I Logische Untersuchungen formulerade Edmund Husserl sin fenomenologi – ”en filosofi som sträng vetenskap”. Fenomenologin med dess metod, epochén, skall utövas under parollen ”Till sakerna själva!” Genom att ifrågasätta invanda tankesätt skall vi sätta världen inom parentes och därigenom nå objektiv kunskap. Denna uppsats behandlar intersubjektivitetsproblemet hos fenomenologin. Genom en studie av Husserls Cartesianische Meditationen, Martin Heideggers Sein und Zeit och Maurice Merleau-Pontys Phénoménologie de la perception närmar jag mig frågan om ”De andra hos Merleau-Ponty”. Hur kan vi förstå den andre och annanheten när fenomenologins epoché är en metodisk solipsism som berövar subjektet dess värld? Merleau-Ponty gör oförnuftet, tvetydigheten och slumpen till tema för sitt tänkande. Genom perceptionen varseblir vi världen och subjektet är (i) sin värld genom den levda kroppen. Det finns inget ”inre” utan det är genom världen, och vår verksamhet däri, som vi känner oss själva. Merleau-Pontys subjekt är ”vikt åt världen”. / In Logische Untersuchungen Edmund Husserl defined his phenomenology as a science for finding objectivity. The method of phenomenology, the phenomenological reduction, would provide knowledge on indubitable grounds by going back “to the things themselves”. We must put the world aside if we want to find objective knowledge. This essay is a reading of Edmund Husserls Cartesianische Meditationen, Martin Heideggers Sein und Zeit and Maurice Merleau-Pontys Phénoménologie de la perception, and their theories of the others. How can we understand other in our mind when phenomenology in the course of its methodological solipsism, thought the phenomenological reduction, would seem to deprive the subject from the world? Merleau-Ponty makes ambiguity and accidental existence a theme for his philosophy. Through perception we apprehend the world, as lived through with our bodies. There is no “inner man”. With some else’s words: ”Your abode is your act itself. Your act is you.”

Traditionellt har det antagits att användning och förståelse av spatiala prepositioner i första hand sker utifrån geometriska kriterier. Senare studier har visat att prepositioner också påverkas dels av huruvida de spatialt relaterade objekten också är funktionellt relaterade eller inte och dels av den visuella miljö som objekten utgör en del av. Dessa faktorer påverkar valet av perspektiv utifrån vilket prepositioner tillskrivs spatiala relationer, samt användning och förståelse av dem i situationer då de enbart kan tillskrivas utifrån ett perspektiv. Detta arbete undersöker experimentellt hur dessa två faktorer påverkar användning och perspektivtagande vid användning av de projektiva prepositionerna ovanför, nedanför, framför, bakom och bredvid. Resultaten visar att en funktionell relation mellan de spatialt relaterade föremålen och tillgången till en visuell miljö ökar benägenheten att använda prepositionerna utifrån ett perspektiv som utgår från föremålens egna orienteringar. Resultaten talar för att användningen av dessa prepositioner är mer situations-beroende än vad som traditionellt har antagits.

Med ett urval om 430 deltagare avsåg denna studie att undersöka om sambandet mellan individens moralfundament och fördomsfulla attityder modereras av individens attityd mot tvetydighet, förstådd som faktorerna obekväm inför tvetydighet, moralisk absolutism och behov av komplexitet. För att skapa ett mätinstrument för fördomsfulla attityder utfördes en explorativ faktoranalys utifrån deltagarnas positiva eller negativa attityd responser gentemot 21 olika sociala grupper och kategorier. Analysen replikerade tidigare studier och visade en närvaro av 3 fördomsfaktorer: förringade-, farliga- och dissidenta grupper. För att testa den centrala hypotesen utfördes 6 multipla regressioner som samtliga kontrollerade för ålder. Resultatet visade inte på någon närvaro av en moderationseffekt men väl flertalet huvudeffekter. Överlag var prediktionseffekten av fördomsfulla attityder starkare för bindande fundament relativt individens attityd mot tvetydighet. Bindande fundament predicerade mer fördomsfulla attityder oavsett typ av fördom men effekten var starkast för fördomsfulla attityder mot dissidenta grupper. Moralisk absolutism predicerade fördomsfulla attityder mot dissidenta- och förringade grupper. Behov av komplexitet predicerade mer fördomsfulla attityder mot dissidenta grupper. Obekväm inför tvetydighet predicerade mindre fördomsfulla attityder mot dissidenta grupper. I jämförelse uppvisade moralisk absolutism den starkaste prediktionseffekten av tvetydighetsfaktorerna och detta vid prediktion av attityder mot dissidenta grupper. Ålder uppvisade tecken på en huvudeffekt i det att äldre individer tenderade att vara mer toleranta mot förringade- och dissidenta grupper. Avslutningsvis diskuteras begränsningar och uppslag inför framtida studier. / With a sample of 430 participants this study aimed to investigate if the relationship between the individual’s moral foundations and prejudice attitudes is moderated by the individual’s attitude towards ambiguity, understood as the factors discomfort with ambiguity, moral absolutism and need for complexity. To create a measurement for prejudice attitudes an exploratory factor analysis was performed on the participants positive or negative affective attitude responses towards 21 different social groups and categories. The analysis replicated earlier findings and showed the presence of 3 prejudice factors: derogated-, dangerous- and dissidient groups. To test the main hypothesis 6 multiple regressions controlling for age was performed. The result showed no presence of a moderation effect but there was support for several main effects. Overall the prediction effect for prejudice attitudes was stronger for binding foundations than the individuals attitude towards ambiguity. Binding foundations predicted more prejudice attitudes regardless of type of prejudice but the effect was strongest for prejudice attitudes towards dissident groups. Moral absolutism predicted prejudice attitudes towards dissident- and derogated groups. Need for complexity predicted more prejudice attitudes towards dissident groups. Discomfort with ambiguity predicted less prejudice attitudes towards dissident groups. In comparison moral absolutism showed the strongest prediction effect of the ambiguity factors in predicting attitudes towards dissident groups. Age showed signs of a main effect in that older individuals tended to be more tolerant towards derogated- and dissident groups. Limitations and suggestions for further research is also discussed.

Since 2016 the external communication of the Swedish international development cooperation agencys (Sida) has been governed by the ‘Strategi för informations- och kommunikationsverksamhet, inklusive genom organisationer i det civila samhället, 2016–2022’. Government investigations have shown that the strategy leaves room for divergent interpretation due to abstract formulations and ambiguous objectives. Several researchers have studied How ambiguous strategy is interpreted by organizational members. However, there are no studies that, beyond the scope of profession-related factors, examine Why the interpretationsappear in any given way. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to analyze the interpretation process of an ambiguous strategy, by examining how cognitive, social and structural factors affect how employees at the communication units of Sida and Sida Partnership Forum interpret, and (consequently) enact the 'Strategy for information and communication activities 2016-2022 '. Based on the idea of accumulative understanding, the thesis theoretical framework consisted of Eric Eisenberg's Strategic Ambiguity, Abdallah & Langley's dimensions of the strategy process, and Hall's encoding/decoding model for communication. We used a combination of strategy documents and semi-structured interviews to answer the research questions through an interpretive discourse analysis. Ascertained organizational discourses were linked back to the theories of Strategic ambiguity and encoding/decoding to draw conclusions from chosen theoretical perspective. We found that organizational socialization, governing signals and actors as well as formal structures for strategy planning caused divergent interpretations and perceptions of the InfoCom-strategy. We also found that how the employees interpreted the InfoCom strategy affects how it was enacted in their work. Since the strategy does not offer clear directives, the enactment seems to differ depending on the employee's position at Sida or SPF.

Emojis are useful and efficient tools in computer-mediated communication. The present study aims to find out how English-speaking Twitter users employ five specific emojis, and if they utilize them for the same pragmatic functions. The five emojis were chosen based on earlier research on the subject. One of them was deemed unambiguous and four were deemed ambiguous in previous studies. To investigate whether these emojis are ambiguous and if they are used for several pragmatic functions, a corpus was made by collecting tweets from Twitter. 100 tweets were gathered for each emoji: 50 from New York and 50 from London. Each tweet was analyzed in order to see what function the emoji served in each tweet. Another objective was to find out if cultural differences had any importance for the pragmatic function of the emojis. Three of the four emojis that had been deemed ambiguous by previous research were considered to be ambiguous in the present study as well, as they displayed a multitude of different pragmatic meanings. The single emoji that was considered to be unambiguous by previous research, was used in a consistent manner in the present study, which confirmed the theory that it truly is unambiguous. The results also showed that cultural influences do play a role in how people use emojis for different pragmatic functions. / Emojis är användbara och effektiva verktyg i digital kommunikation. Denna undersökning syftar till att ta reda på hur engelsktalande Twitter-användare använder fem specifika emojis, och om de utnyttjar dem för att förmedla samma pragmatiska funktioner. Fem emojis valdes utifrån tidigare forskning i ämnet; en av dem ansågs entydig och fyra ansågs tvetydiga i tidigare studier. För att undersöka om dessa emojis är tvetydiga, och om de används för flera pragmatiska funktioner, gjordes en corpus genom att samla in tweets från Twitter. 100 tweets samlades in för varje emoji; 50 från New York och 50 från London. Varje tweet analyserades för att se vilken funktion emojin hade i varje tweet. Ett annat syfte var att ta reda på om kulturella skillnader har någon betydelse för vilken pragmatisk funktion emojin tjänar. Tre av de fyra emojis som i tidigare forskning ansetts vara tvetydiga kan betraktas som tvetydiga även i denna studie, eftersom de visade på en mängd olika pragmatiska betydelser. Den emoji som ansågs vara otvetydig i tidigare forskning visade sig användas på ett konsekvent sätt även i denna studie, vilket bekräftar teorin om att den verkligen är entydig. Resultaten av denna studie visade även att det finns en kulturell påverkan på hur människor använder emojis för olika pragmatiska funktioner.

The first phase of new product development (NPD) is today commonly referred to as the Front End (FE) of NPD. The phase has received a decent amount of attention during the recent years, nevertheless insufficient considering its ability to influence a project’s outcome. The phase begins when an idea is born, and ends when a formal meeting decides whether to invest in the idea or not. The investment then leads the project to enter a formal phase. During the FE, a large number of issues occur, which are believed to be the result of deficient processing of information. If the issues are not managed correctly, the NPD procedure will not be efficient. When information is being processed into knowledge, sometimes an uncertain, equivocal, or complex situation arises, which leads to delays, additional costs, and wasted efforts. These information processing problems (IPPs) need to be managed by firms in order to reduce their negative repercussions. Depending on a firm’s perception of the novelty towards a product, the project is considered to be either radical or incremental. Depending on that novelty, it is theorized that the IPPs will have different dispersions, and pose differently significant challenges to the project. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate the differences of the significance and dispersion of the IPPs, during the FE, when comparing radical and incremental NPD projects. For this purpose, a case study approach was deemed appropriate. In order to collect data concerning the IPPs, seven case studies were conducted. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews, with respondents that possess' an extensive experience from working with NPD within Swedish firms. The data analysis from the seven interviews proved that indeed there is a difference in how the IPPs vary, dependent on whether the project is of a radical or incremental nature. All the IPPs showed higher levels of significance in the FE in radical projects, than in incremental ones. Uncertainty proved to be the IPP that differed the most and therefore possessed the greatest significance difference. This means that differentiated approaches in radical respective incremental projects are needed in order to reduce uncertainty. Equivocality represented the IPP with the least difference in significance, meaning that the FE in radical and incremental projects require rather similar design in how to prevent equivocal problems. By understanding the differences in dispersion and significance, one can create differentiated management approaches during the FE, that fit the level of novelty of the product at hand. For some products, preventive actions must be taken to a larger degree compared to others. By doing so, the lead time of the FE can be shortened as less problems will arise, creating a faster and smoother process. The resources saved could be spent on improving activities, instead of being wasted on repairing unnecessary problems. The study contributes to the research field of NPD by adding newknowledge, aiding the collective effort of increasing firm’s proficiency in how to manage the FE.

There is an ongoing transition towards driverless trucks within the truck industry. However, there is limited research regarding the aftersales aspects of driverless trucks. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis project is to investigate expected challenges and current visions of the aftersales system for driverless trucks within the organization of Scania CV and Traton. The study aims to identify potential obstacles in the development of aftersales activities for driverless trucks in hub-to-hub contexts and proposes guidelines for managing the development. Hub-to-hub is defined as long-haulage transports between terminals. The thesis project covers several theoretical fields relevant to the subject, including product service systems, ambidextrous organizations, change management, visions within organizations, and handling ambiguity. The study was conducted by executing two field visits at Scania workshops to establish an understanding of the current aftersales system design, discussions with two experts within Scania CV, and two rounds of interviews with a total of 14 respondents from relevant departments at Scania CV and Traton to source empirical data on the current visions of an aftersales system for driverless trucks. The first round of interviews was mostly with upper managers and the second round with lower managers. According to the findings, there are various ambiguities and challenges regarding both technological and business-related aspects of the aftersales system design for driverless truck applications, establishing a need for collaboration between the concerned departments. There are differing visions between departments and within them. Various theories can support the collaboration process and handle ambiguity. Based on the empirical findings, a dissection of the current status quo is presented, and a discussion of how more favorable conditions for aftersales development can be induced. / Inom lastbilsindustrin pågår ett skifte till förarlösa lastbilar. Det finns dock begränsad forskning om eftermarknadsaspekterna av förarlösa lastbilar. Syftet med detta examensarbete är därför att undersöka förväntade utmaningar och nuvarande visioner för eftermarknadssystemet för förarlösa lastbilar inom Scania CV och Traton. Studien syftar till att identifiera potentiella hinder i utvecklingen av eftermarknaden för förarlösa lastbilar i linjetransport och föreslår riktlinjer för att hantera utvecklingen. Linjetransporter är defienrat som längre transporter mellan terminaler. Examensarbetet täcker flera teoretiska områden som är relevanta för ämnet, inklusive produktservicesystem, ambidextriska organisationer, förändringsledning, visioner inom organisationer och hantering av tvetydigheter. Studien genomfördes genom två fältbesök på Scania verkstäder för att skapa en förståelse för den nuvarande utformningen av eftermarknadssystemet, diskussioner med två experter inom Scania CV och två intervjuomgångar med totalt 14 respondenter från relevanta avdelningar inom Scania CV och Traton. Intervjuerna utfördes för att samla in empiriska data om de nuvarande visionerna för ett eftermarknadssystem för förarlösa lastbilar. Den första intervjuomgången var mestadels med högre chefer och den andra omgången med lägre chefer. Enligt resultaten finns det olika tvetydigheter och utmaningar när det gäller både tekniska och affärsrelaterade aspekter av utformningen av eftermarknadssystemet för förarlösa lastbilstillämpningar, vilket skapar ett behov av samarbete mellan de berörda avdelningarna. Det finns olika visioner mellan avdelningarna och inom dem. Olika teorier kan stödja samarbetsprocessen och hantera tvetydighet och med hjälp av den empiriska datan kommer en analys av den nuvarande samarbetsstrukturen presenteras. I kombination med detta kommer även förslag presentears gällande hur mer gynnsamma förutsättningar för eftermarknadsutveckling kan etableras.

<p>The purpose of this essay is to discuss the base of sociology from an existentialistic perspective. The discussion takes it's position in the debate on the crisis of sociology, and aligns with Alvin Gouldner's understanding of the crisis. Gouldner believed that the crisis of sociology was mirrored in a sociological method that failed to describe the social reality that it meant to describe; a lack in self-criticism and self-reflexivity, a lack in self-containment in relation to state interests and a lack in moral engagement. This raises a number of questions, which I discuss in the essay. What is the role of sociology in our society? How shall we form a method that responds to the social reality that we sociologists aim to describe? How can we make sociology more moral?</p><p>Existentialism offers a starting point to describe these questions. I argue that the existentialistic description of man as essence carries implications for the social science. By constituting a critique of a computable moral, existentialism points at the necessity of a standing self-criticism and dialogue. An existentialistic description of man as non-essence carries implications for the theory and method of sociology. Man's possibility of radical exceeding of himself means the impossibility to reach theories that describe reality as it is. At the same time, method and theory are necessary to create knowledge about social phenomenon. I read existentialism as an imperative for a sociology that is reflexive in the sense a) a reflexivity in relation to the basic presumptions (value philosophical and ontological) that effect our sociological examinations b) a self-reflexivity that amount to an understanding of the scientists own role relation to his study and the object being studied. Furthermore, I read existentialism as an imperative for a radicalization of dialogue as method.</p>

The purpose of this essay is to discuss the base of sociology from an existentialistic perspective. The discussion takes it's position in the debate on the crisis of sociology, and aligns with Alvin Gouldner's understanding of the crisis. Gouldner believed that the crisis of sociology was mirrored in a sociological method that failed to describe the social reality that it meant to describe; a lack in self-criticism and self-reflexivity, a lack in self-containment in relation to state interests and a lack in moral engagement. This raises a number of questions, which I discuss in the essay. What is the role of sociology in our society? How shall we form a method that responds to the social reality that we sociologists aim to describe? How can we make sociology more moral? Existentialism offers a starting point to describe these questions. I argue that the existentialistic description of man as essence carries implications for the social science. By constituting a critique of a computable moral, existentialism points at the necessity of a standing self-criticism and dialogue. An existentialistic description of man as non-essence carries implications for the theory and method of sociology. Man's possibility of radical exceeding of himself means the impossibility to reach theories that describe reality as it is. At the same time, method and theory are necessary to create knowledge about social phenomenon. I read existentialism as an imperative for a sociology that is reflexive in the sense a) a reflexivity in relation to the basic presumptions (value philosophical and ontological) that effect our sociological examinations b) a self-reflexivity that amount to an understanding of the scientists own role relation to his study and the object being studied. Furthermore, I read existentialism as an imperative for a radicalization of dialogue as method.

Emojis can be ambiguous, even when used within one and the same language and geographic region, but they are also a globally accessible language in computer-mediated communication. This paper aims to examine if emoji usage across five different national varieties of English (American, English, Australian, Indian, and Nigerian), geographically located on five different continents, exhibits similar pragmatic functionality and sentiment. To achieve this aim, an analysis was made into the usage of three of the most frequently used emojis in tweets written by users from these five English-speaking countries. The number of tweets analyzed is 50 per selected emoji per selected variety of English, for a total of 750 tweets. The analytical process was to qualitatively determine the pragmatic function and sentiment the selected emoji exhibited in tweets. The results indicated that the pragmatic functionality and sentiment of the targeted emojis across the samples were generally similar, especially for Loudly Crying Face, but also for Face with Tears of Joy, whereas Sparkles showed more individual differences across the samples. A substantial finding was that it was possible to analyze facial and non-facial emojis in the same way. / Emojis kan vara tvetydliga, även inom samma språk och geografiska region, men de utgör också ett globalt tillgängligt språk inom datorförmedlad kommunikation. Syftet med uppsatsen är att fastställa om användningen av emojis inom fem olika nationella varianter av engelska (amerikansk, engelsk, australiensk, indisk, och nigeriansk), geografiskt lokaliserade på fem olika kontinenter, uppvisar liknande pragmatisk funktionalitet och attityd. För att uppnå syftet analyserades användningen av tre av de mest använda emojisarna i tweets skrivna av användare från dessa fem engelsktalande länder. Antalet tweets som har analyserats är 50 per utvald emoji per nationell variant av engelska, sammanlagt 750 tweets. Den analytiska processen var baserad kring att bestämma den pragmatiska funktionen och den attityd som de utvalda emojisarna uppvisade i tweets. Resultatet indikerade att den pragmatiska funktionaliteten och attityden hos de utvalda emojisarna var generellt sett snarlika över urvalen, speciellt för Ljudligt gråtande ansikte, men även för Ansikte med tårar av skratt, medan Glitter påvisade mer individuella skillnader över urvalen. En betydande upptäckt var att det var möjligt att analysera faciala och icke-faciala emojisar på samma sätt.