Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This research explores the possibility of a phenomenology of religion that is ontological, founded on Martin Heidegger’s philosophical thought. The research attempts to utilise Heidegger’s formulation of phenomenology as ontology while also engaging in a critical relation with his path of thinking; as a barrier to the phenomenological interpretation of the meaning of Religion. This research formulates Religion as an ontological problem wherein the primary question becomes: how are humans, in our being, able to be religious and thus also able to understand the meaning of ‘religion’ or something like ‘religion’? This study focuses on the problem of foundation; of whether it is possible to provide an adequate foundation for the study of religion(s) via the notion ‘Religion’. Further, this study also aims to explore the problem of methodological foundation; of how preconceptions of the meaning of Religion predetermine how religion(s) and religious phenomena are studied. Finally, this research moves toward the possibility of founding a regional ontological basis for the study of religion(s) insofar as the research explores the ontological ground of Religion as a phenomenon. Due to the exploratory and methodological/foundational emphasis of the research, the thesis is almost entirely preliminary. Herein, the research focuses on three main issues: how the notion of Religion is preconceived, how Heidegger’s phenomenology can be tailored to the phenomenon of Religion, and how philosophical thought (in this case, Pre-Socratic philosophy) discloses indications of the meaning of Religion. Pre-Socratic thought is then utilised as a foundation for a preliminary interpretation of how Religion belongs-to humans in our being. This research provides two interrelated theses: the provision of an interpretation of Religion as an existential phenomenon, and an interpretation of Religion in its ground of being-human. With regard to the former, I argue that Religion signifies a potential relation with the ‘originary ground’ of life as meaningful. Accordingly, the second interpretation discloses the meaning of Religion as grounded in being-human; that for humans in our being, the meaning of life is an intrinsic question/dilemma for us. This being-characteristic, I argue, can be called belief.

Theory of mind has been described in philosophical and psychological literature as "folk psychology", and is the tacit understanding that our behaviour is driven by our thoughts, desires and beliefs (Wellman, Cross, & Watson, 2001). Children are widely considered to have attained theory of mind understanding when they are able to pass the test of false belief understanding devised by Wimmer and Perner (1983), at around 4 years of age. There are many theories as to how a child comes to hold a folk psychology, including innate modularism (Leslie, 1987, 1988, 1994), theory change (Gopnik & Wellman 1992), developing representational understanding (Perner, 1991, 1995, 2000), and experiential understanding developed in a socio-linguisitic context (Nelson, 1996). In addition, theory of mind has been linked to the development of symbolic understanding (Deloache & Smith, 1999; Perner, 1991), pretend play (Leslie, 1987; Taylor & Carlson, 1997; Youngblade & Dunn, 1993), language (Astington & Jenkins, 1999; Nelson, 1996; Olson, 1988) and executive function (e.g. Hughes, 1998a; Kochanska et al., 1996; Reed et al., 1984). The present study sought to bring together these diverse findings and to attempt to provide an integrated account of the emergence of theory of mind understanding during the preschool years. Sixty-four New Zealand children were assessed on their mental state understanding, deceptive abilities, symbolic functioning, language, and executive skills, when they were aged 30, 36, 42 and 48 months of age. There were a number of key findings in the present study. Language was a powerful predictor of false belief performance both within and across time, and was also related to many of the other variables included in the study. Performance on the scale model test of symbolic functioning was related across time to children�s concurrent and later false belief understanding. Scale model performance was also intertwined in a bidirectional relationship with language, and language appeared to play an increasingly important role in mediating the relationship with false belief understanding across time. False belief understanding and scale model performance were also related within and across time to executive function. There was evidence to suggest that the importance of working memory was due to its role in conflict inhibition. Although deception has sometimes been posited to be a precocious manifestation of theory of mind (Chandler, Fritz, & Hala, 1989), in the present study deceptive ability lagged false belief understanding. Furthermore, false belief understanding was related to children�s subsequent (but not earlier) responses to a protagonist�s intention. This supports the hypothesis that false belief understanding allows a qualitative change in the execution of deception, whereby children can move from simple physical strategies to more sophisticated mentalist strategies. Overall, the present study provides some evidence to suggest that symbolic functioning, language, and later theory of mind may form part of a single developing skill set of symbolic representation. In dynamic interaction with social understanding, and supported by cognitive abilities such as executive function, and the socio-linguistic context, it is argued that understanding of one�s own and other minds emerges. Children�s ability to solve the false belief problem at 4 years of age is presented as a milestone on a developmental continuum of social understanding.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this thesis is to increase our knowledge about the thinking of idiocy behind the formation of the first institutional schools for idiots in the Scandinavian countries. The source materials – publications, articles, documents, photos – has been studied and interpreted through a hermeneutic existential method. The final interpretation is connected to Ludwik Fleck´s theory of thought-style and thought-collective. Thought-style in this context has different aspects: The quality or characteristics of the conception or diagnosis of idiocy The ideas about underlying causes The educational, medical and social measures required The expected results or goals The environmental influence Three historical perspectives are traced in the thesis: a biographical history perspective, an educational/medical and a comprehensive perspective of the history of knowledge. The Nordic thinking of idiocy was strongly influenced from French, Swiss and Prussian forerunners. The first efforts in the Nordic countries were attempted by psychiatrists, theologians and teachers for the deaf and dumb. The precursor in Sweden, a woman, had to connect to the available female/religious strategy of the time for her participation. The study concludes that although the activists spoke about “the time of the idiots” it was also a time for the activists to create possibilities for entrepreneurship and professional careers. The medical knowledge of idiocy was in its infancy. The educational progression was moderate and built upon the theories of the time.

This study examines the foreign policy views of the Canadian thinker, George Grant. It focuses on the years between Mackenzie King’s re-election in 1935 and the Liberal party’s return to power under Lester Pearson in 1963. During this period, Grant argued, Canada was transformed from a British dependent to a satellite of the United States, a process that he believed had been accelerated by the continentalist economic and security policies of successive Liberal governments. As a young man during World War II, Grant admired the United States of F. D. Roosevelt. But as he began to contemplate the threat that a postwar Pax Americana posed to the societies of the Old World, and, ultimately, to Canada, his misgivings grew. His attempts to understand the emerging order led him to a critical study of modern liberalism, which he believed provided the chief philosophical justification for America’s expansion. Unlike Marxists who saw liberalism as simply an ideology of individual greed, Grant claimed that it succeeded largely by appealing to our hopes for social progress. These hopes found their loftiest expression in the belief that liberalism’s internationalization would produce the conditions for the overcoming of war within and between nations. Grant feared that this ideal could only be achieved through the annihilation of all real cultural diversity—the realization of what he called the universal and homogeneous state. One of his unique claims was that the Liberal policy of rapprochement with the United States after 1935 signaled the growing dominance of this ideal within Canada. This dominance was fed during the Cold War by “realists” like Pearson who decried the utopianism of communism, while failing to reckon with the utopian aspirations of his own society. Fearful of Marxist one-worldism, Pearson committed himself to a single-minded defence of a liberal order that tended to produce even greater homogeneity around the world. Grant’s own practical aim in writing about foreign policy, I argue, was neither to defend liberalism against its “utopian” critics, nor to reject it for an alternative like Marxism, but to highlight the utopian aspirations of liberal society, and thereby subject it to the moderating influence of doubt.

This study examines the foreign policy views of the Canadian thinker, George Grant. It focuses on the years between Mackenzie King’s re-election in 1935 and the Liberal party’s return to power under Lester Pearson in 1963. During this period, Grant argued, Canada was transformed from a British dependent to a satellite of the United States, a process that he believed had been accelerated by the continentalist economic and security policies of successive Liberal governments. As a young man during World War II, Grant admired the United States of F. D. Roosevelt. But as he began to contemplate the threat that a postwar Pax Americana posed to the societies of the Old World, and, ultimately, to Canada, his misgivings grew. His attempts to understand the emerging order led him to a critical study of modern liberalism, which he believed provided the chief philosophical justification for America’s expansion. Unlike Marxists who saw liberalism as simply an ideology of individual greed, Grant claimed that it succeeded largely by appealing to our hopes for social progress. These hopes found their loftiest expression in the belief that liberalism’s internationalization would produce the conditions for the overcoming of war within and between nations. Grant feared that this ideal could only be achieved through the annihilation of all real cultural diversity—the realization of what he called the universal and homogeneous state. One of his unique claims was that the Liberal policy of rapprochement with the United States after 1935 signaled the growing dominance of this ideal within Canada. This dominance was fed during the Cold War by “realists” like Pearson who decried the utopianism of communism, while failing to reckon with the utopian aspirations of his own society. Fearful of Marxist one-worldism, Pearson committed himself to a single-minded defence of a liberal order that tended to produce even greater homogeneity around the world. Grant’s own practical aim in writing about foreign policy, I argue, was neither to defend liberalism against its “utopian” critics, nor to reject it for an alternative like Marxism, but to highlight the utopian aspirations of liberal society, and thereby subject it to the moderating influence of doubt.

Research on Fiscal Thought and Practice of Deng,Siao-Ping Cai,Ding-Nan Abstract To utilize the Document Analysis Method and the Historical Study Method, I research and detect the sources of Deng, Siao-Ping¡¦s fiscal thought to conclude as follows. 1. Derive from the Dialectical Materialism and the Historical Materialism. 2. Derive from one¡¦s own specific times background. 3. Derive from the Productive Forces Theory of Marxism. 4. Derive from the Communist Manifesto and the Communism ABC. I conclude the major principles of Deng, Siao-Ping¡¦s fiscal thought as follows. 1. The principle of avoiding polarization. 2. The principle of freedom. 3. The principle of developing productive forces. 4. The principle of reform and open policy. 5. The principle of advocating industry and opposing waste. Deng, Siao-Ping was the most major policy-maker during 1979¡ã1997, and he controlled the fate of China. The study object of this essay is Chinese fiscal revenue and expenditure during 1979¡ã1997. The coefficient of elasticity of Chinese fiscal revenue was 0.46 during 1979¡ã1988. Comparing that with modern fiscal system of other countries, and we can conclude that Chinese Finance Contract System was a defective fiscal system. Since practicing the Tax Distribution System, the coefficient of elasticity of Chinese fiscal revenue was rising from 1996. The Chinese fiscal revenue ability was 1.2 in 1996 and 2.0 in 2002. The average of coefficient of Chinese fiscal revenue was 0.66 during1979¡ã1997. This value was low, and that said that the Chinese fiscal revenue ability during this period was low. The proportion of Chinese fiscal expenditure to GDP was 31.7¢M in 1979 and 11.6¢M in 1997. It said that the fiscal expenditure reform fell behind. In fiscal expenditure management¡A the budget was not rigorous and the supervision of expenditure was not serious. Three reforms (the department budget, the national treasury centralism and the government purchase system) could not produce a marked effect of fiscal expenditure. It is the core problem of fiscal expenditure how to pursue the maximum of society benefit of fiscal expenditure. The average of coefficient of elasticity of Chinese fiscal expenditure was 0.76 during 1979¡ã1997. The value was low, and that said that the Chinese fiscal expenditure ability was low. The key of government life and development is the fiscal ability. If the fiscal revenue ability decreases, the economic control ability will decrease. This will occur economic crisis and social turbulence. Finally, the national total ability will decrease. Therefore, the government economic ability depends on the ability of the government to centralize and dominate the social treasury. Taiwan has potential crisis. Chinese economy and Taiwan economy have an influence on each other. If Chinese economy develops quickly, Taiwan will be the maximum beneficiary. But, Chinese economy has a lot of invisible crises under the quick development. For example, Chinese national enterprises do not achieve much and the gap between the rich and the poor enlarges, etc. If Chinese economic crisis breaks out, Taiwan will be a fish out of water. Therefore, it is due to pay attention to and to work on the change of Chinese finance.

This Research and Design (R&D) study models the methodology necessary to replicate an online assessment instrument designed to assess student skills and facets of thought while understanding Multiple Meanings and Models of Fractions (MUL) in college level developmental mathematics. The researcher used cognitive research done in the area of fractions to design this instrument that both documents and assesses facets of thought or reasoning strategies used by students. The final facet cluster is a table that ranks these facets from least to most problematic, documenting the student facets of thought across the content objective MUL. Over 500 student and teacher participants were used in the design and development of Fraction Diagnoser. All participants were affiliated with college developmental mathematics in Texas, representing four colleges and universities. Forty-eight student participants were individually interviewed to ascertain facets of understanding on the topic of MUL. Seven teacher participants were individually interviewed as to the effectiveness of Fraction Diagnoser in the classroom after the final step of the R&D cycle. Content experts were used to design the questions assessing skills and facets. Fraction Diagnoser was built using the Borg and Gall R&D cycle as its blueprint. Nine of the ten steps of the R&D cycle were used in the development of the instrument, excluding just the final product revision due to cost and time restraints. According to Borg and Gall (1996), a dissertation R&D should be limited to a few steps, but all of the steps used for this R&D allowed for the researcher to completely address all of the research questions. During the steps of the R&D cycle, validation and reliability analyses were done to statistically address the effectiveness of Fraction Diagnoser. Final interviews with the teacher participants supported findings in recent research on the effective use of online assessment. Implications for practice and recommendations for further study were also addressed.

Part of Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1932. / Photolithographed. "Private edition, distributed by the University of Chicago libraries.