The purpose of this essay is to identify the criticism that has been directed towards the traditional description of Judas Iscariot as a traitor. After a survey and analysis of the critical revisionists' arguments, a discussion follows regarding the possible effects this may have on future ways of describing Judas Iscariot.Based on the results that have been elucidated, this essay concludes that the traditional description of Judas in recent times has been forced to endure fairly strong criticism. To summarize this criticism, the main argument raised by today?s revisionists consists of linguistic and historical phenomena. According to these Judas Iscariot has been subject to a, according to some, deliberate demonization; where he over time has become portrayed as more blameworthy.

In this thesis I examine how the phenomenological philosophy of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger differ with regard to the phenomenological reduction, and in particular why there is no reduction in Sein und Zeit. I examine in what way philosophy is seen as an overcoming of the naïvete of a ?natural? attitude and how this natural attitude is understood, starting with Husserl?s descriptions of the phenomenological reduction, of the natural attitude of our daily lives and of his notion of transcendental subjectivity. By presenting these main aspects, I try to elucidate why, in Husserl?s view, laying the foundation of all knowledge must take form of a phenomenological first philosophy.

The way in which media discusses religion has changed over time. Due to the separation of state and church in 2000, the Swedish state to a lesser extent legitimizes its political ruling with references to religious concepts. As a result, a higher tolerance towards religious minorities can be said to have taken place. This is an ambiguous change however, where critique raised towards religious practices and expressions of minorities also occurs to a higher extent. The public debate is in large part conducted through the media, but is also seen to be produced and reproduced through the media?s discourse.

Title: Diversities of diversity - fluctuating talk, meaning and practice of diversitySeminar date: 06.02.08 Course: Masters thesis in Business Administration, Programme for Managing People, Knowledge and Change, 15 University Credit Points (15 ECTS). Authors: Björt Ólafsdóttir & Clarissa Sia Choon YenAdvisors: Mats Alvesson & Susanne LundholmFive key words: Diversity, Discourses, Hypocrisy, Comparison, National contextPurpose: To identify and compare discourses around diversity within two companies operating in two distinct national contexts. One originated from and still situated in Iceland, while the other is a subsidiary for Asia-Pacific market in Singapore with American values from its headquarters in United States. We wish to explore what are the meanings and implications of diversity for the employees of each company, how their discourses on diversity reflect hypocrisy in the organizations and if and how national context has an impact on discourse on diversity.Methodology: Interviews were conducted, transcribed and codified. Comparison and evaluation of the different discourses were examined around diversity and in the talk of interviewees within the two companies.

Export is a top priority for Sweden's economy but for Swedish companies it may involve uncomfortable risks of exporting without sincere consideration. When the United Nations Security Council puts an embargo against a country, this often mean an import and export restriction. The thought is to push undemocratic regimes into respecting human rights. When the embargo is in force, however, the parties are not able to fulfill their contractual obligations, which practically means that the agreement will be suspended. The problem is what happens when an embargo is in force for a longer period of time.

Export is a top priority for Sweden's economy but for Swedish companies it may involve uncomfortable risks of exporting without sincere consideration. When the United Nations Security Council puts an embargo against a country, this often mean an import and export restriction. The thought is to push undemocratic regimes into respecting human rights. When the embargo is in force, however, the parties are not able to fulfill their contractual obligations, which practically means that the agreement will be suspended. The problem is what happens when an embargo is in force for a longer period of time.

The subject-matter of the following essay is to investigate the relationship between what is commonly called Deep Ecology or Biocentric Philosophy, as articulated by the co-founder of the Deep Ecology Movement, Arne Naess, and later proponents of the biocentric school of environmentalist thought. I contrast Naess? concept of Self-realization as founded in his Ecosophy T to the ideas of american conservationist and co-founder of the radical green movement Earth First! Dave Foreman, and to the controversial finnish environmentalist and ecofascist Pentti Linkola?s ideological agenda of population-reduction respectively.According to some critics of the movement, especially the social ecologist Murray Bookchin and French liberal philosopher Luc Ferry, the Deep Ecology ideology is essentially misanthropic and totalitarian in structure. A central idea among deep ecologists is that ecosystems and natural entities have intrinsic value in themselves, even outside a human social context. This idea is thought of among deep ecologists to create a philosophically sound basis for counteracting the environmental global crisis.

This thesis explores some key aspects of early Heidegger?s interpretations of Kant from a phenomenological perspective. In general terms, it analyzes Heidegger?s claim that Kant?s faculties share a common root in the transcendental imagination, as a critical development of motives found in Husserl?s phenomenology.More precisely, the thesis argues that the motive for deriving Kant?s first faculty, intuition, from the synthesis of imagination can be understood as an attempt to account for the receptivity of a finite subject, without yielding to a causal description of sensibility. Phenomenology shares this problem with Kant?s critical philosophy.

This paper is a critique of the hegemonic democracy ideal in France today, the myth of the Republic. Based on critical theory, the paper also contains a normative attempt giving the chance to subaltern groups to tell their, less often heard, version of the "truth".The theoretical foundation is the ontological narrative perspective, where identities and actions are understood as being constructed by the telling of stories. The interdependent relations of different narrative dimensions are analyzed. The power over who gets to tell the story of the "truth" is understood as decided in the interaction by dimensions of metanarrativity, public narratives, ontological narratives and conceptual narrativity. The author argues, inspired by Chantal Mouffe, that consensus is an illusion based on exclusion of those that differ.

The aim of this study is to examine metaphors and what may be perceived as motif-circuits in Stig Dagerman?s play Den dödsdömde (The Man Condemned to Death) and the two short stories ?Den dödsdömde? (The Man Condemned to Death) and ?Mannen från Milesia? (The Man from Milesia). My intention is to discuss a single theme and identity-marks that unites all three works, using Paul Ricoeur?s The Rule of Metaphor (La mêtaphore vive) as well as the ?thematic critique? of Jean-Pierre Richard.What is metaphor for Ricoeur is for Richard themes (theme): an organizing principle, a sort of schedule around which a world is constituted. Hence, I find similarities between the motif-circuits, Ricoeur?s metaphor-theory and Richards?s themes.

The public relations business has grown from almost nothing to a large international industry the last decades. Throughout the history the industry has struggled with a lot of critique and public relations has become a negative symbol for manipulation of information. Because of this negative view of the industry and the medial change taking place, the purpose of this study is to investigate how two different generations think about public relations. More accurate, the study will through a qualitative interview study explore how young people from a highschool in Luleå and elder people from Luleå township thinks about pubic relations, and most imortant why they have this particular view. By creating four focus groups, two with men and two with women, this also enables a comparative study between the gender. The focus groups were later analyzed and compared to two selected groups of theories on public relations, the theories were positive and critical theories compound in two categories.

The aim of this study is to examine metaphors and what may be perceived as motif-circuits in Stig Dagerman?s play Den dödsdömde (The Man Condemned to Death) and the two short stories ?Den dödsdömde? (The Man Condemned to Death) and ?Mannen från Milesia? (The Man from Milesia). My intention is to discuss a single theme and identity-marks that unites all three works, using Paul Ricoeur?s The Rule of Metaphor (La mêtaphore vive) as well as the ?thematic critique? of Jean-Pierre Richard.What is metaphor for Ricoeur is for Richard themes (theme): an organizing principle, a sort of schedule around which a world is constituted. Hence, I find similarities between the motif-circuits, Ricoeur?s metaphor-theory and Richards?s themes.

The following study is a discourse analysis of the concept of critical thinking within pre-school teacher education. It considers the following questions: how does the concept of critical thinking appear in policy documents, central to the pre-school teacher education, and which possible conceptions of critical thinking are conveyed by students and teachers active within the education. Additionally, the study seeks to discuss, as well as suggest a possible relation, between the findings of those two questions. In reviewing the material (consisting of five semi-structured interviews with students and teachers, and of a selection of policy documents central to the education), I argue the existence of a sort of project within the education, which presents critical thinking as a higher value. At the same time, I argue that the concept is not defined or concretized. This project, however, as I suggest while drawing upon Foucault?s ideas of discourse and government, involves a rather high degree of control.

This survey is a theoretical analysis concerning didactics of literature, in which I problematize what Martha C. Nussbaum describes as ?narrative imagination?. By using postcolonial theory, more specific: Gayatri Spivaks essay ?Can the Subaltern Speak?? and her theoretical formula ?a leap into the other?s sea?, I try to answer the following question: Can ?narrative imagination? be understood as a manifistation or concretisation of ?a leap into the other?s sea??The answer that is given concerning my general question is simply: No.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the institutional design of Participatory Budgeting (PB) in Sweden and how the design may contribute to realize central democratic goods. The study records the different PB experiences in Sweden and focuses on one particular case, which is the only case that successfully qualifies as a genuine PB-process according to international standards and definitions. To examine this, the following questions are asked: which municipalities in Sweden have implemented Participatory Budgeting? How can the institutional design of Participatory Budgeting be described and to what extent does it enable the realization of central democratic goods? To what extent does the institutional design enable the realization of the democratic goods inclusion, popular control, considered judgment and transparency? To what extent does the institutional design enable the realization of the institutional goods of efficiency and transferability?The study is based on an institutional theory of democracy. The method used is a mixed method ideal type analysis that combines document analysis, surveys and interviews.