Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Well-being Philosophy'
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Lu-Lerner, Lily X. "How Well Can We Measure Well-Being?" Oberlin College Honors Theses / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin1589813816828266.
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Moore, Andrew. "A theory of well-being." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1991. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.315859.
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Phillips, Pamela L. "Beyond Subjective Well-Being." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2005. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1131386877.
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Lin, Dah-Feng. "Bodyflowing an integrated somatic approach to health and well being /." The Ohio State University, 2000. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1488195633520515.
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Kotowicz, Zbigniew. "Multiplicity, movement, well-being : an essay on a naive non-Platonism (reading Bachelard)." Thesis, University of Warwick, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.238736.
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Wells, Mark. "Value, Well-Being, and the Meaning of Life." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1407960520.
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Robb, Catherine M. "The nature and value of talent : morality, well-being, and equality." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2017. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8372/.
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Talents play a central role in the way that we live our lives, and it is widely assumed that identifying and developing one’s talents is valuable, both for oneself and for others. Despite this, the philosophical literature is seriously lacking in its discussion of the nature and value of talent; the objective goodness of talent and its development is often assumed without an analysis of what a talent is, and the value that we place on it. This dissertation aims to provide such an analysis, offering a philosophical account of the nature and value of talent, and an account of why we value its development. In doing so, I demonstrate how this can inform and help us assess the debates and arguments that are made in the existing philosophical literature on talent. I do not aim to provide an exhaustive overview of all the philosophical issues that could be raised in relation to the value of talent and talent development, but instead I focus on three central issues that arise when analysing the nature of talents and the role that they play in our lives. The first issue is the nature of talent itself. Here I offer an account of talent, understood as a high level of potential for a particular skill which is expressed and manifested in the excellent acquisition of that skill. The second issue is whether or not we have good prudential reasons or a moral obligation to develop our talents. I begin by objecting to Kant’s claim that there is a moral duty to develop one’s talents; I will argue that if there is such a duty, it will not be generated by the commitments of Kant’s moral theory. I then argue that whether or not talent development is morally required, or prudentially good, is conditional on one’s endorsement of the commitments that are required to bring about the development of one’s talent. Finally, I turn my focus to the relationship between talents and equality. Given the fact that some people are more talented than others, and the way in which this disrupts levels of social equality, I examine how we ought to counteract the injustice caused by unequal levels of talent. I argue that we ought to adopt the luck egalitarian neutralisation approach, as this most plausibly frames the way in which unequal talents disrupt levels of equality, and why any arising inequalities count as unjust.
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Cooper, Jasmine M. "Reconsidering Well-Being: Optimization at the Societal Level." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2016. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1323.
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This paper explores the concept of well-being both in theoretical and practical applications. When it comes to well-being policy, it is apparent that the government’s goal ought to be to maximize the well-being of the citizens within that particular society. In order to do so effectively, there must be a foundational understanding both of the concept of well-being itself, as well as how it functions in application. I argue that preference-based approaches to well-being, which often emply GDP as a key metric, fail to adequately reflect the well-being of a nation’s citizens. I suggest that the Capabilities Approach offers a superior approach to well-being both in theory and in practice. Though it is possible that there are other equal or better options, I find that the Capabilities Approach successfully reaches the genuine depths of a person’s well-being without allowing for one individual’s well-being to impede on another’s. While it is evident that the capabilities approach still faces a number of hurdles and room for development, I hope to have argued that it is a step forward from traditional as well as subjective approaches to well-being. With further research and development, it is evident that this shift will allow for development decisions that are unbiased, equally considering the interests of all citizens, and thus a step forward towards truly increasing the well-being of humans throughout the world.
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Ackland, Lynn. "Coping with criticism and praise : the emotional well-being of people with intellectual disabilities." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2011. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2906/.
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Background: Through their experiences of stigma and discrimination, people with intellectual disabilities may develop negative beliefs about themselves and compare themselves negatively to others. This may make them more sensitive to criticism from others. In addition, receiving praise may be discrepant with the self-views of people with intellectual disabilities and they may be less likely to benefit from praise. Being distressed by criticism has been associated with vulnerability to mental health difficulties in the general adult population. It is not known how people with intellectual disabilities perceive and experience criticism and praise. Method: Two study groups were recruited; one with intellectual disabilities, one without. The praise and criticism task (PACT) was developed for the study. Participants were presented with ten scenes in which they were asked to imagine someone saying something positive (praise) or negative (criticism). Following the presentation of each scene, participants were asked about their emotions, beliefs, thoughts and actions. Results: People with intellectual disabilities were more likely to believe and be distressed by criticism. Contrary to predictions, this group were also more likely to believe and experience positive affect in response to praise. No differences were found in the frequency of self-supporting thoughts or actions reported in response to criticism. Conclusions: The results may represent a difference in the way people with intellectual disabilities develop their sense of self and may suggest that the self-perceptions of this group are more dynamic and reliant on the views of others. In theory, such sensitivity could make people more vulnerable to mental health difficulties. On the other hand, the possibilities for positive influence have implications for psychological and social interventions.
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Skladzien, Matthew. "The Impact of Culture and Philosophy on Subjective Well-Being and an Introductory Look into Chinese Happiness Today." The Ohio State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1563199064116606.
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Lamont, Ruth Alice. "Older people's responses to age stereotypes : implications for performance outcomes, and health and well-being." Thesis, University of Kent, 2015. https://kar.kent.ac.uk/56691/.
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Age stereotypes are the different and often negative expectations and attitudes held by individuals about a given age group. Not only can age stereotyping lead to the unequal treatment of older people through differences in affective (age prejudice) and behavioural responses (age discrimination) toward them, but older people's own reactions to these stereotypes can have negative and damaging consequences. This thesis addresses the extent to which older adults' responses to negative age stereotypes impact on their performance on tests, and their health and well-being, further increasing age-based inequalities. Chapters 1 to 4, the introduction and theoretical chapters, introduce the thesis and the background for the subsequent studies. Areas reviewed include that of age stereotyping, how this may reflect negatively upon older adults' social identities, 'stereotype threat' as a specific response to this and evidence that perceiving ageism is associated with worse health and well-being in later life. Having identified research gaps, Chapter 5 then presents Study 1 (N = 105) which addresses the question of whether people are conscious of being judged negatively because of their age, what age stereotypes they are most conscious of and in what settings they believe they are applied. Findings confirmed that adults (particularly those aged 18-69) have a strong awareness of age-based judgement and that adults aged 60+ in particular are concerned about negative stereotypes of their competencies in a range of domains. Chapters 6 to 8 present studies 2, 3 and 4 which aimed to extend 'stereotype threat' research (Steele & Aronson, 1995). Stereotype threat theory posits that stigmatised individuals may fear confirming negative stereotypes about their social group. This negative experience ironically disrupts performance making it more likely that they act in line with negative stereotypes. Study 2, a meta-analysis including 82 effect sizes (N = 3882) split into multiple analyses, confirmed that age stereotypes have the potential to negatively impact older adults' memory and cognitive performance through age-based stereotype threat (ABST). Building on the findings from the meta-analysis, Study 3 experimentally tested whether uncertainty surrounding stereotype-based judgement explains why more subtle stereotype-based cues to stereotype threat have a greater impact on performance than fact-based cues, as was found in Study 2. Further, Study 4 examined whether the presence of a young observer or the giving of help to older participants might cue ABST and negatively impact maths performance. Although the hypotheses derived from stereotype threat theory were not supported by studies 3 and 4, these studies contribute to the stereotype threat literature by examining the potential everyday cues to ABST and the mechanisms through which it occurs. Finally, Chapter 9 presents Study 5 which uses survey data to examine different reactions-threat or challenge responses-to perceived ageism and whether these responses are associated with better or worse subjective health and well-being. Findings suggest that challenge responses may be a more adaptive reaction to ageism, with potential benefits for health and well-being in later life. Overall, the thesis highlights the damaging effects of older adults' threat responses to negative attitudes to ageing. Both negative societal attitudes and the way older people respond to and cope with negative stereotyping need to be addressed.
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Amriah, B. B. "Location and well-being : A critical inquiry into positivist geography with special reference to Parit rubber smallholders, Malaysia." Thesis, University of Manchester, 1986. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.377715.
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Hansson, Mats G. "Human dignity and animal well-being a Kantian contribution to biomedical ethics /." Uppsala : Stockholm, Sweden : [Uppsala University] ; Distributor, Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1991. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/24766855.html.
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Tuomi, Jenson R. "The Artist's Dilemma; A Philosophical Analysis of “Selling Out” and Its Impacts on Well-Being In the Music Industry." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2014. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/996.
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Beginning with a discussion of a concept referred to as “The Artist’s Dilemma,” my thesis discusses the common criticism of artists in the music industry that they can “sell out” by changing their sound, appearance, and jeopardizing their artistic integrity in exchange for financial or celebrity gain. Furthermore, it attempts to search for a universal guide by which artists in the music industry could circumnavigate this “artist’s dilemma” in order to ensure a meaningful career without over-playing their role as a celebrity, nor under-playing their role as a musician. In order to evaluate this topic, I consider multiple “real world” examples of both artists who have been traditionally labeled as “sellouts,” and those that have managed to maintain artistic integrity throughout their career. Next I move to acknowledging philosophical perspectives on the topic of well-being (e.g. Hedonistic, Desire-Satisfaction, and Objective List theories) in attempts to gain outside perspectives on what constitutes a meaningful life for an individual, and how it can be achieved. Then I attempt to evaluate the “artist’s dilemma” through the lens of each previously mentioned philosophical perspective on well-being. My thesis concludes that, more often than not, “selling out” in the music industry will not result in an increase to overall well-being across the course of a career or lifetime. However, this conclusion is provided under the stipulation that determinations on this matter are ultimately subject to preferences and desires of the individual artist, and by which of the three philosophical perspectives of well-being they find themselves most compelled.
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Fusek, Benjamin James. "Well-Being, Capabilities, and Health Measurement: Conceptual Similarities Between the Capability Approach and Daniel Hausman’s Liberal State." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2017. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1558.
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This thesis focuses upon the surprising connection between two separate bodies of work: the capability approach and Daniel Hausman’s 2015 book Valuing Health: Well-Being, Freedom, and Suffering. Proponents of the capability approach, such as Martha Nussbaum, have argued that the state has an important role to play in promoting well-being. Hausman seems to hold a position quite dissimilar from this, as he argues that standard practices in health economics are seriously flawed because the liberal state should not be promoting well-being. However, I argue that there exists an unexpectedly great degree of similarity between the two positions and suggest that it seems as though Hausman is, in fact, calling for the promotion of well-being. In illuminating conceptual similarities between the two views, I also point to areas where Hausman’s proposals might be strengthened or enhanced by work from CA theorists. This paper provides the foundation for further research to be undertaken exploring how these views might enhance one another.
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Szifris, Kirstine. "Philosophy in prison : an exploration of personal development." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2018. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/271849.
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Delivered through the medium of a Community of Philosophical Inquiry, this thesis outlines the experience of engaging prisoners in philosophical conversation, thereby articulat-ing the relevance of this type of education for those in long-term confinement. The research, which took place in two prisons, explores the role of prison education, community dialogue and active philosophising in encouraging personal development. With similar populations but contrasting characters, HMPs Grendon and Full Sutton provided the backdrop to grounded, ethnographically-led research. The research design reflects the exploratory nature of the approach. Derek Layder’s adaptive theory has provided a methodological framework, whilst the theoretical framework draws on desistance literature, prison sociology, and philosophical pedagogy to enhance and develop understanding of the emergent themes. However, as a criminological piece of research, it sits within the criminological, and more specifically, prison sociological paradigm. The thesis culminates in a discussion of personal development that articulates the role of education in developing growth identities among prisoner-participants. The research de-scribes the role of philosophical dialogue in developing trust and relationships between and among the participants; the relevance of this type of education to prisoners’ psychological wellbeing; and the significance of the subject-matter to participants’ perspectives. The thesis argues that prison promotes the formation of a hyper-masculine ‘survival’ identity. It goes on to argue that education, and more specifically philosophy education, can play a role in culti-vating growth identities that encourage personal exploration, self-reflection, and development of new interests and skills among prisoners.
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Jackisch, Josephine. "Cultivating Well-Being : A study on Community Gardening and Health in Berlin and Paris." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Hälsa och samhälle, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-86589.
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This paper reports experiences of health and well-being common to actors in community gardens in Berlin and Paris. Community gardening has become an ever growing phenomenon since the 1990s, and to a larger extend since 2000 in western European cities. Despite the promising research from the US that has shown that community gardens have a potential for health promotion, there is a dearth of evidence from Europe. This study tries to fill this gap and maps the potential of community gardens for health and well-being as explained and experienced by the gardeners. The effect of community garden projects on human health and well-being cannot be reduced to the effect of nature on health alone. This study shows that there are at least two other major mechanisms at play, if we want to understand the phenomenon or evaluate its effects, namely the effects of community and 'free and open spaces'. Gardeners report health-related experiences with green space, such as stress relief and feeling of calm and vitality and increased well-being through sensual experiences and observing nature. Furthermore the garden projects open up a social space, which for many gardeners creates experiences of health through regular social contact, experiences of joy of sharing and having activities together. Furthermore, the community garden project was proposed to create a context and opportunities for flow, creativity and self-efficacy if it is a free and open space. However, not all experiences on well-being in CGPs are postive, and to all these spaces and their effects there are also certain limitations and conditions. Moreover, this study makes a theoretical contribution to the concept of health and well-being on the basis of the fuzziness around the concept of health encountered in the field. I propose that a holistic concept of health might be most suitable to describe health related to bottom-up community action like community gardens. To assess the effects of such projects in terms of well-being, this concepts should be dissentagled into the concept of health and happiness, whereas happiness in turn relates not only to life satisfaction but also to eudaimonian happiness related to meaning and doing good. Although this research project could not be comprehensive enough to provide all necessary evidence to evaluate health effects of community gardens, we believe that it provides viable paths for investigations into community driven health promotion and emerging healthy settings.
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Hamel, Krista. "Cultivating Well-Being and Contemplative Ways of Knowing through Connection: One Woman's Journey from Monastic Living to Mainstream Academia." ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2016. http://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/555.
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This thesis examines how different types of connection – intimacy, community, and compassion – can positively impact the cultivation of well-being and ways of knowing. Using Scholarly Personal Narrative methodology (narrative storytelling supported by scholarship) I describe my journey from the 15-years I lived as a monastic yogic nun, followed by a period of heartbreak, to my recent experience as a tip-toeing Buddhist and mid-life graduate student who yearned for community, a place to belong, and an opportunity to be heard, seen and valued. I explore how the pain and suffering of loneliness, grief, loss, and change, when met by presence, patience, awareness, care and flexibility, can help to strengthen one's relationships with the self, others and surrounding environment. I close by outlining how contemplative pedagogy (learner-oriented, introspective and experiential learning) can help to create new ways of knowing, improve cognitive functioning and well-being, and cultivate compassion. I demonstrate how these three connections can transform the higher education learning experience from an abstract, impersonal view of reality to an authentic, interconnected, and intimate one that help students develop long-lasting and meaningful relationships well beyond the classroom walls.
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Tassell, Natasha Ann. "Motivation and well-being in humanitarian health workers: relating self-determination theory to hedonic vs eudaimonic well-being, vitality and burnout : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand." Massey University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1138.
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This research examined the effects of motivation on the well-being of humanitarian health workers. Using Self-Determination Theory, I argued introjected and identified motivations were applicable to this occupational domain, and have differential effects on well-being. Introjected motivation would be positively related to hedonic well-being and burnout, while identified motivation would be positively related to eudaimonic well-being and vitality. Orientations to happiness and passion were proposed as mediating these relationships. An online quantitative questionnaire was used in the first phase of data collection. Respondents were N = 82 humanitarian health workers. A semi-structured interview methodology was used in the second phase. Participants were N = 5 humanitarian health workers. Path analyses revealed neither introjected nor identified motivation was significantly related to vitality or hedonic vs. eudaimonic well-being. Both motivations had significant direct effects on burnout, albeit in the opposite direction to hypotheses. Passion moderated the relationship between motivation and burnout. Additional path analyses showed obsessive passion mediated the path between introjected motivation and emotional exhaustion. Harmonious passion mediated the path between identified motivation and diminished personal accomplishment. Both obsessive and harmonious passion mediated the paths between each motivation and depersonalisation, although identified motivation had the strongest relationship with this aspect of burnout. Interview data supported the majority of quantitative findings. The results suggest the motivations underlying engagement in humanitarian work, are related to the development of burnout. The mediational effect of passion determines which aspect of burnout will be most prevalent. The findings have applicability to the design and implementation of recruitment strategies, and programs aimed at the treatment and prevention of burnout in workers, both pre- and post-deployment to humanitarian situations.
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Amir, Kiaei Yalda. "The Relationship between Metacognition, Self-Actualization, and Well-Being among University Students: Reviving Self-Actualization as the Purpose of Education." FIU Digital Commons, 2014. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1367.
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This non-experimental, correlational study (N = 513) examined the relationships among self-actualization, well-being, and metacognition. Need-satisfaction and non-defensiveness were also tested as mediators in the relationship between metacognition and self-actualization. A battery of paper-and-pencil self-report measures was administered to a sample of undergraduate and graduate students in a public university in South Florida. Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses and structural equation modeling for mediational analysis were used to test the hypotheses.
The results largely supported the hypotheses with only a few exceptions. Students who demonstrated higher level of self-actualization experienced higher well-being as well (the result of this hypothesized relationship was equivocal for parent students, n = 61). Moreover, need-satisfaction and non-defensiveness were found to be significantly and positively associated with self-actualization, providing preliminary supporting evidence for Maslow’s (1968) and Rogers’ (1951, 1961) theories of self-actualization. In addition, students with higher levels of general metacognitive competence were more likely to demonstrate higher level of need-satisfaction, non-defensiveness, self-actualization, and well-being (the result of the third hypothesized relationship was equivocal for female immigrant education students, n = 78).
Further, metacognition and need-satisfaction, and metacognition and non-defensiveness shared common variance in predicting self-actualization. The relationship between metacognition and self-actualization was mediated by need-satisfaction and non-defensiveness, except for non-education students (n = 201), for whom no mediational effect was detected by non-defensiveness.
In sum, the findings imply that general metacognitive competence, which can be taught as a set of skills, theoretically contributes to students’ self-actualization and well-being. This study provides support for a conceptual model of self-actualization, which introduces this phenomenon as a goal-oriented process that is essential to students’ well-being and can be attained by exercising metacognition. The discussion of the findings highlights implications of this study for theory, research, and practice as a guide for scholars, researchers, and practitioners in the field of education and psychology.
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Kärrström, Katja. "Neural correlates of mindfulness related to stress : How mindfulness promotes wellbeing." Thesis, Högskolan i Skövde, Institutionen för biovetenskap, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:his:diva-16089.
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Mindfulness practice is used to treat mental and physical symptoms. The problem is that research on the long-term effects and the neural changes involved, correlated with well-being, are inconsistent. The purpose of this review is to create a deeper understanding of mindfulness and its neural correlates related to stress. In mindfulness, one can use focused attention meditation (FA), involving anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), prefrontal cortex (PFC), parietal areas, thalamus, visual cortex, intraparietal sulcus, and amygdala. In open monitoring meditation (OM), ACC, PFC, insula, somatosensory cortex, limbic areas and amygdala are involved. In exposure to a high amount of stress, the grey matter volume decreases in the hippocampus, PFC, and amygdala. Research has also shown that 19 000 hours of mindfulness practice increases activation in areas involved in FA and OM. This increased activation might also enhance the subject’s ability to control emotions. After 44 000 hours of meditation, areas involved in FA showed less activation which might imply that more hours of mindfulness practice involve less cognitive activity and a calmer state of mind. Regardless of hours spent on meditating, a decreased activation in the amygdala and ACC occurs, which correlates with less response towards negative stimuli. The neural changes involved in mindfulness practice was related to less experienced stress and enhanced psychological well-being. For future research, an investigation of the interaction between attentional networks and stress would be of relevance.
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King, Owen Christopher. "Three Kinds of Goodness for a Person." The Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1461257876.
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Lerner, Henrik. "The Concepts of Health, Well-being and Welfare as Applied to Animals : A Philosophical Analysis of the Concepts with the Regard to the Differences Between Animals." Doctoral thesis, Linköping : Linköpings Universitet, Dept. of Medical and Health Sciences, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-11743.
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Wentzel, Marie-Monique. "The Woods Were Never Quiet." PDXScholar, 2011. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/1166.
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The five stories in this collection are an exploration of realist fiction through a variety of narrative points of view and a diversity of characters. The stories explore issues of class, age, work and family, but in each piece, the characters struggle in their own way to discover a sense of belonging in their own lives. Central to each of these stories is a sense of place. All are set in the American west, most in rural California and the land and activities of place provide not only a specific landscape, but often a limitation, a narrative element against which the characters both resist and find their truest home.
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Kass, Jacob Daniel. "Justifying an Ethical Government Response to the Obesity Epidemic." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2012. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/422.
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A great virtue of our fairly liberal society is its willingness to allow, legally and socially, individuals to choose their own lifestyle, free from interference or coercion. For this reason, there is rightly a strong resistance and hostility to government regulation of wholly self-regarding behavior – acts which only affect the actor. Whether justified by an appeal to sovereignty or utility, that which one does to oneself is seen as beyond the jurisdiction of government.
Yet the problem of the so-called obesity "epidemic" – the explosion in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in recent decades – is a case of self-harm which does indeed warrant government intervention.
This thesis considers utilitarian and autonomy-based arguments against interference in self-regarding action, then show why obesity merits intervention nevertheless.
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Stroop, Barbara [Verfasser], and Kurt [Akademischer Betreuer] Bayertz. "Rethinking Well-being in Biomedical Ethics / Barbara Stroop ; Betreuer: Kurt Bayertz." Münster : Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Münster, 2016. http://d-nb.info/114123372X/34.
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Soulard, Tossah Christine. "De l'individuation à la philosophie politique : autour de Jan Patočka." Thesis, Sorbonne université, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018SORUL038.
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Autour de la genèse de l’histoire tchèque, un grand moment de philosophie politique est advenu durant la première moitié du XX° siècle : un État tchécoslovaque peut affirmer son existence, et cela est l’aboutissement d’une confrontation sans concession avec un destin indéfiniment tourmenté, celui d’une longue marche pour s’émanciper de la tutelle de l’Empire austro-hongrois ; persécutions religieuses suivies d’une guerre de trente ans et enfin une expérience intime de l’exil, qui est une brisure de son être. Enfin, le XIX° siècle a ouvert des négociations pour obtenir un statut respectueux des Tchèques avec le parlement autrichien.Cette ouverture a été acquise par un peuple toujours sur la brèche selon Hannah Arendt. La philosophe tchèque lui donne le nom de crise ou Krisis. Il s’éprouve dans son être comme un rapport d’être, scission en son être qui est toujours un questionnement sur soi et sur le monde et aspiration à la perfection et au soin de l’âme. C’est une expérience à haut risque du regard sur la vérité du monde pour l’énonciation d’un sens et d’un jugement, Jan Patocka retrouve là « la solidarité des ébranlés » pour une « vie dans la vérité ». Nous regarderons d’abord et principalement les grandes figures de pensée qui ont fait l’avènement de L’État tchécoslovaque ; ce sont leurs philosophes qui sollicitent sans fin cette pulsion de vie expérience de sa révolte, et principalement Jan Patocka. Ils débordent le convenu, bouscule l’ordre figé pour dévoiler un instant de vérité pour une donation de sens. Ensuite, nous verrons comment les philosophes rois de ce pays, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk et Vaclav Havel sont des guides précieux pour le peuple tchèque en ces années de plomb. Leurs maîtres de philosophie ne sont jamais très loinWith the genesis of the Czech history, during the first half of the twentieth century, a great moment of political philosophy is born: a Czechoslovakian State can declare its existence as a result of an uncompromising conflict with an extremely tormented lot. The long walk to emancipation from the Austro-Hungarian empire and the religious persecutions were followed by a thirty-year-long war and eventually ended in a private experience of exile resulting in personal breakdown. Finally, negotiations with the Austrian parliament started in the ninetieth century so the Czech could gain a status of respect. This awareness was gained by a people constantly on the move according to Hannah Arendt. The Czech philosopher called it crisis or Krisis. It can be felt within your own being, just like a [relationship of being], a scission within your being always questioning about one self and the world as well as searching for perfection and spiritual well-being. Considering the truth of the world in order to outline a meaning and a judgment is a high-risk experience. Jan Patocka traces there "the solidarity of the shaken" for a "life in truth".We will first look into the main eminent thinkers that have made the Czechoslovakian State come to life, thanks to its philosophers, mainly Jan Patocka, who after a life of protests, endlessly felt an urge for existence. They trespassed the rules, disrupted the rigid order to unveil a moment of truth and give it a meaning. We will then see how philosopher-kings of this country, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk and Vaclav Havel became precious guides to the Czech people during the country’s dark years. Their philosophy mentors are never too far
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Keidan, Joshua. "Learning, Improvisation, and Identity Expansion in Innovative Organizations." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1586874155982614.
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Broi, Antonin. "Recherches sur la mesure du bien-être et le welfarisme." Thesis, Sorbonne université, 2020. http://www.theses.fr/2020SORUL104.
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Ce travail de thèse aborde plusieurs questions relatives à la mesure du bien-être et au welfarisme, en s’inscrivant dans les domaines de l’éthique, de la philosophie de l’esprit et de la philosophie des sciences. Le concept de bien-être joue un rôle crucial pour un grand nombre de théories morales, à commencer par les théories welfaristes. Cela pose une série de questions liées à sa mesure, dans ses aspects métaphysiques aussi bien qu’épistémologiques. D'abord, puisque le bien-être doit être agrégé pour déterminer le niveau de bien-être collectif d’un état du monde, il doit avoir certaines propriétés quantitatives. Mais la seule quantifiabilité n'est pas suffisante pour rendre le bien-être pleinement mesurable : encore faut-il avoir accès à ces quantités de bien-être. Nous abordons ces questions épistémologiques par le biais de deux perspectives complémentaires. Premièrement, nous nous interrogeons sur l'accès épistémique du sujet à la dimension affective du bien-être, c’est-à-dire au plaisir et au déplaisir. Deuxièmement, dans la perspective d'une mise en pratique d'une éthique welfariste, nous portons notre attention sur des enjeux méthodologiques de la mesure du bien-être collectifThis dissertation deals with several topics around well-being measurement and welfarism, mostly in ethics, philosophy of mind and philosophy of science. The concept of well-being plays a crucial role in a variety of moral theories, including welfarist theories. This raises a series of questions about its measurement, both in its metaphysical and epistemological aspects. Since well-being has to be aggregated in order to determine the level of collective well-being, it must have some quantitative properties. However, full measurability requires to have an epistemic access to these quantitative properties. We address these epistemological questions from two complementary perspectives. First, we look at the kind of epistemic access that a subject has to the affective component of well-being, namely pleasure and displeasure. Second, we explore some methodological issues related to the measurement of collective wellbeing when a welfarist theory is put in practice
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Lukas, Mark E. "Well -being and actual desires." 2005. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3193919.
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What makes a life good for the person who lives it? According to one answer, enjoyment. Hedonists tell us that one's life goes well to the extent that he enjoys himself and avoids pain. Another answer is that we do well in life to the extent to which we get what we desire. Some versions of this last answer count only "rational" of "informed" desires as relevant to well-being. I defend the view that a person's quality of life is determined by the overall fit between what he actually wants and what he gets, whether or not he is informed or rational. In Chapter 1, I present and explain a theory about well-being, Actual Desire Satisfactionism. I discuss some intuitions about the value of getting what we want and show several ways to develop a theory around these intuitions. In Chapter 2, I respond to the objection that well-being cannot be determined by the satisfactions and frustrations of our actual desires because sometimes our actual desires are defective. In Chapter 3, I argue that our lives can be improved by getting what we want even when the things we want are apparently irrelevant to how our lives unfold. In Chapter 4, I show that Actual Desire Satisfactionism is consistent with our ordinary intuitions about self-sacrifice. In Chapter 5, I respond to an objection based on the fact that our desires often change over time. In Chapter 6, I discuss an argument based on the idea that some of our desires are unwanted. In Chapter 7, I show that Actual Desire Satisfactionism is compatible with various common intuitions about the narrative arrangement and variety of goods in a life. Finally, in Chapter 8, I suggest several ways to reconcile Actual Desire Satisfactionism with hedonistic accounts of well-being.
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Doviak, Daniel. "Being good, doing right, faring well." 2009. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3359134.
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In this dissertation, I use virtue theory to answer a number of different questions in the normative ethics of behavior and in welfare axiology. In chapter 1, I provide an introduction to the Normative Ethics of Behavior. I present some of the conceptual background necessary for answering the question “What makes right actions right?” In chapter 2, I provide critical summaries of some of the most popular virtue-ethical theories of right action. In chapter 3, I present and defend my own virtue-ethical theory of right action and show why this rather simple theory is not vulnerable to any of the objections that challenge its virtue-ethical rivals. In chapter 4, I turn to the question of how to measure the extent to which a person acts justly in the performance of an action. I argue that there are at least four variables that determine how just a person’s action is at a time. I try to show how we can integrate these four variables into a single measure for just action. In chapter 5, I consider whether being just is intrinsically, prudentially rewarding. Most modern philosophers answer: no, at least not as a matter of necessity. In a recent and influential paper, Wayne Sumner disagrees with this popular position. I rehearse and criticize his arguments. In chapter 6, I offer a new argument for Sumner’s conclusion, one that avoids the problems that his own argument faces. My argument turns on the fact that a just person’s own moral virtue will make a distributional claim on her that she is bound to satisfy in a way that will enhance her welfare.
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PapatsornSrichuchart and 巫秀君. "The Effect of Buddhist Philosophy on Personal Financial Well-Being." Thesis, 2013. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/80579968979852593990.
Full textAbstract:
碩士國立成功大學
國際經營管理研究所碩士班
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This study investigates the effects of Buddhist philosophy on personal financial well-being. To determine financial well-being, compulsive buying behavior, prudent wealth management behavior, financial risk tolerance and financial desire discrepancy are treated as measurement for this study. The literature shows that religion influences an individual ethic, belief, behavior, personality, and habit. However, most of previous studies focus on general religiosity. This study focuses on the specific Buddhist philosophy named “The Four Immeasurables” which are compassion, loving kindness, empathetic joy, and equanimity. The empirical result from 373 international Buddhist respondents shows that “The Four Immeasurables” doctrine positively influences personal financial well-being. It has significant negatively affect to compulsive buying behavior and financial risk management, and has positively effect to prudent wealth management behavior. Although, The Four Immeasurables doctrine has positively effect to financial desire discrepancy, they do show the significant relationship. The current research contributes to financial behavior and personal ethical financial literature. In practical, financial institution can use this finding to better understand Buddhist customers and develop new product and service to match with customers’ preference.
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Raibley, Jason R. "Achievement, enjoyment, and the things we care about: A theory of personal well-being." 2007. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3254956.
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This dissertation develops a theory of personal well-being---i.e., a theory of what is it for a person's life to go well for them. The proposed theory is called "the successful activity view of well-being." It is an end-neutral account of individual welfare that primarily values the pursuit, achievement, and enjoyment of ends that are important to (i.e., valued by) a person. The parts of this process---e.g., the pursuit of ends, the achievement of ends, the enjoyment of activities and situations, and even the satisfaction of desires for situations---are also of some significance for a person's level of well-being when actualized separately. I argue that previous end-neutral accounts of well-being, such as hedonism and desire-satisfactionism, are open to damaging objections because pleasures and desires can fail to coincide with a person's values. I also argue that the successful activity view has greater unity, explanatory power, and ontological economy than any form of perfectionism or any hybridized theory of wellbeing currently on offer.
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"Go Out and Play! A Defense of Paternalistic Policies to Promote Graduate Student Well-being." Master's thesis, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.62716.
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abstract: Studies suggest that graduate students experience higher rates of anxiety and depression than their peers outside of academia. Studies also show exercise is correlated with lower levels of anxiety and depression among graduate students. However, despite this evidence, nearly half of graduate students do not exercise regularly. Accordingly, I suggest universities consider adding an exercise requirement to promote graduate student well-being. One potential objection to this recommendation is that an exercise requirement is objectionably paternalistic. I answer this objection with two possible replies. First, there are reasons why the exercise requirement might not be paternalistic, and there may be sufficient non-paternalistic reasons to justify the policy. Second, there are reasons why even if the policy is paternalistic, it is not objectionably paternalistic, and may still be justified. I will offer reasons to consider paternalism in a positive light and why the exercise requirement may be an example of a good paternalistic policy. Because the exercise requirement might be justified on paternalistic grounds, there are reasons to consider other paternalistic policies to promote graduate student well-being.Dissertation/Thesis
Masters Thesis Philosophy 2020
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Evans, Jeremy Aaron. "Role ethics and the moral institutions of a flourishing collective." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/26050.
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My dissertation defends a modern version of Role Ethics modeled on the functioning of human moral psychology, and proposes a novel method for identifying the institutional roles of a well-ordered collective. In particular, I defend the view that our duties are determined by the social roles we incur in the communities we inhabit. The companion project extends Role Ethics into the political domain. I argue that we can identify the well-ordered collective in roughly the same way we identify the good individual, by discerning the dispositions in the relevant agent that are conducive to its well-being. By scaling up, we shift attention from the moral dispositions of individuals to the moral dispositions of collectives -- the institutions that determine the moral character of a population. While philosophers have tended to focus on the formal institutions of the state, this research is largely concerned with the 'informal institutions' of a collective, the implicit social roles/practices constructed and enforced endogenously, such as those involved in structuring human friendships. What I call 'Collective Eudaimonism' is a kind of virtue ethics writ large, a normative theory tasked with identifying correlations between a set of informal institutions and the indicators of flourishing human collectives.text
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Walker, Marsha Jelonek. "The effects of nurses practicing the HeartTouch technique on hardiness, spiritual well-being, and perceived stress." Thesis, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/2076.
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Sarch, Alexander F. "On the objectivity of welfare." 2009. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3380014.
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This dissertation is structured in such a way as to gradually home in on the true theory of welfare. I start with the whole field of possible theories of welfare and then proceed by narrowing down the options in a series of steps. The first step, undertaken in chapter 2, is to argue that the true theory of welfare must be what I call a partly response independent theory. First I reject the entirely response independent theories because there are widely-shared intuitions suggesting that some psychological responses are indeed relevant to welfare. Then I reject the entirely response dependent theories because there are other central intuitions suggesting that our welfare is not determined solely by our psychological responses. Thus I reach the preliminary conclusion that welfare must involve some response independent (or objective) component. The next step is to consider the most promising theories in the partly response independent category. In particular, I formulate, refine and ultimately reject what seem to be the main monistic theories that have been proposed in this category. In chapter 4, I reject the Adjusted-Enjoyment Theories of Welfare because they cannot account for the claim that a life containing no pleasure or pain can still contain a positive amount of welfare (e.g. if it’s a particularly successful life). Then in chapters 5-7, I discuss Desire Satisfaction theories of welfare. I argue that even the most promising of these theories – e.g. Worthiness Adjusted Desire Satisfactionism – are problematic because they cannot accommodate the claim that a life containing no success with respect to worthwhile projects can still contain a positive amount of welfare (e.g. if it’s a particularly pleasant life). Finally, I suggest that in order to accommodate the intuitions that led to the rejection of all these other theories of welfare, what is needed is a multi-component theory. In the final chapter, I formulate a multi-component theory that is particularly promising. Not only does it avoid the problems of the monistic theories discussed earlier, but, by incorporating a number of novel mathematical devices, it avoids problems that undermine several other initially promising multi-component theories of welfare.
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Wuriga, Rabson. "Ideology, virtue and well-being : a critical examination of Francis Fukuyama's notion of liberal democracy." Thesis, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/4195.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis is a critical examination of Fukuyama's "end of history" version of
liberalism, in which he announces the triumphant emergence of liberal democracy
as a universal form of governance. The thesis seeks to investigate Francis
Fukuyama's notion of liberal democracy and his arguments for it, in order to
assess the normative impact of market driven political and economic outcomes on
the human context or life satisfaction, especially recognition. This is contrasted
with Amartya Sen's notion of well-being in order to show that Fukuyama does not
pay attention to some of the basic moral demands of human life.
The thesis is comprised of an introduction and six chapters. The contents of
these chapters can be presented briefly as follows:
• The first chapter looks at how Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Kant use the
theory of social contract to explain the genesis and justification of the state.
Featuring prominently in all their versions of social contract are the values of
freedom, equality, and independence of the individual, the process of
consensus, the primacy of self-preservation and the necessity of the state.
Together these laid the basis for a philosophically reasoned and
progressive theory of politics. This chapter also looks at the theory of
laissez-faire, which paved the way for a free market economy. This doctrine
was developed in the thought of Adam Smith, Ricardo, Mill and Bentham.
For Fukuyama these thinkers inaugurated a tradition of political thought that
ultimately led to liberalism and democracy.
• The second chapter discusses the teleological view of history underlying the
philosophical theories of history advanced by Kant, Hegel, and Marx. Each
of these thinkers assumes that history is moving towards an end point or
goal. It is from these philosophers that Fukuyama appropriates the idea of
universality to envisage the universality of liberal democracy.
• The third chapter analyzes Fukuyama's "end of history" claim and his
arguments for it. When communism finally collapsed, liberal democracy was
the only remaining option, he claims. Drawing on Kant's idea of universal
history, Hegel's notion of a universal and homogeneous state and Marx's
materialist interpretation of history, Fukuyama envisages a global order that
will be ushered in by the universal and homogeneous liberal state which is the ultimate goal of liberal democracy. It is the duty of the liberal state to
ensure equal and mutual recognition and affirmation of its citizens' freedom.
• The fourth chapter stages a debate between Fukuyama and Sen in which
the question of life satisfaction and its achievability is addressed. Fukuyama
claims that human-beings desire recognition, and can best satisfy this
desire through liberal democracy. Sen for his part claims that people need
well-being, and can only achieve it through democracy, which he views as a
universal value. The discussion shows that although Fukuyama and Sen
may share similar political values they differ ideologically and in historical
vision.
• The fifth chapter deals with the critical evaluation of liberal democracy.
Several issues present major problems for liberal democracy. These issues
are liberal individualism as the central focus of liberalism and liberal
democracy; the global trend against gender bias; the political and cultural
homogenization of the world; the problem of parallel histories versus a
single inclusive history; desire-satisfaction versus need-satisfaction, and the
cultural preconditions of liberal democracy.
• The sixth chapter recapitulates the preceding chapters and spells out the
conclusion reached in the course of the thesis.
The findings on the notion of the "end of history" show that Fukuyama wishes the
equal and mutual recognition of the freedom and dignity of all individuals as well as
the affirmation of their individual rights. This concern for the individual is laudable.
However, excessive individualism threatens the fabric of every society, and
Fukuyama realizes that this threat is especially strong in liberal democracy. His
suggested solution is to cultivate social capital in the form of trust. This thesis
concludes that Fukuyama's medicine is no match for the disease; the whole thrust
of the intellectual tradition leading to liberal democracy - and of much else in
Western culture since Hobbes - is in the direction of excessive individualism and
the withering of community. Moreover, where Fukuyama sees isothymia - the
desire for equal recognition, the psychological truth is probably that people desire
to be recognized as superior - mega/othymia, again making individualism
intrinsically more threatening to a sense of community than Fukuyama seems to realize. Fukuyama suggests that an international consensus in favour of liberal
democracy is emerging. But it appears that such a consensus is unlikely to arise nation-
states fear disenfranchisement and assimilation and thus insist on their
sovereignty, effectively blocking any shift from the nation-state to a homogeneous
and universal liberal state. It is difficult to generate the consensus needed to
receive it as a universal system, because not all people subscribe to its cultural
preconditions. The satisfaction of human desire of any kind cannot be
universalized since human existence is centrally characterized by diversity of
context, culture, and perception. Any attempt to impose cultural or ideological
homogeneity requires conquest - cultural or military imperialism.
The triumphant emergence of liberal democracy cannot be the ultimate end
of the whole of human history. If this were the case, it would no longer be worth
trying to increase human knowledge, since knowledge always points to an open
future in terms of how it will be used for further advancement.
Due to its internal contradictions, such as the tension between excessive
individualism and community, liberal democracy has unintended negative
consequences. Liberal democracy is not yet the final ideology leading to human
satisfaction at a global level for this generation and generations to come as long as
human thought evolves. This will remain the case as long as Fukuyama's
admission that liberal democracy only works where its cultural preconditions are
met, remains true.Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2003.
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Côté-Boudreau, Frédéric. "Le concept d'autonomie s'applique-t-il aux animaux?" Thèse, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1866/10300.
Full textAbstract:
Dans ce mémoire, je cherche à déterminer pourquoi les animaux non humains ne sont pas considérés comme étant autonomes dans les théories libérales contemporaines. Pour ce faire, j’analyse deux conceptions traditionnelles de l’autonomie, soit l’autonomie en tant qu’agentivité morale et l’autonomie hiérarchique (en tant que capacité à agir selon ses désirs de second ordre), et je soutiens que ces deux conceptions ne réussissent pas à bien justifier le respect des choix personnels même chez les agents humains. J’avance que ces deux conceptions de l’autonomie mènent à des conclusions perfectionnistes et paternalistes à certains égards, ce qui est pourtant contraire à leur fonction. J’analyse ensuite quelques versions alternatives de l’autonomie qui ne reposent pas sur la possession de facultés morales ou rationnelles, avant de proposer une nouvelle conception de l’autonomie qui pourrait répondre aux problèmes soulevés et potentiellement reconnaître l’autonomie des animaux non humains.In this M.A. research, I try to understand why nonhuman animals are not considered autonomous in the contemporary liberal theories. To do this, I analyze two main conceptions of autonomy, autonomy as moral agency and hierarchical autonomy (as the capacity to act according to second-order desires), and I argue that these conceptions both fail to justify the respect of personal choices even for human agents. I suggest that these two conceptions of autonomy lead to perfectionist and paternalist conclusions, although this is inconsistent with their function. I then review a few alternative versions of autonomy that do not rely on possessing moral or rational faculties, before sketching a new conception of autonomy that could answer the different issues raised during this research and potentially recognize the autonomy of nonhuman animals.
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Corriveau-Dussault, Antoine. "Qu’est-ce que le bien des écosystèmes? Fondements philosophiques des notions de fonction écologique et de santé écosystémique." Thèse, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1866/13726.
Full textAbstract:
L’objectif de cette thèse est de proposer une caractérisation du bien propre des touts écologiques, comme les communautés biotiques et les écosystèmes, dont peut être dérivée une notion de ce qui est bon pour eux. Ceci vise à défendre les deux principales approches holistes en éthique de l’environnement, c’est-à-dire l’approche pragmatiste défendue par Bryan G. Norton et l’approche écocentriste défendue par J. Baird Callicott, contre certaines objections ayant été soulevées contre elles, faisant valoir l’impossibilité pour les écosystèmes d’avoir un bien propre. Cette thèse répond à ces objections en mobilisant plusieurs ressources théoriques issues de la philosophie de la biologie et de la méta-éthique. Ces ressources sont notamment celles fournies par les discussions sur les notions de fonction et de santé en philosophie de la biologie, celles fournies par les conceptions néo-aristotéliciennes de la normativité en méta-éthique, et celles offertes par les discussions de philosophie de l’écologie sur le holisme et le réductionnisme, sur l’idée d’équilibre de la nature, et sur le concept de santé écosystémique. Cette thèse mobilise ces ressources afin d’élaborer les fondements philosophiques des notions de fonction écologique et de santé écosystémique, desquelles est dérivée une caractérisation du bien propre des écosystèmes.The goal of this dissertation is to defend the view that ecological wholes, such as biotic communities and ecosystems, have a good of their own, from which an idea of what is good for them can be derived. This aims to respond to the common criticism addressed to the two main holistic approaches to environmental ethics, namely Bryan G. Norton’s pragmatist approach and John Baird Callicott’s ecocentrist approach, which argues that biotic communities and ecosystems have no such good. This dissertation addresses those objections by mobilizing theoretical resources taken from the philosophy of biology and metaethics. In particular, those theoretical resources come from studies about the notions of function and health in the philosophy of biology, from neo-aristotelian accounts of normativity in metaethics, and from discussions in the philosophy of ecology on holism and reductionism, the balance of nature idea, and the concept of ecosystem health. Those resources are mobilized to elaborate some philosophical foundations for the notions of ecological function and ecosystem health, from which an account of the good of ecosystems is derived.
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Hebestreit, Lydia Karola. "An evaluation of the role of the university of the third age in the provision of lifelong learning." Thesis, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1498.
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During the past thirty years several models for lifelong education after retirement have been developed worldwide, one of them being the University of the Third Age (U3A). This study explored the contributions of the U3A to the educational needs of older adults and evaluated the benefits they perceived from their participation in U3A by means of a literature study and an empirical investigation. The latter used a survey to explore the experiences of U3A members of two U 3As and presidents of 68 U3As in Victoria, Australia by means of two different questionnaires. As only 1.47 percent of the over-55 population of Victoria are U3A members, the survey also investigated barriers to U3A participation in general and with special reference to the male population. The findings indicated that member respondents were very satisfied with their U3A experiences which had made substantial differences in their lives. Both male and female respondents saw personal, mental, social, and physical improvement as a result of U3A participation. The majority indicated that participation had improved their intellectual development. Significant differences in the perceptions of male and female participants emerged: female members outnumbered males by three to one. Both the presidents and the members expressed some programmatic concerns, primarily obtaining tutors and classroom availability. The subject areas covered by courses presented were extensive. There was a difference in the subjects desired by males and female respondents; very few courses are offered in science and economics. Some barriers to participation identified are a lack of awareness of U3A, the stereotypical attitudinal barrier of `I am too old' and negative past educational experiences. Moreover, U3As should increase marketing endeavours. Although most U3As advertise, almost a third of the respondents indicated that they would have joined earlier if aware of U3As. A contributing factor appears to be a virtual lack of research and information provided in educational academic journals and other media about lifelong education after retirement. Based on the findings, recommendations were made for future research and for improved practice in the U3A environment as a means to enhance the quality of life for older adults.Educational Studies
D.Ed. (Comparative Education)