If traditional, modem philosophy of technology fails to genuinely understand the phenomena of technology, then emancipatory reflection, such as Don Ihde's, is required for philosophy of technology to have a future. Ihde's postmodern perspective and hermeneutic framework re-understands the meaning, knowledge and truth of technology as correlated with consciousness and embedded in cultures, while clarifying the relation between the interpreter and the technology he seeks to understand. The first part of my thesis argues that Ihde's philosophy of technology is generally postmodern for the following two main reasons: (1) Ihde's adaptation of the Husserlian model of intentionality, the basis of his phenomenology of human-technology relations, undermines the subject-object distinction prevalent in modem philosophy of technology, thereby recognizing the correlation between consciousness and technology; (2) by uncovering the cultural embeddedness of technologies, Hide rejects the emphasis of modem inquiry on the issue of whether we "control" technology, or it "controls" us. The second part of my thesis argues that Ihde's postmodern philosophy of technology is a hermeneutics of technology. His definition of technology, as an intentional understanding-relation with things, conceives of technology in terms of understanding itself. An implication of this emphasis on technology in praxis, rather than as substance, conceives of technology in a properly human way under the rubric of human agency, and although he never phrased it in this way, takes the techne out of technology. Finally, Hide's inquiry into technology is a call to learn the art of response-ability when attempting to understand technology. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

This study investigates the challenges to the legitimacy and authority of scientific research in late modern philosophy of science. The author suggests that the different challenges to the legitimacy of science have led to relativism and amount to a crisis. Keeping in mind the positivist background, he illustrates the legitimacy crisis of science in the period from Popper to the present. In particular his analysis focuses on the "historical school" (Kuhn, Feyerabend etc.) in philosophy of science. The main question of this study is: what are the causes and the nature of the legitimacy crisis emerging in the contemporary philosophical assessment of science? To answer this question, a few specific challenges to the legitimacy of science emerging in particular areas are analysed: for example the difficulties of anchoring scientific certitude to its proper object of study, the loss of objectivity, growing scepticism about the possibility of communication and scientific progress. After substantiating the gradual emergence of relativist and sceptical approaches in the abovementioned areas, this study provides a "diagnosis" aiming at identifying the causes of the crisis. The humanist ground motive of nature and freedom and the choice of anchoring scientific certainty either in the subject or in the object of knowledge are considered the main sources of the crisis. They lead to arbitrary absolutisations of particular aspects of the scientific enterprise and (in the case of subjectivist approaches) to sceptical approaches to the possibility of scientific objectivity, communication and progress. This study also indicates a few possible resources, available in the reformational tradition, to counteract the legitimacy crisis of science. The main resource indicated in this study is the recognition of the structural order for reality, which is accessible to scientific analysis, "constrains" scientific research but also constitutes a common ground for researchers. Other important resources are the recognition of the link between scientific and pre-scientific knowledge and the acknowledgment that universality and individuality are traits of everything that exists. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Philosophy))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

This study investigates the challenges to the legitimacy and authority of scientific research in late modern philosophy of science. The author suggests that the different challenges to the legitimacy of science have led to relativism and amount to a crisis. Keeping in mind the positivist background, he illustrates the legitimacy crisis of science in the period from Popper to the present. In particular his analysis focuses on the "historical school" (Kuhn, Feyerabend etc.) in philosophy of science. The main question of this study is: what are the causes and the nature of the legitimacy crisis emerging in the contemporary philosophical assessment of science? To answer this question, a few specific challenges to the legitimacy of science emerging in particular areas are analysed: for example the difficulties of anchoring scientific certitude to its proper object of study, the loss of objectivity, growing scepticism about the possibility of communication and scientific progress. After substantiating the gradual emergence of relativist and sceptical approaches in the abovementioned areas, this study provides a "diagnosis" aiming at identifying the causes of the crisis. The humanist ground motive of nature and freedom and the choice of anchoring scientific certainty either in the subject or in the object of knowledge are considered the main sources of the crisis. They lead to arbitrary absolutisations of particular aspects of the scientific enterprise and (in the case of subjectivist approaches) to sceptical approaches to the possibility of scientific objectivity, communication and progress. This study also indicates a few possible resources, available in the reformational tradition, to counteract the legitimacy crisis of science. The main resource indicated in this study is the recognition of the structural order for reality, which is accessible to scientific analysis, "constrains" scientific research but also constitutes a common ground for researchers. Other important resources are the recognition of the link between scientific and pre-scientific knowledge and the acknowledgment that universality and individuality are traits of everything that exists. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Philosophy))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

The topic of this diploma thesis is ?Physiognomically we have still been passers - by. Travelling as an intercultural experience in the work of Christoph Ransmayr?. This thesis is divided into seven basic parts. The first four chapters describe theoretical background of the thesis which is the Postmodernism, the Philosophy of the Postmodernism, the Interculturality and the Theory of Essays. The next chapter reports about the poetics of the narration and the aim of the last two parts is to analyze the books "Geständnisse eines Touristen" and "Der Weg nach Surabaya". The ambition of this diploma thesis is to research the relationship of Christoph Ransmayr to travelling and search for the influences of the travelling poetics in his two concrete books.

The thesis "Searching for today's education" deals with a dynamic relationship between contemporary postmodern society and school institution, which is the heritage of modern period. This relationship is conceived in two different ways: theoretically by the approach of postmodern philosophy (represented here by the interpretation of works by Jean-Francois Lyotard, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and Roland Barthes) and practically by the evaluation of high-school seminar Understanding contemporary situation that has been held for last year students of a grammar school in Prague. After the introduction and overview of past discussion on this topic the analysis of three basic values of modern school on the concept of indoctrination and neutrality were offered. Those values are education for the truth, education for the freedom and civic education. At the same time a certain tension between the truth and freedom on one hand and the civic education on the other hand occurs. In the next chapter I try to characterize contemporary society by plurality (de/legitimisation, fragmentarisation), relativising relationship to the reality (virtualisation, technologisation, medialisation), and problematising of the subject (problem of identity and marginalisation). In the main part of the thesis I interpret the...

Today’s world has undergone through a variety of changes shifting from metaphysical way of thinking into postmodernism which has left its footprint in the aspects of literature, art and theatre. But architecture doesn’t reflect those changes in the theatrical world because buildings are not adjusted to the postmodern performances. In this research I made a journey through postmodern philosophy, literature, art, architecture, and theatre and tried to analyze the main tools of postmodernism, such as deconstruction of narrative, displacement etc. Then I applied them into my project which makes an attempt to translate the postmodern mind into a physical space and create a theatrical area. It tries to answer the question whether architecture is able to accommodate postmodern conceptions and performances where the audiences are the creators and active participants of their own narratives. The case study of the performance Sleep No More has become the concept for my design proposal where I also used displacement to combine several objects in a new context. The analysis and the design method have shown that architecture can accommodate all the cultural developments and can transform from postmodern conceptions into a physical space with the help of the same tools that are used in postmodern literature, art and philosophy. A building can become the embodiment of a post modernistic idea.

This study embarked on exploring the experience of becoming and being a lay volunteer counsellor from a psychological perspective. Six participants were interviewed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as the research method. Race and gender are divided equally amongst Black, Caucasian, male, and female participants. Numerous dimensions relating to the lived experience of lay volunteer counsellors are investigated in the present literature, suggesting that the experience of becoming and being a lay volunteer counsellor is multifaceted. The subjective experience of each of the participants was explored, with the optimism that this exploration would expound on the multilateralism of these facets. Although specific experiences remain exclusive to each participant, the intersecting and co-creation of meanings culminated in the cultivation of themes common to the participants. These themes are examined against the literature, critically appraising supportive and distinct suggestions. As is evident from the results, participants have a profound appreciation of the stimuli which influence their experiences of lay volunteer counselling, but also of the circumstances surrounding the origins of their sense of volunteerism. Even though some of the literature addressed themes relevant to the participants’ experiences, a small number of themes could not be juxtaposed against available literature. Based on the narratives of the participants, as well as data in the literature, volunteers constitute a reasonable component of the service sector and assist a sizeable population. Therefore, the value of the lay volunteer counselling population should be recognised in order to develop further training and support programmes for this subpopulation. As it appears, recognising the essence of this value begins with appreciating the experience of becoming and being a lay volunteer counsellor. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Psychology / unrestricted

(in English): The main aim of this thesis is to focuse on the two of C. E. Gadda's most famous novels in their comparative interpretations based on the perspective of the debate on subject and intersubjectivity by philosophers E. Husserl, M. Heidegger and L. Wittgenstein. After a short intoduction dedicated to life and work of the author, we analyse both novels in which we witness the shift of attention from the problem of the subject to the problem of the intersubjectivity seen as socially anchored truth that gives rise to antidetective novel. In conclusion we emphasise once again the epistemological level of meaning in Gadda's novels - their insights into the essence of truth and the character of human knowledge in general which emerge especially with the crime fiction against the background of questions regarding conscience and justice.