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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Critical theory'
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1
Pugh, Michael C. "Peacekeeping and Critical Theory." Routledge, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/4033.
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noA deconstruction of the role of peace support operations suggests that they sustain a particular order of world politics that privileges the rich and powerful states in their efforts to control or isolate unruly parts of the world. As a management device it has grown in significance as the strategic imperatives of the post-industrialized, capitalist world have neutered the universal pretensions of the United Nations. Drawing on the work of Robert Cox and Mark Duffield, this essay adopts a critical theory perspective to argue that peace support operations serve a narrow, problem-solving purpose - to doctor the dysfunctions of the global political economy within a framework of liberal imperialism. Two dynamics in world politics might be exploited to mobilize a counter-hegemonic transformation in global governance. First, a radical change in the global trade system and its problematic institutions will create opportunities to emancipate the weak from economic hegemony. Second, future network wars are likely to require increasingly subtle and flexible teams, similar to disaster relief experts, to supply preventive action, economic aid and civilian protection. This might only be achieved by releasing peace support operations from the state-centric control system, and making them answerable to more transparent, more democratic and accountable multinational institutions.
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Akdenizli, Dilek. "Critical Theory, Deliberative Democracy And International Relations Theory." Master's thesis, METU, 2005. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/2/12606881/index.pdf.
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In the 20th century, Critical Theory has been very influential on every discipline of social sciences including international relations. According to Critical IR Theory, traditional theories are problem solving and try to explain repetition and recurrence, rather than changehowever, the main subject matter of an IR theory should be the change itself. The idea of change is also constitutive of Habermasian political thought. Jü
rgen Habermas, as a critical theorist, has developed the model of Deliberative Democracy to provoke a change in the political life of the Western countries towards a more ethical politics. According to Habermas, such a change will eliminate the legitimacy crisis occurred in Western democracies. Therefore, Habermas aims at strengthening the moral basis of democratic understanding in order to make masses participate actively in decision making processes. According to him, rational consensus must be at the centre of democracy, and it can be reached, only if every part of the deliberation has the opportunity to express their arguments equally. Once the idea of rational consensus becomes a regulative rule of democracy, it is possible to change the nature of politics, including international politics
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Duncan, John C. "Nature, history and critical theory." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape15/PQDD_0012/NQ33530.pdf.
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Elliott, Carole. "Critical theory and management education." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.423984.
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Marriott, Stephen Charles. "Critical theory : reason and dialectic." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2000. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2823/.
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Whilst Hegel's influence upon the Frankfurt School's reconstruction of Marx has not gone unnoticed, this influence has never really been adequately theorised. In particular, the question of how the Frankfurt School understood the relation between Hegel's method and Marx's materialism has received very little systematic attention. The present study is a response to this situation: it presents the Frankfurt Marxist tradition as a significant although by no means uncritical contribution to the theory of historical materialism. Moreover, that contribution is shown to derive from some of the central concepts of Hegel's philosophy. Thus in opposition to those commentators, Marxists and non-Marxists alike, who have tended to view Frankfurt Marxism as an exercise in eclectic revisionism, I argue that the work of Horkheimer and his colleagues constitutes an attempt to restate and defend, on the basis of an immanent critique of Hegel's idealism, the fundamental principles of Marx's historical materialism. Accordingly, the central chapters of this thesis are devoted to a close examination of the way in which members of the Frankfurt School, building on the work of Lukács and Korsch, sought to appropriate Hegel's subject-object dialectic on behalf of materialism. In the course of this investigation the following themes come to prominence: the relation between Hegel's social philosophy and a critical theory of society; Horkheimer's project of multi-disciplinary materialism; the methodological significance of the category of totality; materialism as the preponderance of the object; the possibility and nature of a Freud-Marx synthesis; the concept of a critical as opposed to a traditional scientific theory of society. Taken together these themes constitute the basic problematic of the Frankfurt Marxist tradition. The intention of this study is to demonstrate the importance of that problematic for the further development of the materialist theory of history and society.
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Devenney, Mark. "Critical theory and radical democracy." Thesis, University of Essex, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.284602.
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Downey, John William. "Aesthetics, critical theory, and cinema." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.260587.
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Nunez, Iskra. "Critical realist activity theory (CRAT)." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2012. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10020004/.
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This thesis develops a theoretical-interpretive scheme, a Critical Realist Activity Theory (CRAT). It is argued that learning is a passage through the dialectic, the logic of emancipation and for self-emancipation. The structure of CRAT follows the 1M-5A Bhaskarian dialectical schema to show how the theories of Collaborative Learning, Cooperative Learning, Supplemental Instruction, and Activity Theory (AT) function in a pluralist sense to account for the main critical realist categories of reality — 1M: learning as product (non-identity), 2E: learning as process (negativity), 3L: learning as process-in-product (totality), 4D: learning as product-in-process (transformative agency), and 5A: learning as emancipatory intentionality (reflexivity). In particular, CRAT engages the basic tenets of Critical Realism to provide a philosophical foundation and simultaneously, a resolution to various dualisms that AT suffers from. An immanent critique of AT, as a method of argumentation, is particularly effective for this purpose since it involves taking a theory and its claims about the world and using them to show that the theory is inconsistent with itself. Then CRAT goes on to show, at the level of omissive critique, that a key element that is absent from the historical development of the activity-theoretical approach and explains its dualisms is the omission of a critique of empiricism, i.e., a critique of Humean philosophy. Thereafter, CRAT goes on from the immanent and omissive critiques, a step further with an explanatory critique as a means by which to reincorporate the absent element in AT in order to reclaim and strengthen our perception of emancipatory human praxis. The result from cementing this tradition in a critical realist philosophy is a move through dialectical learning.
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Renaud, Michelle Carleton University Dissertation Sociology and Anthropology. "Critical theory, utopia and feminism." Ottawa, 1995.
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Hostettler, Nicholas D. "A critical theory of Eurocentrism." Thesis, SOAS, University of London, 2008. http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/28831/.
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Conventional accounts of Eurocentrism tend not to recognise their own Eurocentricity. Critical theory mitigates this lack of historical reflexivity by disclosing the deep structures of Eurocentrism in the modern tradition of political and social theory and in the forms of modern social relations and social formation. 'Eurocentrism' tends to express negative judgements about the world and its representation from the perspective of civil sociality and its sense of commutative justice, and to point to distorted distributions of modem goods. That perspective is treated here as the ideologeme which provides the conceptual framework of the Eurocentric, 'Modem Imaginary'. This ideologeme it establishes the forms of civil sociality as transhistorical, universals. It also operates as an empirico-transcendent doublet, generating the tradition's contradictory and antinomial categorical structure. The Eurocentric nature of this contradictory structure is disclosed in terms of the critical realist conception of anthropic irrealism. A similar work of categorical transformation discloses the Eurocentric forms of the modem world system. Concretely, Eurocentrism emerges through the competitive universalisation of European (and neo-European) states; their tendencies towards the institution of transnational hegemony; and projects for the Europeanisation and/or functional subordination of the non-European. In terms of abstract social relations, Eurocentric universalisation tends to the creation of global social totalities mediated by the really abstract relations of civil society. A general account of the contradictions between the abstract and concrete dimensions of Europic social formation is provided with an interpretation of Marx's Capital in terms of real irrealism. Also, the epistemic and sociological critiques of Eurocentrism are drawn together as internally related dimensions of the Europic Problematic: the combined and uneven dialectical universalisation of the categories and forms of civil sociality. The implications for critical theory, meanwhile, are that it comes to be understood as critical-theoretical anti-Eurocentrism in contrast to the theoretical-Eurocentrism of traditional theory.
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O'Hanlon, P. A. "A critical evaluation of kantian themes in habermas's critical theory." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.517049.
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Firth, Rhiannon. "Critical utopian citizenship : theory and practice." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2010. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11222/.
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This project seeks to bring a critical utopian methodology to bear upon the institution of citizenship in the hope of imagining a theoretical formulation that could encourage active, anti-hierarchical, participatory and empowering practices. The critical utopian approach disrupts conventional disciplinary boundaries, and allows theories and practices that would not normally be associated with citizenship to be brought into dialogue with the concept in thought and imagination, as part of a strategic intervention. This produces a perspective that is simultaneously estranging and creative, deconstructive and experimental. The body of the work considers three themes in particular: territory, authority and rights, which are frequently posited as foundational for politics and citizenship, and proceeds to deconstruct their dominant formulations by imagining an infinitely critical utopian ‘outside’. Diverse bodies of theory including post-structuralism, anarchism, post-structural and post-left anarchisms, ecology, critical geography and feminism are drawn upon to articulate critical utopias of space without territory, decision-making without authority and ethics without rights. The project then brings another ‘outside’ into dialogue with the theory: practices in what are termed ‘autonomous utopian communities’; including intentional communities, autonomous social centres, housing co-operatives and eco-villages. The aim of the project is to use a dialogue between critically resistant theories and practices to expose the obscured normative and indeed utopian foundations of many dominant theories of citizenship, and to consider the ethical and practical effects of hegemonic and truth-claiming discourses. The project also posits something different: a contingent and open-ended critical utopian citizenship that favours perspectival multiplicity, process over closure, and contingency over certainty, that can be engaged in by citizens and non-citizens in everyday life.
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Hassell, Sweatman Catherine Zoe Wollaston. "Critical point theory applied to bundles." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/10947.
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This study was motivated by the observation that most smooth bundles do not admit a smooth function that is Morse when restricted to every fibre. The complexity c of a critical point of a smooth map is measured by an appropriate codimension of its germ. The subset of smooth maps from a bundle to a manifold with complexity on fibres not exceeding c is studied. Bounds for c are established such that this subset is open and dense in the set of all smooth maps, where sets of smooth maps are always given the Whitney C∞ topology. The bounds are calculated in terms of the dimensions of the base space, the fibre and the manifold into which the bundle is mapped and are proved using the theory of finite germs and a suitable adaptation of the Thom Transversality Theorem. Recent work of Vasil'ev is used to investigate real-valued functions on compact principal S1-bundles. The existence is established of a function with complexity on fibres no more than roughly half of the minimum value for c for the open and dense subsets mentioned above. For certain bundles with fibre of dimension one, the set of smooth real-valued functions that are Morse when restricted to every fibre is shown to be C0 dense but not, in general, C1 dense. For all n-sphere bundles over the circle the set is shown to be C0 dense. The homotopy type of the space of smooth Morse functions on the circle is derived. Arnold's determination of the fundamental group of the generalised Morse functions on the circle is included.
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Hutchinson, Joanna. "Random matrix theory and critical phenomena." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2014. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.682358.
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Critical phenomena relate to the behaviour of systems as a phase transition is approached. They are believed to be universal, in that the behaviour of a large class of different systems fits the same description. The aim of this thesis is to establish universality of critical phenomena for both one-dimensional quantum and two-dimensional classical systems with the use of random matrix theory. The central focus of this work is a general class of quantum spin chains which are quadratic in Fermi operators and have been exactly solved under certain symmetry constraints. We compute the critical properties of this general class of systems, and obtain expressions for various correlators as well as the dynamic and correlation length critical exponent, which we calculate explicitly for specific parameter restrictions. This provides us with a demonstration of how symmetries of the system dictate the critical behaviour. We then exploit mappings between quantum and classical systems enabling us to transport these results into the classical regime by obtaining a class of two-dimensional classical systems whose critical properties are related to those of the quantum system. In particular we make use of two types of equivalence; one type is established by commuting the quantum Hamiltonian with the transfer matrix of a classical system, and the other using the Trotter-Suzuki mapping.
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Kolbas, E. Dean. "Critical theory and the literary canon." Boulder, CO : Westview Press, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.07706.
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Kovacevic, Filip. "Liberating Oedipus? : psychoanalysis as critical theory /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 2002. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p3074417.
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Bhattacharya, Swati. "Theory of human needs: critical analysis." Thesis, University of North Bengal, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/2786.
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SCAMARDO, Giovanna Maurilia Aurora. "LA CRITICAL RACE THEORY RICOSTRUZIONE STORICO CRITICA E ANALISI INTERSEZIONALE DELLA DISCRIMINAZIONE." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10447/91292.
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Mantle, Deborah J. "Critical green political theory and international relations theory : compatability or conflict?" Thesis, Keele University, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.301163.
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Dunbar, Anthony W. "Critical race information theory applying a CRITical race lens to information studies /." Diss., Restricted to subscribing institutions, 2008. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1779835191&sid=16&Fmt=2&clientId=48051&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Hadfield, Colin. "Towards a grounded theory of critical viewing." Faculty of Education, 2005. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/439.
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This thesis is a report on a study in viewing which details the construction of a grounded theory about ‘a pedagogy for critical viewing’. For this to happen a framework of visual language was developed for critical viewing and was provided to the participating teachers and students in the study. The visual framework was then applied to classes selected from the middle years of schooling. This involved an investigation into the implementation of the framework of visual language for the purposes of critical viewing. This then provided the data for constructing ‘a pedagogy for critical viewing’ that has been grounded in the viewing practices of Year 5-8 classrooms. The grounded theory focused on the conditions necessary for critical viewing to take place. These were the knowledges and experiences in critical viewing the students needed to have in order to view visual texts analytically and critically.
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Rechner, Christopher D. "Discursive infections, a critical theory of virus." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp05/mq21139.pdf.
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Connell, Matt F. "The psychoanalytic dimension of Adorno's critical theory." Thesis, Nottingham Trent University, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.387533.
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Higgins, Matthew. "Moral engagement : critical theory, ethics and marketing." Thesis, Keele University, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.368979.
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BRITO, FRANCLIM JORGE SOBRAL DE. "SOCIALENVIRONMENTAL EMANCIPATION: FOR A CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL THEORY." PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 2016. http://www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br/Busca_etds.php?strSecao=resultado&nrSeq=32400@1.
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PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIROESCOLA SUPERIOR DOM HELDER CAMARA
Emancipação socioambiental: por uma Teoria Crítica Ambiental busca discutir hermeneuticamente os contrastes da emancipação social oriunda da tradição marxista da Escola de Frankfurt em suas duas versões, sistematizadas por Theodor Adorno e Max Horkheimer - a primeira radicada no materialismo interdisciplinar e a segunda balizada pelo contexto da razão instrumental - e dos teóricos-críticos contemporâneos, como Boaventura Souza Santos. A começar pela análise analítico-descritiva, desenvolve-se o tema apresentando o status quo da emancipação social desde a conceituação da racionalidade instrumental como efetivo paradigma do sistema capitalista. Em seguida, estudam-se as influências dessa modalidade racional a partir dos pressupostos ético-políticos que a consubstanciam, a saber, os Direitos Humanos, a dignidade da pessoa humana e os modelos democráticos hegemônicos, a fim de se constatar os limites da emancipação social no enredo desenvolvimentista-liberal. Uma vez estruturado o contexto crítico da emancipação social pelas contingências teóricas e críticas, desvela-se a crise ambiental proveniente do modo de produção capitalista, fundamentado na instrumentalidade técnico-científica, a fim de se descobrir o socioambientalismo como novo interlocutor da ação política no que se refere à emancipação socioambiental. Para tanto, o texto projeta-se dialeticamente nas perspectivas emancipatórias presentes na racionalidade socioambiental, em oposição à racionalidade instrumental, e se serve da análise descritiva das ferramentas de cooptação economicista ambiental para justificar que a crise ecológica hodierna, parametrizada pela cientificidade capitalista e seus derivados - sobretudo a desigualdade dos atores sociais, o aumento da pobreza e a degradação ambiental -, tem consistentes pontos convergentes e demanda politicamente novos saberes. O modelo de ação política em que se situa o texto está referenciado pelo ecossocialismo, posicionando a ecologia política como precursora de uma nova cultura social e ambiental lastreada pelo conceito coletivista do modo de existir com os outros - humanos e não-humanos. À guisa de conclusão, tem-se a atualização do pressuposto da Teoria Crítica no que se refere à sua dimensão principiológica: a emancipação socioambiental como possibilidade de se compreender as complexidades do tempo presente e de ser capaz de reinterpretar e resignificar, a partir de matrizes políticas, sociais e ambientais, a racionalidade socioambiental como pressuposto de uma configuração da relação homem-natureza.
Social-Environmental Emancipation: for a Critical Environmental Theory tries to hermeneutically discuss the contrasts of social emancipation from the Marxist tradition of the Frankfurt School in its two versions, systematized by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer - the first one taking root in the interdisciplinary materialism and the second one marked by the context of the instrumental reason -, and of the contemporary theoretical-critical ones such as Boaventura Souza Santos. Starting from the analytical-descriptive assessment, the subject is developed by presenting the status quo of social emancipation from the conceptualization of instrumental rationality as an effective paradigm of the capitalist system. Then, the influences of this rational modality are studied from the ethical-political assumptions that substantiate it, that is, Human Rights, the dignity of the human being and the hegemonic democratic models, in order to define the limits of social emancipation in the developmental-liberal scenario. Once the critical context of social emancipation through theoretical and critical contingencies has been structured, the environmental crisis from the capitalist production mode, based on the technical-scientific instrumentality, is unveiled so that the social environmentalism is discovered as a new interlocutor of the political action in what regards the social-environmental emancipation. On that purpose, the text dialectically projects itself in the emancipatory perspectives found in the social-environmental rationality, as opposed to the instrumental rationality, and uses the descriptive analysis of the environmental economicsbased co-optation tools to justify the fact that the current ecological crisis, parameterized by the capitalist scientificity and its derivatives – especially the inequality of the social actors, increasing poverty and environmental degradation - has consistent convergent points and politically demands new knowledge. The political action model in which the text is located is referred by ecosocialism, positioning political ecology as precursor of a new social and environmental culture based on the collectivist concept of the way of existing with the others - human and non-human.To conclude, the Critical Theory assumption is updated in what regards its principiologic dimension: the social-environmental emancipation as a possibility to understand the complexities of the present times and to be able to reinterpret and give a new meaning, from political, social and environmental matrixes, to the social-environmental rationality as an assumption for a configuration of the man-nature relationship.
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Pleasants, Nigel John. "A Wittgensteinian critique of critical social theory." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.627272.
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Beeke, Matthew A. "Critical incidents : exploring theory, policy and practice." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2011. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10019986/.
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Responding to critical incidents in school communities has become an established part of the practice of educational psychologists (EPs). Despite this the EP professional journal literature is sparse, the last major study being conducted by Houghton in 1996. Within a mixed methods design this study aimed to explore various aspects of EP practice in response to critical incidents. Firstly, critical incident policy and EP journal literature was examined to provide a definition of 'critical incident'. Secondly, following a review of relevant literature separate online questionnaires were developed and completed by 39 Principal EPs and 50 EPs to provide an overview of practice in response to critical incidents. Thirdly, semi-structured interviews were carried out with a number of practicing EPs. Within an 'espoused theory / theory in use' framework, the interviews sought to examine EP practice in relation to theory espoused in the relevant professional and policy literature. The definition generated, which remained robust throughout the study, suggested a systemic impact of critical incidents as well as the impact on individuals and groups. Questionnaire data indicated that critical incident training and policy are now widespread. Debriefing was commonly carried out by EPs following critical incidents and supervision for EPs remained a salient issue. Evaluation of the critical incident work described was largely through informal consultation with school staff. The thematic analysis of interview data yielded several factors and theories in the practice of EPs that had received relatively little attention in policy and EP journal literature. Consideration of the wider trauma literature led to further suggestions of ways in which these may be applied to EP practice. It is argued that greater consideration of the systemic impact of critical incidents coupled with an awareness of the application of salutogenic and positive psychology approaches can provide balance to conceptualisations based on the negative sequelae for individuals and groups.
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Maialeh, Robin. "Critical Theory and Dialectics of Contemporary Economics." Doctoral thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2017. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-358999.
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The subject of this dissertation thesis is a confrontation of contemporary economic thought with critical theory. Based on the holistic critique of the production process, the author deals with elementary principles of wealth creation and allocation, mirroring themselves in the issue of economic inequality. An applied transdisciplinary approach leads to dialectical understanding of market mechanism which accentuates an antagonistic character of its actors´ aims and reveals its non-empirical causalities. These abstract connections then become a viable explanatory complement to already advanced empirical apparatus of economic inequality. The goal of the thesis is to formulate an economic model that takes into consideration both empirical findings of contemporary studies on economic inequality and reflection of the critical theory. The value added lies in the fact that the economic model presents an interaction of economic agents and through probabilistic drive towards deepening economic inequalities exposes market mechanism as the diverging factor of social reproduction. Further, the model shows that Pareto-optimization, a frequently used analytically-normative tool of contemporary economics, principally does not suffice in grasping market-based inequalities. The contribution of the thesis is researching particular economic phenomena from the unique perspective which has not been yet fully accomplished in the context of modern economics.
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Leung, Kwan-yuen Physer. "For a critical theory of law: a Levinasian critique of Dworkin's theory of law as integrity and Habermas'sdiscourse theory of law." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1999. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31238853.
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Ren, Jie. "Quantum Critical Systems from AdS/CFT." Thesis, Princeton University, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3562222.
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The AdS/CFT (anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory) correspondence enables us to construct some strongly coupled quantum field theories by means of general relativity, and this approach provides new universality classes of condensed matter systems. In this dissertation, we will consider three systems.
The first system (chapter 2) is the Reissner-Nordstrom (RN)- AdS4 black hole at finite temperature. By solving the Dirac equation for a massive, charged spinor in this background, we find that the fermions have a Rashba-like dispersion relation, and the Fermi surface has a spin-orbit helical locking structure. We use an improved WKB method that takes into account the spin-orbit coupling. The effective potential has a potential well with a barrier. The quasibound states in the potential well can tunnel through the barrier into the horizon, giving an imaginary part to the mode.
The second system (chapter 3) is the two-charge black hole in AdS5 at zero temperature, which gives an analytically solvable model for the holographic Fermi surface. Descending from type IIB supergravity, the two-charge black hole describes N coincident D3-branes with equal, nonzero angular momenta in two of the three independent planes of rotation orthogonal to the D3-brane world volume. The IR geometry of the extremal two-charge black hole is conformal to AdS 2 × [special characters omitted], and the electric field vanishes in the near horizon limit.
The third system (chapter 4) is the extremal RN-AdS 5 black hole, in which quantum criticality is studied by solving the Klein-Gordon equation. The Green's function near quantum critical points is analytically obtained. There are two types of instability: the first one is triggered by a zero mode, and gives a hybridized critical point; the second one is triggered by the instability of the IR geometry, and gives a bifurcating critical point.
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Foster, Roger Stephen. "Domination and disintegration: Adorno and critical social theory." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/8569.
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The central claim of my thesis is that Theodor Adorno's social theory harbours important insights which can bring to light significant deficiencies and weaknesses in the works of contemporary critical theorists. In order to substantiate this claim, I argue that Adorno's philosophical and sociological writings embody a coherent and systematic version of critical social theory. I then attempt to place Adorno's version of critical social theory in critical and constructive dialogue with the successors to the tradition of Frankfurt School critical theory (Jurgen Habermas and Axel Honneth). This is achieved by reconstructing and reinterpreting Adorno's key theses through insights developed in contemporary social theory. Part One demonstrates, firstly, how Adorno's critical social theory developed from out of the problems of the earlier social-theoretic 'paradigms'. In chapter two, I argue that Adorno, in Negative Dialectics, develops a conception of critical theory as a 'critical dialectic of concepts', derived from a synthesis of the Durkheimian sociology of knowledge, and Hegelian dialectic. Chapter three attempts to substantiate and develop this thesis, and also shows how Adorno develops a theory of linguistic reification. In chapter four, I attempt to expound the social theory underlying the philosophical arguments of Negative Dialectics. In Part Two, I deploy the insights derived from the analysis of Adorno's work in order to furnish a critique of Habermas's critical theory, concerned with its failure to develop an adequate critique of class- and group-specific domination (chapter five) and problems stemming from its formal/abstract conception of moral-practical reason (chapter six). I then turn, in Part Three, to the critical theory of recognition. It is argued that, by returning the concept of social struggle to the centre of the analysis, the theory of recognition is able to theorize structures of domination and oppositional praxis far more adequately than the Habermasian account. However, I argue that this theory needs to integrate insights deriving from Adorno's thesis of integration through domination. I argue that the concept of symbolic power provides for a plausible reconstruction of Adorno's integration thesis, by interpreting integration through domination as occurring at the symbolic rather than the psychic level. In the final chapter, I draw upon contemporary social theory in order to furnish an interpretation of Adorno's social theory as articulating a twofold distortion of instrumental reason, which I characterize as a dialectic of increasing integration through domination, and intensifying lifeworld disintegration.
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Scully, Sharon Opal. "The theory of generational change, a critical reassessment." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp03/MQ57686.pdf.
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Dorsey, Katherine. "Inside/outside : a critical approach to international theory /." Title page and contents only, 1993. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09AR/09ard718.pdf.
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Piano, Linda Maria. "Critical analysis of the resurgence of attachment theory." Thesis, McGill University, 2004. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=81464.
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Over the past few years, attachment theory has taken on increased significance in academic and professional discourse, particularly in the field of child welfare. While this appears to be a relatively new area of interest in social work, the history of attachment theory dates back over five decades. This thesis aims to identify some of the reasons behind the resurgence of attachment theory, in particular, in child welfare practice. This renewed interest in attachment theory is tied to the current social climate and context for social work practice. This context, it is argued, contributes to the tendency for attachment theory to become a tool of social control. The thesis concludes by exploring how attachment theory might be used instead as a means to empower families in relationship-based social work.
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Gilbert, Bruce. "Critical theory and Christian ethics: a new dialogue." Thesis, McGill University, 1993. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=109314.
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Note:This thesis explores the ways that Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno's Critical Theory and the ethics of Christian liberation theology mutually inform each other. Horkheimer and Adorno' s theories of the "dialectic of enlightenment" and “negative dialectics" provide a self-critical social analysis that interconnects the domination of humanity by humanity and the domination of nature in a way that strengthens the critique of Christian ethics. Further, Horkheimer and Adorno's "longing for the wholly other" resonates profoundly with Christians who believe in a God of Justice. By the same token, Christian reflection on critical Theory leads to a critique ofHorkheimer and Adorno's excessive distance from political practice and their narrow understanding of radical praxis. In this “new dialogue" the project of Christian ethics develops a more substantial critique of domination, while the Critical Theory of Horkheimer and Adorno is critiqued and renewed.
Cette thèse examine les différentes manieres avec lesquelles la Théorie Critique et l'éthique de la théologie de la libération chrétienne s'entrecroisent et s'informent mutuellement. Les théories d'Horkheimer et d'Adorno sur la "dialectique de la raison" et "dialectique négative" apportent une analyse altocritique de la société et associent la domination de l'humanité par l'humanité et la domination de la nature de manière à renforcer la critique de l'éthique chrétienne. De plus, le concept du "désir pour le tout Autre" qui ont Horkeimer et Adorno résonne profondément chez les chrétiens qui fondent leurs foi dans un Dieu de Justice. Dans ce sens, la réflection chrétienne sur la Théorie Critique amène une critique d'Horkheimer et Adorno qui veut noter leur distance excessive envers les pratiques poli tiques et leurs mécompréhension du praxis radical. Dans ce "nouveau dialogue ll le projet chrétien de l'éthique, amène une critique plus substantiel de ce qui est la domination et de ce fait renouvelle et illumine la Théorie Critique d'Horkheimer et D'Adorno.
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Madiraju, Santhosh Kumar. "Discourse on rationality : rational choice and critical theory." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1996. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/6102/.
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The thesis contrasts two hostile and divergent intellectual paradigms in social sciences: rational choice and critical theory. Both rational choice and critical theory offer contrasting perspectives on the structures of social interaction. However, both critical theory and rational choice theory share overlapping concerns ie., both are preoccupied with determining what rational can mean in the realm of social and political interaction. In the case of rational choice paradigm, instrumental reason forms the cornerstone of the theoretical edifice. Ever since the publication of Jurgen Habermas' The lhemy qf Communicative Action Vol. / (1984) and Vol. II (1986) instrumental reason has come under severe attack. His critique anchors on a theory of communicative reason. What makes Habermas' work distinctive is that he does not regard instrumental reason as the single inevitable concomitant of modernity. Habermas sees in modernity an alternative way of conceptualising social interaction in terms of communication rather than strategy. So in a way, his work is a challenge to the defenders of modernity aiming to build a unified social science Jurgen Habermas advances the notion of communicative reason as the centerpiece of a social theory as opposed to instrumental reason. By providing a systematic grounding of the concept of reason in human language, he hopes to establish normative basis of critical theory. This model of reaching agreement or consent constitutes a process of dialogue in which reasons are exchanged between participants. This process is perceived to be a joint search for consensus. Such a dialogic concept of collective choice would necessarily work not with fixed preferences to be amalgamated (as rational choice theories do) but with preferences that are altered or modified as competing reasons are advanced in the course of discussion. In rational discussion, the only thing supposed to count is the power of better argument. Both rational choice and critical theory conceptualise politics in different ways. Rational choice theories critique democratic mechanisms failing to generate general will. Consequently, the political prescriptions offered are limited government or market. On the contrary, the political implications of Habermas' theory of deliberative democracy is anchored in the notion of liberal public sphere envisaging a cognitivist, rationalist vision in which discourse forms a critical normative basis for evaluating the political and moral principles.
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Granter, Edward. "Critical social theory and the end of work." Thesis, University of Salford, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.493516.
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This PhD research examines the development and sociological significance of the idea that work is being eliminated through the use of automated production technology. After examining historically, culturally and theoretically contested definitions of the concept of work, it looks at the idea of the abolition of work in Utopian writing, from More to Morris. Next, the argument that Karl Marx, perhaps surprisingly, can be seen as the quintessential end of work theorist, is presented.
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Zakipour, Maneli. "Polisvåldet i USA : ett critical race theory perspektiv." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Juridiska institutionen, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-121394.
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O'Sullivan, Carmel. "Augusto Boal : a critical encounter towards a theory." Thesis, Birmingham City University, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.496501.
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Nicholson, M. C. "The 'idea' of international law : a critical theory." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2013. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1389070/.
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On the basis of Frankfurt School critical theory and, in particular, the work of Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno, this thesis argues for an original, critical theory of international law’s ontology and practice. That argument develops out of a critique of three theoretical approaches to international law – the technological-industrial or positivist approach, the New Haven, legal realist approach, and the Critical Legal Studies, discourse approach. The recent debate concerning the fragmentation of international law is used, in chapter one, to illustrate the interaction between these three approaches and their limitations. The ultimate aim of the thesis is to present and defend a theory of international law based on the representation of life, reality, and nature as an alternative to theoretical approaches which emphasise legal control and domination of life, reality, and nature.
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Komenda, Izabela. "Modelling critical care unit activities through queueing theory." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2013. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/47686/.
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Critical Care Units (CCUs) are one of the most complex and expensive of all medical resources and hospital managers are challenged to meet the demand for critical care services with adequate capacity. The pressure on critical care beds is continuously increasing as new medical equipment provides the opportunity to save more patients lives. It is therefore crucial that beds are managed well and used efficiently. This thesis describes two major projects, the first undertaken in conjunction with the CCU at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff (UHW); and the second with two CCUs from the Aneurin Bevan Health Board. In the first project data has been analysed to determine the flow of patients through the Unit. Admissions to CCUs were categorised under two headings: emergency, and elective. The length of stay in the CCU is heavily dependent on the admission category. In this thesis, both computer simulation and theoretical queueing models have been considered, which show how improvements in bed management may be achieved by considering these two categories of patients separately. The vast majority of previous literature in this field is concerned only with steady-state conditions, whereas in reality the processes are time-dependent. This thesis goes some way to addressing this deficiency. The second project relates to work undertaken with managers from the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport and at the Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny. Data from both hospitals have been analysed to define arrival and service processes. A state-dependent theoretical queueing model has been considered which has been used to investigate the significance of combining the two units. The model has been also utilised to advise on the number of beds the new combined unit should have in order to satisfy targets quoted by the hospital managers. In the final part of the thesis, consideration has been given to the impact of collaboration, or lack thereof, between hospitals using a game theoretical approach. The effect of patient diversion has been studied. To formally investigate the impact of patients transfers, a Markov chain model of the two CCUs has been set-up, each admitting two arrival streams: namely, their own patients and transfers from other hospital. Four different models were considered and for each model the effect of targets, demand and capacity were studied. The efficiency of a system which degrades due to selfish behaviour of its agents has been measured in terms of Price of Anarchy.
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Westman, Jonas. "Specifying Safety-Critical Heterogeneous Systems Using Contracts Theory." Doctoral thesis, KTH, Mekatronik, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-192150.
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Requirements engineering (RE) is a well-established practice that is also emphasized in safety standards such as IEC 61508 and ISO 26262. Safety standards advocate a particularly stringent RE where requirements must be structured in an hierarchical manner in accordance with the system architecture; at each level, requirements must be allocated to heterogeneous (SW, HW, mechanical, electrical, etc.) architecture elements and trace links must be established between requirements. In contrast to the stringent RE in safety standards, according to previous studies, RE in industry is in general of poor quality. Considering a typical RE tool, other than basic impact analysis, the tool neither gives feedback nor guides a user when specifying, allocating, and structuring requirements. In practice, for industry to comply with the stringent RE in safety standards, better support for RE is needed, not only from tools, but also from principles and methods. Therefore, a foundation is presented consisting of an underlying theory for specifying heterogeneous systems and complementary principles and methods to specifically support the stringent RE in safety standards. This foundation is indeed suitable as a base for implementing guidance- and feedback-driven tool support for such stringent RE; however, the fact is that the proposed theory, principles, and methods provide essential support regardless if tools are used or not. The underlying theory is a formal compositional contracts theory for heterogeneous systems. This contracts theory embodies the essential RE property of separating requirements on a system from assumptions on its environment. Moreover, the contracts theory formalizes the stringent RE effort of structuring requirements hierarchically with respect to the system architecture. Thus, the proposed principles and methods for supporting the stringent RE in safety standards are well-rooted in formal concepts and conditions, and are thus, theoretically sound. Not only that, but the foundation is indeed also tailored to be enforced by both existing and new tools considering that the support is based on precise mathematical expressions that can be interpreted unambiguously by machines. Enforcing the foundation in a tool entails support that guides and gives feedback when specifying heterogeneous systems in general, and safety-critical ones in particular.Kravhantering är en väletablerad praxis som ocksåbetonas i säkerhetsstandarder såsom IEC 61508 och ISO 26262. Säkerhetsstandarder förespråkar en särskilt noggrann kravhantering där krav skall struktureras på ett hierarkiskt sätt i enlighet med systemarkitekturen; på varje nivå så skall krav allokeras till heterogena (SW, HW, mekaniska, elektriska, etc.) arkitekturelement och spårlänkar skall upprättas mellan kraven. I motsats till den noggranna kravhanteringen i säkerhetsstandarder så är kravhantering i industrin av allmänt dålig kvalitet enligt tidigare studier. Ett typisk kravverktyg ger inte mycket mer stöd än grundläggande konsekvensanalyser, d.v.s.\ verktyget ger varken återkoppling eller vägledning för att formulera, allokera, och strukturera krav. Bättre stöd behövs för att industrin i praktiken skall kunna förverkliga den noggranna kravhanteringen i säkerhetsstandarder -- inte bara stöd från verktyg, men också från kravhanteringsprinciper och metoder. Därför presenteras ett fundament bestående av en underliggande teori för specifiering av heterogena system, samt kompletterande principer och metoder för att stödja den noggranna kravhanteringen i säkerhetsstandarder. Detta fundament är lämplig som en bas för att kunna implementera verktyg som ger återkoppling och vägledning för kravhantering; likväl så ger den föreslagna teorin, principerna och metoderna essentiellt stöd oavsett om verktyg används eller inte. Den underliggande teorin är en kompositionell och formell kontraktsteori för heterogena system. Denna kontraktsteori ger konkret form åt den centrala kravhanteringsegenskapen att separera kraven på ett system från antaganden på dess omgivning. Dessutom så formaliserar kontraksteorin den noggranna uppgiften att hierarkiskt strukturera krav i enlighet med systemarkitekturen. Således så är de föreslagna principerna och metoderna för att stödja den noggranna kravhanteringen i säkerhetsstandarder välförankrade i formella begrepp och villkor och är därmed också teoretiskt sunda. Det erbjudna stödet är dessutom välanpassat för att kunna verkställas av såväl befintliga som nyaverktyg med tanke på att stödet är grundat på exakta matematiska uttryck som kan tolkas entydigt av maskiner. Verkställandet av fundamentet av ett verktyg medför stöd i form av vägledning och återkoppling vid specifiering av heterogena system i allmänhet, och säkerhetskritiska sådana i synnerhet.
QC 20160909
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Timmins, Fiona. "Developing a professional working theory through critical reflection." Thesis, University of South Wales, 2006. https://pure.southwales.ac.uk/en/studentthesis/developing-a-professional-working-theory-through-critical-reflection(20761dd6-0dd7-47c2-ac4b-80b8e6f53a1d).html.
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In keeping with the University guidelines and current literature on the topic this portfolio is an intense and personal document that resembles an autobiography of my professional life. Reflection and analysis form key components of the portfolio development. The task of demonstrating coherence and continuity between publications and projects is an inherent challenge of the portfolio route. I developed this portfolio as a collection of evidence of both the products and processes of learning that attests to my personal and professional development and achievement. The products are demonstrated within my two main projects (Timmins 2002 page 131, Timmins 2005 page 298) and associated publications and international presentations. The process of my learning has been examined and professed through reflection upon these projects and subsequently analysed and presented in the overarching statement. The aim of my portfolio is to provide a reflective overview of these two projects to highlight coherence between projects and identify my unique contribution to knowledge. This thesis reports on the development and use of a framework for reflection that best suited this purpose. I also construct my professional working theory as a result of this critical reflection. This framework proved invaluable to uncover the connections between my projects and the inherent meaning of my portfolio. What began as a series of disparate products (articles, conference presentations, books) the use of the framework for critical reflection enabled me not only to elicit inherent connections but to gain a new clarity about my own professional development and motivation that was previously unknown. Using the framework for critical reflection enabled to me to identify themes from reflection upon my projects: disempowerment, knowledge, emancipation and empowerment. These themes appear implicitly in several recent studies in the Republic of Ireland. Ultimately the impetus for my projects was rooted in my own professional disempowerment. Obedience was a pattern intrinsic to the social fabric of nursing in Republic of Ireland. The identified themes resonate not only my professional growth within but also the current orientation of the nursing profession in the Republic of Ireland. Using the framework for critical reflection also permitted me to outline my original contribution to knowledge. This originality is reflected in the public provision of knowledge to nurses in the area of nursing clients with coronary heart disease. This includes a reorientation of informational support towards symptom management and encouraging a critical awareness of previously used research methods. There is also an original contribution to the ongoing development of nursing practice with the suggested critique; adaptation and use of conceptual models of nursing in coronary care units.
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Lesnik-Oberstein, Karin Beate. "Principles and practice in critical theory : children's literature." Thesis, University of Bristol, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/1983/435ba144-6b16-4756-9c0c-03aceb151662.
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Saar, Martin. "Rethinking Resistance: Critical Theory before and after Deleuze." Universität Leipzig, 2020. https://ul.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A72855.
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At the beginning of 1930, Theodor W. Adorno, who was only 28 years old, was awarded the venia legendi (teaching permission) for philosophy and the academic title “Privatdozent”, after his Habilitationsschrift (on Kierkegaard) had been accepted by the faculty of philosophy on the basis of two positive reviews, by Adorno’s older friend and mentor Max Horkheimer and the prominent theologian-philosopher Paul Tillich. This title traditionally comes without academic position or pay, but is the precondition for applications for the position of professor. In early May, he was obliged to give his inaugural lecture to the academic public, and he chose a rather programmatic subject, “The Actuality of Philosophy”, using the occasion for a rigorous critique of the major trends in current German academic philosophy and a bold statement concerning the possible future of a certain kind of materialist philosophy which he was just about to develop.
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Oliveberg, Max. "On the superconducting critical temperature in Eliashberg theory." Thesis, KTH, Fysik, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-293812.
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This thesis presents a brief synopsis of the derivations of the BCS and Eliashberg equations. An analytic formula for the critical temperature $T_c$ in Eliashberg theory is derived, which contains a sum of iterative integral corrections. These iterative integral corrections are the result of an iterative expression for the gap quotient $\Delta(\iw, T)/\Delta(0,T)$, which is derived. At the critical temperature this expression contains no reference to the critical temperature itself due to the gap approaching zero in this limit, $\lim_{T \rightarrow T_c} \Delta(\iw, T) = 0$. This enables explicit calculation of the critical temperature through the aforementioned iterative expression.\\ \\The behaviour of the iterative expression and its corrections are explored numerically with a toy spectral function $\sF$. Through these numerical experiments, this formula is found to be consistent with, though not equal to the successful McMillan formula for the coupling parameter $\lambda$ in the range $0.3 \leq \lambda \leq 1.5$. Below this value, the McMillan formula is found to approach zero critical temperature $T_c$ more rapidly, raising the future question of which of the two expressions is most successful in predicting the critical temperature $T_c$ in this range. \\ \\ For a toy spectral function with a single mode, the zeroth order correction of the iterative expression for the critical temperature $T_c$ is found to be adequate for most practical purposes due to the magnitude of measurement errors in real life measurements of model parameters.Detta examensarbete går igenom en kort derivation av BCS och Eliashberg ekvationerna. En analytisk formel för den kritiska temperaturen $T_c$ i Eliashbergteori ges. Denna formel innehåller en summa av iterativa integraler som resulterar från ett uttryckt för energigapets kvot. Vid den kritiska temperaturen så kan man explicit lösa ut denna och på så sätt få ett analytiskt uttryck. Den uttrycket för den kritiska temperaturen utforskas numeriskt med en leksaks-spektralfunktion. Genom dessa numeriska experiment visas det hur det iterativa uttrycket sammanstämmer med McMillans formel för kopplingsparametern $0.3 < \lambda < 1.5$, även om dem ej är lika. Under detta intervall så närmar sig McMillans uttryck noll snabbare, vilket höjer frågan vilken utav dem två uttrycken som fungerar bäst i denna gräns. För en leksaks-spektralfunktion med ett läge så räcker den nollte korrektionen i det iterativa uttrycket för att få godtagbara resultat, med bakgrund av dem relativt stora mätfelen för riktiga parametrar.
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Scully, Sharon Opal Carleton University Dissertation Political Science. "The theory of generational change; a critical reassessment." Ottawa, 2000.
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Noonan, Hilary Ann. "Toward a critical practice: tracing theory through design." Thesis, Manhattan, Kan. : Kansas State University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/1229.
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Jack, Richard. "Critical change : a grounded theory study of teacher experience following involvement in critical incidents." Thesis, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10443/3622.
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This volume begins with a meta-ethnography which synthesises some documented experiences from teachers who had been involved in 'critical incidents' resulting in bereavement, loss and grief within their school communities. The final synthesis of the experiences from a selection of papers was presented in a line of argument synthesis (LOA) as a model which attempts to illustrate three discrete elements which interacted with one another - the nature of the incident; the psycho-social conflicts negotiated by the teacher and the elements of their professional identity which were drawn out through the being involved in the incident. The final section of this volume presents a piece of empirical research which was undertaken to either confirm, change or refute the tentative model presented in the meta-ethnography. The initial research from the meta-ethnography suggested that the issue and underlying feelings of how to best support a child or colleague following a critical incident was a powerful but unspoken concern for many teachers. The empirical research used a series of semi-structured interviews to give participants an opportunity to explore their experience of being involved in a critical incident. The data from the interviews was then analysed using the grounded theory of Strauss and Corbin (1990) which allowed for a more inductive approach to the participants' data and the tentative model. The new data from the analysis confirmed and changed aspects of the tentative findings of the meta-ethnography model with each of the three elements being renamed Critical Incident Expression, Core Conflict and Core Identity. The empirical data also changed the way that the model functioned, moving from a linear progression to a fluid and interactive one. The model is proposed as tool for facilitating teachers' discussion of their experience of critical incidents. Between these two sections, I have presented a chapter where the theoretical underpinnings and epistemological decisions of the research are discussed alongside the practical and ethical considerations of undertaking original work.
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McCormack, Tara. "What is critical about critical security theory? : an investigation of the New Wars thesis." Thesis, University of Westminster, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.502406.
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The central question that this thesis asks is what is critical about contemporary security theory? This thesis expands upon Beate Jahn's methodological critique of critical international theory (1998) by making a case study of critical security theory as it has been applied to the post-Cold War world. The case study will focus on the New Wars thesis, which is a widely read and accepted aspect of critical security theory. The New Wars thesis focuses on the Yugoslav break-up and wars, which are held to show why the Cold War security framework is no longer relevant and why security policy needs to be re-conceptualised in terms of an emancipatory and cosmopolitan framework. I argue that the supposedly 'new' nature of some post-Cold War conflicts, which theorists working within the New Wars discourse argue that they have identified in the Yugoslav conflicts, seems rather to reflect the way in which the discourse is constructed and the particular focus of the theorists instead of the Yugoslav wars and international policy towards it. Rather than the Yugoslav wars offering us a new paradigm for post-Cold War conflict, it seems to be that the New Wars discourse has focused on specific aspects of the conflict to the exclusion of other aspects which would pose a challenge to the discourse. The initial examination of the New Wars discourse seems to suggest that theorists working with the New Wars discourse are not very critical, rather they seem to be closer to problem-solving theorists. Following from the questions raised by the case study of the New Wars, the final chapter expands the scope of enquiry more generally to critical security theory. I will argue that the way in which major international institutions and powers justify and present security policy seems to be similar rather than distinct from much critical security theory. In this context, the question to be asked would seem to be why is it that the most powerful international institutions and states are taking up an emancipatory and cosmopolitan framework and what the implications are. In conclusion it will be argued that the critical theorists engaged with this thesis are not critical theorists,rather it appears that many contemporary critical security theorists are engaging in a problem-solving exercise.