Luce Irigaray's Philosophy of Feminine Being : Body, Desire and Wisdom

Luce Irigaray is a Belgian-born philosopher, psychoanalyst and linguist. Irigaray s concept of woman is crucial for understanding her own work but also for examining and developing the theoretical and methodological basis of feminist theory. This thesis argues that, ultimately, Irigaray s exploration of woman s being challenges our traditional notion of philosophy as a neutral discourse and the traditional notion of ourselves as philosophizing persons or human beings. However, despite its crucial role, Irigaray s idea of woman still lacks a comprehensive explication. This is because the discourse of sexual difference is blurred by the ideas of essentialism and biologism. --- Irigaray s concept of woman has been interpreted and criticized from the perspectives of metaphysical essentialism, strategic essentialism, realist essentialism and deconstructionism. This thesis argues that a reinterpretation is necessary to account for Irigaray s claims about the the traditional woman , mimesis, the specificity of the feminine body, feminine expression and sexual difference. Moreover, any reading should account for the differences between women and avoid giving a prescriptive function to the essence of woman. --- My thesis develops a new interpretation of Irigaray s concept of woman on the basis of the phenomenology of the body. It argues that Irigaray s discourse on woman can and must be understood by an idea of existential style. Existential style is embodied, affective and spiritual and it is constituted in relation to oneself, to others and to the world. It is temporal, it evolves and changes but preserves its open unity in its transformations. Stylistic unities, such as femininity or philosophy, are constituted in and by the singulars. -- This study discusses and analyses feminine existential style as a central theme and topic of Irigaray s works and shows how her work operates as a primary and paradigmatic example of the feminine style. These tasks are performed by studying the mimetic positions available for women and by explicating the phenomenological background of Irigaray s conceptions of the philosophical method, and the lived, expressive and affective body. The critical occupation and transformation of these mimetic positions, the inquiry into the first-person pre-discursive experience, and the cultivation of feminine expressivity open up the possibility of becoming a woman writer, a woman lover and a woman philosopher. The appearance of these new feminine figures is a precondition for the realization of sexual difference. So Irigaray opens up the possibility of sexual difference by instituting and constituting a feminine subject of love and wisdom, and by problematizing the idea of a neutral and absolute subject.

"En plan för jämställdhet borde kanske utarbetas, men förekommer det ett behov?" : En kartläggning av 26 svenskspråkiga kommuners främjande av jämställdhet

Jämställdhetslagen från 1995 kräver att både myndigheter och arbetsgivare med aktiva och målinriktade åtgärder främjar jämställdheten, och denna pro gradu-avhandling undersöker närmare hur denna lag implementerats i de finlandssvenska kommunerna (kommuner med majoritetsspråk svenska) under en 10årsperiod. I kommunerna jobbar 80% kvinnor, och 38% av alla kvinnliga arbetstagare hittas i arbeten inom den offentliga sektorn. Kommunens skyldighet att trygga dessa kvinnors lika villkor inom kommunorganisationen ingår både som en del i arbetsgivaransvaret, men även som del i statens demokratiska utövande genom myndighetsansvaret. De tre planer som ingår i mitt material innehåller en kartläggning av jämställdhetsområdet i olika omfattning, definierade mål och åtgärder och ingen av planerna har följts upp efter att de godkänts. Planerna varierar både i utformning och omfattning men också i ansvarsspecificering och åtgärdernas konkretisering, vilken ger en varierande kvalitet och därmed även varierande förutsättning att genomdrivas och därmed uppfylla lagens ålägganden. Två av kommunerna har eller har haft en jämställdhetskommitté. I de 26 inkomna svarsformulär görs en närläsning av hur begreppet jämställdhet används och hur jämställdhetslagen tolkas och orsakerna till frånvaron av jämställdhetsåtgärder. På frågan om varför jämställdhetsarbetet inte genomförts helt eller delvis utkristalliserade sig sex olika argumentationsteman: 1. Myten om den jämställda kommunen, innebär en hänvisning till att det inte förekommit några problem med jämställdheten. 2. Den naturligt integrerade jämställdheten, är kommunens policy och sker utan planer, men en liten kritik av problematiken med frånvaron av planer framförs av några kommuner. 3. Könens komplettering, utgår jämställdhetsbegreppet ifrån i några kommuner. 4. Den matematiska jämställdheten, är argument där man genom hänvisningar till kvinnor på olika högre positioner visar på att jämställdheten är uppnådd. 5.En fråga om resurser, används som ett argument till jämställdhetsarbetets frånvaro i kommunen. 6. Avsaknad av intresse, hos personalen och allmänheten är ett annat argument för ogenomförda jämställdhetsåtgärder. Det framkommer tydligt i materialet att kommunerna anser sig följa jämställdhetslagen, samtidigt som det blir tydligt att det råder en oklarhet om vad jämställdhetslagen från 1995 egentligen innehåller. En tydlig sammanblandning mellan den lagstadgade kvoteringen och skyldigheten att aktivt främja jämställdhet träder fram i materialet. Det ofullständiga jämställdhetsarbetet strandar på olika punkter, men en avgörande anser punkt är oförståelsen inför begreppet jämställdhet och därmed också lagens syfte och innehåll. Avhandlingens slutsats är att frånvaron av en könsmaktanalys försvårar förståelsen av ojämställdhetens komplexhet, dvs. dess orsaker, mångskiftande funktion och olika uttryck i organisationens strukturer och i de handlande aktörerna.

Early growth and adult health: focus on blood pressure, glucose tolerance status and body composition

Theory of developmental origins of adult health and disease proposes that experiences during critical periods of early development may have consequences on health throughout a lifespan. Thesis studies aimed to characterize associations between early growth and some components of the metabolic syndrome cluster. Participants belong to two epidemiological cohorts with data on birth measurements and, for the younger cohort, on serial recordings of weight and height during childhood. They were born as singletons between 1924-33 and 1934-44 in the Helsinki University Central Hospital, and 500 and 2003 of them, respectively, attended clinical studies at the age of 65-75 and 56-70 years, respectively. In the 65-75 year old men and women, the well-known inverse relationship between birth weight and systolic blood pressure (SBP) was confined to people who had established hypertension. Among them a 1-kg increase in birth weight was associated with a 6.4-mmHg (95% CI: 1.0 to 11.9) decrease in SBP. This relationship was further confined to people with the prevailing Pro12Pro polymorphism of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ2 (PPARγ2) gene. People with low birth weight were more likely to receive angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin-receptor blockers (ACEI/ARB, p=0.03), and, again, this relationship was confined to the carriers of the Pro12Pro (p=0.01 for interaction). These results suggest that the inverse association between birth weight and systolic BP becomes focused in hypertensive people because pathological features of BP regulation, associated with slow fetal growth, become self-perpetuating in adult life. Insulin resistance of the Pro12Pro carriers with low birth weight may interact with the renin-angiotensin system leading to raised BP levels. Habitual physical activity protected men and women who were small at birth, and thus at increased risk for the development of type 2 diabetes, against glucose intolerance more strongly. Among subjects with birth weight ≤3000 g, the odds ratio (OR) for glucose intolerance was 5.2 (95% CI: 2.1 to 13) in those who exercised less than 3 times per week compared to regular exercisers; in those who scored their exercise light compared with moderate exercisers (defined as comparable to brisk walking) the OR was 3.5 (1.5 to 8.2). In the 56-70 year old men a 1 kg increase in birth weight corresponded to a 4.1 kg (95% CI: 3.1 to 5.1) and in women to a 2.9 kg (2.1 to 3.6) increase in adult lean mass. Rapid gain in body mass index (BMI), i.e. crossing from an original BMI percentile to a higher one, before the age of 2 years increased adult lean mass index (LMI, lean mass/height squared) without excess fat accumulation whereas rapid gain in BMI during later childhood, despite the concurrent rise in LMI, resulted in a relatively higher increase in adult body fat mass. These findings illustrate how genes, the environment and their interactions, early growth patterns, and adult lifestyle modify adult health risks which originate from early life.

Individuals on the Move : Body Condition Dependent Dispersal and Quasi-Local Competition in Metapopulations

Individual movement is very versatile and inevitable in ecology. In this thesis, I investigate two kinds of movement body condition dependent dispersal and small-range foraging movements resulting in quasi-local competition and their causes and consequences on the individual, population and metapopulation level. Body condition dependent dispersal is a widely evident but barely understood phenomenon. In nature, diverse relationships between body condition and dispersal are observed. I develop the first models that study the evolution of dispersal strategies that depend on individual body condition. In a patchy environment where patches differ in environmental conditions, individuals born in rich (e.g. nutritious) patches are on average stronger than their conspecifics that are born in poorer patches. Body condition (strength) determines competitive ability such that stronger individuals win competition with higher probability than weak individuals. Individuals compete for patches such that kin competition selects for dispersal. I determine the evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) for different ecological scenarios. My models offer explanations for both dispersal of strong individuals and dispersal of weak individuals. Moreover, I find that within-family dispersal behaviour is not always reflected on the population level. This supports the fact that no consistent pattern is detected in data on body condition dependent dispersal. It also encourages the refining of empirical investigations. Quasi-local competition defines interactions between adjacent populations where one population negatively affects the growth of the other population. I model a metapopulation in a homogeneous environment where adults of different subpopulations compete for resources by spending part of their foraging time in the neighbouring patches, while their juveniles only feed on the resource in their natal patch. I show that spatial patterns (different population densities in the patches) are stable only if one age class depletes the resource very much but mainly the other age group depends on it.

One Word, One Body, One Voice : Studies in Apophatic Theology and Christocentric Anthropology in Gregory of Nyssa

The thesis consists of five international congress papers and a summary with an introduction. The overarching aim of the studies and the summary is to examine the inner coherency of the theological and anthropological thinking of Gregory of Nyssa (331-395). To the issue is applied an "apophatic approach" with a "Christological focus". It is suggested that the coherency is to be found from the Christological concept of unity between "true God" and "true man" in the one person of Jesus Christ. Gregory is among the first to make a full recognition of two natures of Christ, and to use this recognition systematically in his writings. The aim of the studies is pursued by the method of "identification", a combination of the modern critical "problematic method" and Gregory's own aphairetic method of "following" (akolouthia). The preoccupation with issues relating to the so-called Hellenization of Christianity in the patristic era was strong in the twentieth-century Gregory scholarship. The most discussed questions have been the Greek influence in his thought and his philosophical sources. In the five articles of the thesis it is examined how Gregory's thinking stands in its own right. The manifestly apophatic character of his theological thinking is made a part of the method of examining his thought according to the principles of his own method of following. The basic issue concerning the relation of theology and anthropology is discussed in the contexts of his central Trinitarian, anhtropological, Christological and eschatological sources. In the summary the Christocentric integration of Gregory's thinking is discussed also in relation to the issue of the alledged Hellenization. The main conclusion of the thesis concerns the concept of theology in Gregory. It is not indebted to the classical concept of theology as metaphysics or human speculation of God. Instead, it is founded to the traditional Judeo-Christian idea of God who speaks with his people face to face. In Gregory, theologia connotes the oikonomia of God's self-revelation. It may be regarded as the state of constant expression of love between the Creator and his created image. In theology, the human person becomes an image of the Word by which the Father expresses his love to "man" whom he loves as his own Son. Eventually the whole humankind, as one, gives the divine Word a physical - audible and sensible - Body. Humankind then becomes what theology is. The whole humanity expresses divine love by manifesting Christ in words and deeds, singing in one voice to the glory of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

NORDEK : A Plan for Increased Nordic Economic Co-operation and Integration 1968-1970

For the first time the attempt of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden to increase Nordic economic co-operation and integration (NORDEK 1968-1970) is analysed by using records from the four governments archives and interviews with central actors participating. A dominating argument has until now been that dynamics in Nordic economic integration is different from dynamics in European integration. This archive based study disproves the myth however of ideological Nordism and of short term political developments outside Norden as most important for the NORDEK initiative. The NORDEK initiative was actually more a consequence of a long term socioeconomic and socio-political path dependant process. The study also disproves the myth that the NORDEK plan was a political and ideological symbol without socioeconomic substance. The purpose with NORDEK was to create a better basis for generating economic growth and social welfare. The proposed NORDEK institutions were therefore developed to promote economic progress. The study finally shows that the NORDEK failure in 1970 was not a result of lacking economic rationale or incompatible economic interests. The failure was a result of a power struggle in Finnish domestic policy and lacking political will in the other Nordic countries to continue without Finland.

Electrocardiographic repolarization variables in detecting myocardial infarction and ischemic injury : From body surface potential mapping to a single lead

The aim of the studies was to improve the diagnostic capability of electrocardiography (ECG) in detecting myocardial ischemic injury with a future goal of an automatic screening and monitoring method for ischemic heart disease. The method of choice was body surface potential mapping (BSPM), containing numerous leads, with intention to find the optimal recording sites and optimal ECG variables for ischemia and myocardial infarction (MI) diagnostics. The studies included 144 patients with prior MI, 79 patients with evolving ischemia, 42 patients with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), and 84 healthy controls. Study I examined the depolarization wave in prior MI with respect to MI location. Studies II-V examined the depolarization and repolarization waves in prior MI detection with respect to the Minnesota code, Q-wave status, and study V also with respect to MI location. In study VI the depolarization and repolarization variables were examined in 79 patients in the face of evolving myocardial ischemia and ischemic injury. When analyzed from a single lead at any recording site the results revealed superiority of the repolarization variables over the depolarization variables and over the conventional 12-lead ECG methods, both in the detection of prior MI and evolving ischemic injury. The QT integral, covering both depolarization and repolarization, appeared indifferent to the Q-wave status, the time elapsed from MI, or the MI or ischemia location. In the face of evolving ischemic injury the performance of the QT integral was not hampered even by underlying LVH. The examined depolarization and repolarization variables were effective when recorded in a single site, in contrast to the conventional 12-lead ECG criteria. The inverse spatial correlation of the depolarization and depolarization waves in myocardial ischemia and injury could be reduced into the QT integral variable recorded in a single site on the left flank. In conclusion, the QT integral variable, detectable in a single lead, with optimal recording site on the left flank, was able to detect prior MI and evolving ischemic injury more effectively than the conventional ECG markers. The QT integral, in a single-lead or a small number of leads, offers potential for automated screening of ischemic heart disease, acute ischemia monitoring and therapeutic decision-guiding as well as risk stratification.

Significant effects of Pgi genotype and body reserves on lifespan in the Glanville fritillary butterfly

Individuals with a particular variant of the gene phosphoglucose isomerase (Pgi ) have been shown to have superior dispersal capacity and fecundity in the Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia), raising questions about the mechanisms that maintain polymorphism in this gene in the field. Here, we investigate how variation in the Pgi genotype affects female and male life history under controlled conditions. The most striking effect is the longer lifespan of genotypes with high dispersal capacity, especially in nonreproducing females. Butterflies use body reserves for somatic maintenance and reproduction, but
different resources (in thorax versus abdomen) are used under dissimilar conditions, with some interactions with the Pgi genotype. These results indicate life-history trade-offs that involve resource allocation and genotype!environment interactions, and these trade-offs are likely to contribute to the maintenance of Pgi polymorphism in the natural populations.