This paper considers the influences of fate and free will in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Current scholarship on the topic generally agrees that Rowling champions free will by allowing her characters learning opportunities through their choices. By using Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy on fate and free will and by more closely examining the Harry Potter texts, this paper demonstrates fate’s stronger presence in Rowling’s fictional world. Certain strong-willed characters rise above their peers’ fated states by embracing their personal fates and exercising their wills to create themselves within fated destinies. The paper also explores the possibility of an authority directing fate.

This study discusses how the literary device of time travel can limit or empower protagonists. The main focus is on H.G. Wells The Time Machine and the two films of the same name inspired by the novel. The popularity of time travel in film springs from the myriad storytelling possibilities the device provides, and the writers agenda determines what place, if any, logic and causality have in the story. Some narratives endorse the theory of eternalism, where time is fixed and the time travellers actions are fated to be consistent with the history the traveller knows. But many films rely on theories of multiple timelines and many worlds, giving the traveller a much greater range of agency. Paradoxes of causality can inhibit the travellers actions as well. This essay discusses the broad spectrum in time travel narrative, where at one end travellers are imprisoned in history, and at the other they enjoy a great deal of freedom.

Friedrich Nietzsche, 100 years after his death, remains a controversial figure in philosophy. Much of this controversy stems from Nietzsche's view of truth, which seems superficially hopelessly contradictory, vacillating between relativism and denial of truth on the one hand, and praise for science and hard truths on the other. Thus, any person wanting to defend Nietzsche's positive philosophy must first make sense of his epistemology. The solution to this puzzle regarding Nietzsche's theory of truth is the realization that Nietzsche changes his view on truth. Much like Wittgenstien, Nietzsche had an early and a late period in his epistemic views, and a middle period where he is struggling with two very different, incompatible views. The late view of truth is surprisingly straightforward: Nietzsche can be seen as an early pragmatist. Once we have a coherent truth theory, we can then start to conclude some of the more contentious arguments in Nietzsche's philosophy, such as: what is the Will to Power, and how does Nietzsche's view of truth interact with his criticism of morality? This thesis will trace the development of the former and endeavor to answer some of the latter.

Several commentators make the claim that Augustine is not a systematic thinker. The purpose of this thesis is to refute that claim in one specific area of Augustine's thought, the metaphysical foundations underlying his solutions to the problem of evil. Through an exegetical examination of various works in which Augustine writes on evil, I show that his solutions for both natural and moral evil rely on a coherent metaphysical system, conceived of and expounded upon within a Platonically influenced Christian context.

With a background in the 17th century’s English political events, but also the ideological scene of that time, the purpose of this essay is to analyze two concepts, freedom and happiness, in Thomas Hobbes’s political writings. Hobbes is well known for his political works, mostly for Leviathan, where his thoughts about government and religion are exposed. But what does he say about freedom? And what about happiness? The study shows that Hobbes’s political thought is quite original from this aspect too. Freedom and happiness are defined both from an individual and a political perspective. His philosophical system is based on materialism and mechanism, and so is his view on the concepts of freedom and happiness. In the study of the concept of freedom attention is paid to another concept associated in a way with freedom: free will. Both Hobbes’ view on free will and the connection between the two of them are highlighted. The aim is to find a connection between freedom and happiness in Hobbes political philosophy. It is found, but it changes according to the perspective one starts to look at it. The title is a question: You are free, so are you happy? Looking into Hobbes’s political writings an attempt to answer this question is made. One conclusion can be: one can be both free and happy as part of a society.

The work of Shakespeare has been popular to make film adaptations of from the birth of cinema. Macbeth, one of his most often played tragedies, is no exception. But how did Shakespeare portray Lady Macbeth in his play, and how do directors in the 21th century choose to portray her for a modern audience? I will try to find the answer to these questions by analyzing Shakespeare´s play as well as three modern adaptations. I will begin the thesis by looking at scholars´ view in questions regarding gender, free will, adaptations and genre before analyzing the play and the three movies. I will do this so in order to make comparisons between the play and the three adaptations. My conclusion is that Shakespeare wrote Lady Macbeth as a strong woman, an “unwomanly” woman of her time. The three adaptations also portray her as a strong woman, but in three different ways. I cannot draw any overall conclusions as this thesis is a subjective interpretation of text as well as picture, but further analysis of more adaptations of Macbeth can perhaps verify what has been stated in this thesis.

There are many parallels and points of similarity between the themes of the play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett and the themes explored by Friedrich Nietzsche. This essay examines the play in light of some of Nietzsche’s key concepts, such as the Will to Power, the Übermensch or Overman, the Eternal Recurrence, as well as the aesthetic conception of existence. The essay argues that while Waiting for Godot shares many of the premises and conclusions of Nietzsche’s philosophy, the play can also be interpreted as a critique of the same. The play presents a post-religious world marked by pessimism and resignation rather than affirmation and Nietzschean amor fati. The characters are as far removed from the heroic Overman ideal as can be imagined, unable to harness the Will to Power, which is absent or distorted or even unknowable. Communication is fraught with difficulty and uncertainty. The dynamic of the Eternal Recurrence is present but rather than being affirmed it is a source of crushing boredom, tediousness and existential angst. The characters are unable to embrace the Eternal Recurrence and are in a continual state of mental flight from its implications. They suffer from a vague recollection of the past while projecting their hopes into the future in order to diminish the unbearable suffering of the existing present, or state of perpetual becoming. Beckett can thus be said to be offering a satirical critique of the concept of salvation, both in its traditional religious sense as well as in the sense implied by Nietzsche’s concept of the Eternal Recurrence. However, Beckett does offer a sense of hope by suggesting, paradoxically, that the abandonment of hope of salvation may lead to a sort of salvation of resignation.

Friedrich Nietzsche, 100 years after his death, remains a controversial figure in philosophy. Much of this controversy stems from Nietzsche's view of truth, which seems superficially hopelessly contradictory, vacillating between relativism and denial of truth on the one hand, and praise for science and hard truths on the other. Thus, any person wanting to defend Nietzsche's positive philosophy must first make sense of his epistemology. The solution to this puzzle regarding Nietzsche's theory of truth is the realization that Nietzsche changes his view on truth. Much like Wittgenstien, Nietzsche had an early and a late period in his epistemic views, and a middle period where he is struggling with two very different, incompatible views. The late view of truth is surprisingly straightforward: Nietzsche can be seen as an early pragmatist. Once we have a coherent truth theory, we can then start to conclude some of the more contentious arguments in Nietzsche's philosophy, such as: what is the Will to Power, and how does Nietzsche's view of truth interact with his criticism of morality? This thesis will trace the development of the former and endeavor to answer some of the latter.

This study discusses how the literary device of time travel can limit or empower protagonists. The main focus is on H.G. Wells The Time Machine and the two films of the same name inspired by the novel. The popularity of time travel in film springs from the myriad storytelling possibilities the device provides, and the writers agenda determines what place, if any, logic and causality have in the story. Some narratives endorse the theory of eternalism, where time is fixed and the time travellers actions are fated to be consistent with the history the traveller knows. But many films rely on theories of multiple timelines and many worlds, giving the traveller a much greater range of agency. Paradoxes of causality can inhibit the travellers actions as well. This essay discusses the broad spectrum in time travel narrative, where at one end travellers are imprisoned in history, and at the other they enjoy a great deal of freedom.

Bakgrund: Äldre blir allt friskare, vilket gör att de lever längre. Ålderdom är inte längre i symbios med sjukdom och död, utan med frihet och lycka. Då fler blir äldre i samtid ökar antalet pensionsavgångar i takt med att fler blir äldre och riskerar att skapa stora kompetensglapp i organisationer. Därför har senaste tidens debatter speglat diskussioner kring möjligheter att arbete längre då gårdagens yrkesliv speglar dagens pensionsålder.   Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att öka förståelsen för organisationers syn på kompetens samt för vilka metoder och strategier som används vid kompetensöverföring. Vidare ligger fokus på bevarandet av äldre medarbetares kompetens inom organisationen, visa vilken vilja äldre har att förlänga sitt yrkesliv samt vilket intresse organisationer har att tillvarata dem.     Metod: För att besvara vårt syfte har vi utgått från en induktiv ansats där våra kvalitativa intervjuer legat som grund för uppsatsens struktur. Studie är en mix av flerfallstudie och tvärsnittsdesign då vårt syfte inte är att generalisera utan skapa en ökad förståelse.   Slutsats: Vi har fått insikt om att det finns en medvetenhet kring generationsproblematik i organisationer. Dock har de inte några uttalade strategier eller metoder för hur de ska hantera kompetensförluster i takt med pensionsavgångar. Vi har upplevt att kompetens, kompetensöverföring och vilja hänger samman och inte kan frikopplas från varandra. Om inte organisationer på ledningsnivå vet vad för kompetens de talar om, är det också svårt att veta vad som är viktigt att överföra. Även viljan att arbeta med sådana aktiviteter är avgörande för att ett strategiskt arbete ska bli genomförbart. Det finns en vilja att förlänga sitt yrkesliv för äldre medarbetare, viljan förhindras dock av stelbenta attityder och värderingar i samhället. Samhället har tendenser att sätta bäst före datum på saker och ting, vilket även gäller organisationers arbetskraft. System bör därför individualiseras för att minimera kompetensglapp och maximera kompetensnivån i organisationer.  Nyckelord: Kompetens, Kompetensöverföring, Vilja, Äldre medarbetare / Background: Elderly people are healthier, which makes them live longer. Old age is no longer in symbiosis with the illness and death, but of freedom and happiness. As more people become older, the number of retirees is increasing as more people get older and are likely to create major competence losses in organizations. Recent debates reflected discussions about opportunities to work longer since yesterday's work reflects the current retirement age.   Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of organizations' views of competence and for which methods and strategies used in the transfer. Furthermore, the focus is on preservation of elder employees' competence within the organization, to show which will the elderly have to extend their working lives, and which interest organizations have to retain their competence.   Method: In order to answer our purpose, we have an inductive approach where our qualitative interviews formed the basis for the paper structure. Our study is a mix of multi-case study and cross-sectional design since our purpose is not to generalize but to create a better understanding.   Conclusion: There is an awareness of coming retirements within organizations. However, they have no expressed strategies or methods for how to deal with competence loss linked to retirements. We have seen that competence, competence-transfer and will are connected and cannot be separated from each other. Unless organizations at the management level know what competence they are talking about, it is also difficult to know what is important to transfer. Even though willingness to work with such activities are essential for a strategic effort to become feasible. There is also a will for elderly to extend their working life, but the will is blocked by inflexible attitudes and values in the society. Society tends to put expiration dates on things, also in organizations. System should be individualized to minimize competence loss and maximize the level of competence in organizations.    Keywords: Competence, Competence-transfer, Will, Elderly Employees