consequences of his/her cross dressing. I comparatively analyse the desire expressed in the shadow-series and The Queen’s Tiara to find similarities in who is affected by it and where the queer situations occur. The damaging effect of the desire is explored as well. The essay concludes that while most situations can be viewed as both heterosexual and homosexual Gripe uses genres and metaphors that amplify the queerness. Both Carolin and Tintomara are greatly affected by the desire toward them and get hurt because of it. Gripe and Almqvists charismatic androgynous characters bring desire and despair wherever they go, at least as long as they do not conform to society’s norm of gender dichotomy.