Threat Simulation- The Function of Dreaming?

Dreaming is a pure form of phenomenality, created by the brain untouched by external stimulation or behavioral activity, yet including a full range of phenomenal contents. Thus, it has been suggested that the dreaming brain could be used as a model system in a biological research program on consciousness (Revonsuo, 2006). In the present thesis, the philosophical view of biological realism is accepted, and thus, dreaming is considered as a natural biological phenomenon, explainable in naturalistic terms. The major theoretical contribution of the present thesis is that it explores dreaming from a multidisciplinary perspective, integrating information from various fields of science, such as dream research, consciousness research, evolutionary psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. Further, it places dreaming into a multilevel framework, and investigates the constitutive, etiological, and contextual explanations for dreaming. Currently, the only theory offering a full multilevel explanation for dreaming, that is, a theory including constitutive, etiological, and contextual level explanations, is the Threat Simulation Theory (TST) (Revonsuo, 2000a; 2000b). The empirical significance of the present thesis lies in the tests conducted to test this specific theory put forth to explain the form, content, and biological function of dreaming. The first step in the empirical testing of the TST was to define exact criteria for what is a ‘threatening event’ in dreams, and then to develop a detailed and reliable content analysis scale with which it is possible to empirically explore and quantify threatening events in dreams. The second step was to seek answers to the following questions derived from the TST: How frequent threatening events are in dreams? What kind of qualities these events have? How threatening events in dreams relate to the most recently encoded or the most salient memory traces of threatening events experienced in waking life? What are the effects of exposure to severe waking life threat on dreams? The results reveal that threatening events are relatively frequent in dreams, and that the simulated threats are realistic. The most common threats include aggression, are targeted mainly against the dream self, and include simulations of relevant and appropriate defensive actions. Further, real threat experiences activate the threat simulation system in a unique manner, and dream content is modulated by the activation of long term episodic memory traces with highest negative saliency. To sum up, most of the predictions of the TST tested in this thesis received considerable support. The TST presents a strong argument that explains the specific design of dreams as threat simulations. The TST also offers a plausible explanation for why dreaming would have been selected for: because dreaming interacted with the environment in such a way that enhanced fitness of ancestral humans. By referring to a single threat simulation mechanism it furthermore manages to explain a wide variety of dream content data that already exists in the literature, and to predict the overall statistical patterns of threat content in different samples of dreams. The TST and the empirical tests conducted to test the theory are a prime example of what a multidisciplinary approach to mental phenomena can accomplish. Thus far, dreaming seems to have always resided in the periphery of science, never regarded worth to be studied by the mainstream. Nevertheless, when brought to the spotlight, the study of dreaming can greatly benefit from ideas in diverse branches of science. Vice versa, knowledge learned from the study of dreaming can be applied in various disciplines. The main contribution of the present thesis lies in putting dreaming back where it belongs, that is, into the spotlight in the cross-road of various disciplines.

The grammar of psychosis

This thesis is concerned with the philosophical grammar of certain psychiatric concepts, which play a central role in delineating the field of psychiatric work. The concepts studied are ‘psychosis’, ‘delusion’, ‘person’, ‘understanding’ and ‘incomprehensibility’. The purpose of this conceptual analysis is to provide a more perspicuous view of the logic of these concepts, how psychiatric work is constituted in relation to them, and what this tells us about the relationships between the conceptual and the empirical in psychiatric concepts. The method used in the thesis is indebted primarily to Ludwig Wittgenstein’s conception of philosophy, where we are urged to look at language uses in relation to practices in order to obtain a clearer overview of practices of interest; this will enable us to resolve the conceptual problems related to these practices. This questioning takes as its starting point the concept of psychosis, a central psychiatric concept during the twentieth century. The conceptual analysis of ‘psychosis’ shows that the concept is logically dependent on the concepts of ‘understanding’ and ‘person’. Following the lead found in this analysis, the logic of person-concepts in psychiatric discourse is analysed by a detailed textual analysis of a psychiatric journal article. The main finding is the ambiguous uses of ‘person’, enabling a specifically psychiatric form of concern in human affairs. The grammar of ‘understanding’ is then tackled from the opposite end, by exploring the logic of the concept of ‘incomprehensibility’. First, by studying the DSM-IV definition of delusion it is shown that its ambiguities boil down to the question of whether psychiatric practice is better accounted for in terms of the grammar of ‘incorrectness’ or ‘incomprehensibility’. Second, the grammar of ‘incomprehensibility’ is further focused on by introducing the distinction between positive and negative conceptions of ‘incomprehensibility’. The main finding is that this distinction has wide-ranging implications for our understanding of psychiatric concepts. Finally, some of the findings gained in these studies are ‘put into practice’ in studying the more practical question of the conceptual and ethical problems associated with the concept of ‘prodromal symptom of schizophrenia’ and the agenda of early detection and intervention in schizophrenia more generally.

Concepts and Reference. Defending a Dual Theory of Natural Kind Concepts

In this thesis I argue that the psychological study of concepts and categorisation, and the philosophical study of reference are deeply intertwined. I propose that semantic intuitions are a variety of categorisation judgements, determined by concepts, and that because of this, concepts determine reference. I defend a dual theory of natural kind concepts, according to which natural kind concepts have distinct semantic cores and non-semantic identification procedures. Drawing on psychological essentialism, I suggest that the cores consist of externalistic placeholder essence beliefs. The identification procedures, in turn, consist of prototypes, sets of exemplars, or possibly also theory-structured beliefs. I argue that the dual theory is motivated both by experimental data and theoretical considerations. The thesis consists of three interrelated articles. Article I examines philosophical causal and description theories of natural kind term reference, and argues that they involve, or need to involve, certain psychological elements. I propose a unified theory of natural kind term reference, built on the psychology of concepts. Article II presents two semantic adaptations of psychological essentialism, one of which is a strict externalistic Kripkean-Putnamian theory, while the other is a hybrid account, according to which natural kind terms are ambiguous between internalistic and externalistic senses. We present two experiments, the results of which support the strict externalistic theory. Article III examines Fodor’s influential atomistic theory of concepts, according to which no psychological capacities associated with concepts constitute them, or are necessary for reference. I argue, contra Fodor, that the psychological mechanisms are necessary for reference.

Matematiikka

Matematiikan pääkokoelma sijaitsee pääkirjastossa (Linnassa), jossa painettu yleis- ja käsikirjastokokoelma koostuu noin 4700 nimekkeestä monografioita (painettujen monografiasarjojen osat mukaan lukien). Yleiskokoelmaa ei ole karsittu, mutta vanhoja peruskoulun, lukion jne. oppikirjoja on siirretty Hämeenlinnan yksikköön. Matematiikka-kokoelmasta kartoitettiin seitsemän osa-aluetta. Todennäköisyyslaskentaa, kombinatoriikkaa & sovellettua matematiikkaa käsitteli yli 1/3 kirjoista (34 % / 1586 nimekettä), joten se oli selvin painopisteala. Aritmetiikkaa, lukuteoriaa & algebraa käsitteli noin 19 % kirjoista (876 nimekettä) ja matemaattista analyysiä noin 18 % kirjoista (841 nimekettä). Matematiikan yleisteosten & filosofian (noin 10 % / 487 nimekettä), joukko-opin (noin 5 % / 218 nimekettä), geometrian & trigonometrian (noin 4 % / 179 nimekettä) ja topologian (noin 3 % / 121 nimekettä) osuudet kirjakokoelmasta olivat pienehköjä. Käsikirjaston 23 nimekkeen kokoelma sisälsi edelleen hyödyllisen 10-osaisen hakuteoksen Encyclopaedia of mathematics, sanakirjoja ja matemaattisia taulukoita sekä muutaman bibliografian 1970-luvulta. Painettuja lehtiä oli 3 nimekettä (American Mathematical Monthly, Journal of Mathematical Logic ja Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society). Sähkökirjoja kokoelmassa oli 3 nimekettä NetLibrary-tietokannassa, 346 nimekettä Ebrary-tietokannassa sekä 10 nimekettä Taylor & Francis –tietokannassa. Verkkolehtiä kokoelmassa oli noin 470 nimekettä. Tietokantoja oli yksi, MathScinet.

Hajautetun työn hyvät käytännöt ja kustannusedut

Hajautetuissa organisaatioissa määräaikainen tai pysyvä joukko ihmisiä työskentelee toisistaan erillään yhteisen tavoitteen saavuttamiseksi käyttäen apunaan tieto- ja viestintäteknologiaa. Tämän työn tavoitteena on tarkastella, minkälaisia hajautetun työn hallinnan hyviä käytäntöjä on olemassa. Lisäksi työn toisena tavoitteena on tutkia, miten hajautetun työn kustannukset eroavat perinteisen työn kustannuksista. Työn kohdeyrityksenä toimii IT-palveluyhtiö, jossa hajautettua työskentelytapaa on hyödynnetty jo jonkin aikaa. Työn teoriaosuudessa on käsitelty hajautetun työn sekä toimintolaskennan periaatteet. Näitä teoriaosuudessa käsiteltyjä asioita on sovellettu työn empiriaosuuden www-kyselyssä, joka liittyy hajautettuun työhön ja hajautetun työn hallinnan hyviin käytäntöihin, sekä kustannusrakennemallissa, jonka avulla hajautetun ja perinteisen työskentelytavan kustannusrakenteet on mallinnettu toimintolaskennan keinoin. Työn kohdeyrityksen työntekijät ovat kokeneet työyhteisönsä jonkin verran hajautuneiksi. Hajautetun työn haasteet ovat näkyneet hajautetun työn etuja enemmän työn kohdeyrityksessä sekä työntekijöiden päivittäisessä työskentelyssä. Työssä käsitellyistä hajautetun työn hallinnan hyvistä käytännöistä yli puolta on hyödynnetty kohdeyrityksessä melko paljon ja muutamaa käytäntöä on hyödynnetty vähemmän. Työssä toteutetun kustannusrakennemallin perusteella voidaan todeta, että hajautetulla työskentelytavalla on mahdollista saavuttaa noin 12 %:n kustannusetu perinteiseen työskentelytapaan verrattuna.

The Role of Preannouncing In Innovation Launch Strategy

The objective of this master’s thesis was to examine the role of preannouncing in innovation launch strategy. Preannouncing was studied from three different angles that were preannouncement usage, preannouncement timing and preannouncement goals and from two different perspectives that were the firm’s internal strategy and the external circumstances. The firm’s internal strategy encompassed the product strategy the firm had chosen. The external circumstances consisted of the industry, the nature of competition and the nature of market. Additionally, the product’s performance in the short term was studied in order to be able to speak out whether it is advantageous to preannounce. The empirical study was conducted as a partial replication study. The data for the empirical part was collected with a wide mailing and Internet enquiry in October 2008 – June 2009. Sample (N = 713) consisted of Finnish firms representing different industries and innovation activities. The data collection produced 272 answers and thus, the final response rate of the study was 38.15 %. The data was analyzed by using Microsoft Excel and statistical analysis program SAS Enterprise Guide. As a conclusion, the major results indicate that even if the firms use preannouncing quite often (54.8 % of the respondents), preannouncing behavior cannot be explained by industry. However, out of other external circumstances, the customer related turbulence affects on preannouncing usage. It was also revealed that the product type has an effect on preannouncing behavior. Additionally, preannouncement timing was noticed to differ according to audiences (distributors and end users).

Lärande som text : en dramapedagogiskt förankrad läsning av det kroppsliga, rumsliga och retoriska i kunskapsbildande processer

My presupposition, that learning at some level deals with life praxis, is expressed in four metaphors: space, time, fable and figure. Relations between learning,knowledge building and meaning making are linked to the concept of personal knowledge. I present a two part study of learning as text in a drama pedagogical rooted reading where learning is framed as the ongoing event, and knowledge, as the product of previous processes, is framed as culturally formed utterances. A frame analysis model is constructed as a topological guide for relations between the two concepts learning and knowledge. It visualises an aesthetic understanding, rooted in drama pedagogical comprehension. Insight and perception are linked in an inner relationship that is neither external nor identical. This understanding expresses the movement "in between" connecting asymmetrical and nonlinear features of human endeavour and societal issues. The performability of bodily and oral participation in the learning event in a socio-cultural setting is analysed as a dialogised text. In an ethnographical case study I have gathered material with an interest for the particular. The empirical material is based on three problem based learning situations in a Polytechnic setting. The act of transformation in the polyphony of the event is considered as a turning point in the narrative employment. Negotiation and figuration in the situation form patterns of the space for improvisation (flow) and tensions at the boundaries (thresholds) which imply the logical structure of transformation. Learning as a dialogised text of "yes" and "no", of structure and play for the improvised, interrelate in that movement. It is related to both the syntagmic and the paradigmatic forms of thinking. In the philosophical study, forms of understanding are linked to the logical structure of transformation as a cultural issue. The classical rhetorical concepts of Logos, Pathos, Ethos and Mythos are connected to the multidimensional rationality of the human being. In the Aristotelian form of knowledge, phronesis,a logic structure of inquiry is recognised. The shifting of perspectives between approaches, the construction of knowledge as context and the human project of meaning making as a subtext, illuminates multiple layers of the learning text. In an argumentation that post-modern apprehension of knowledge, emphasising contextual and situational values, has an empowering impact on learning, I find pedagogical benefits. The dialogical perspective has opened lenses that manage to hold in aesthetic doubling the individual action of inquiry and the stage with its cultural tools in a three dimensional reading.

Beyond the obvious : three acts in educational drama

Researching research is not a common theme in educational drama. Nor is the educational drama process from a participant perspective a typical focus of research, at least not if the participants are disabled. Yet this is the theme of this thesis, a drama in three acts. The aim of this thesis is to describe, analyse, and discuss both the ways in which research within educational drama can be carried out and represented, and the experiences of the participants of the educational drama process. The theoretical framework that steers the research process is built up of two pairs of frames, each of them, like Russian nesting dolls, containing further frames. The first frame, relating to the outcomes of conducting research in educational drama, comprises philosophical, representational, and personal theories. As the second question asks what educational drama is, the subject related frame is built up of pedagogical, drama educational, and aesthetic theories. The study in its entirety follows the structure of the researcher’s hermeneutical learning process and takes the form of a journey starting from what is familiar, stretching towards what is new and different, and finally returning back to the beginning with a new view on what was there at the start. The thesis consists of two separate but related studies. The first, a familiar study conducted earlier, Alpha in Act I, was carried out among upper secondary school pupils. In the second, the new and therefore unfamiliar study, Omega in Act III, the participants are adult individuals who are physically and communicatively disabled. In between these two Acts an element of “Verfremdung” where the Alpha study is systematically scrutinized as the purpose is to teach and to manage the reader to think. Meta-discussions on the philosophical issues of the study are conducted throughout the text, parallel to the empirical parts. The outcomes of the first research question show that philosophical, methodical, and representational consistency is crucial for research. While this may sound like stating the obvious, this has nevertheless not always been considered fact, especially not within qualitative research. The outcomes further stress that representational issues are also to be recognized when presenting non-rational aspects of educational drama. By wording the world, through the use of visualising language, the surplus of meanings of educational drama can be, as they are within this study, made visible, sensible, and almost tangible, not only cognitively understandable. The outcomes of the second question point to the different foci of the studies, with Alpha focusing on the rationally retold experiences and Omega focusing on nonrational experiences. The outcomes expose educational drama as a learning process comprising doing, reflecting, and being. The doing aspect communicates the concrete efforts in creating a piece of theatre, while the being aspect relates experiences of being as situated, embodied and sensuous, reciprocal, empowering, aesthetic and artistic, and existential. Reflection is the twine that runs throughout the process and connects both doing and being. In summary, the outcomes could be formulated as “learning from learning how to make theatre”.

Dialogue in the crisis of representation : realism and antirealism in the context of the conversation between theologians and quantum physicists in Göttingen 1949-1961

The aim of this study is to analyse the content of the interdisciplinary conversations in Göttingen between 1949 and 1961. The task is to compare models for describing reality presented by quantum physicists and theologians. Descriptions of reality indifferent disciplines are conditioned by the development of the concept of reality in philosophy, physics and theology. Our basic problem is stated in the question: How is it possible for the intramental image to match the external object?Cartesian knowledge presupposes clear and distinct ideas in the mind prior to observation resulting in a true correspondence between the observed object and the cogitative observing subject. The Kantian synthesis between rationalism and empiricism emphasises an extended character of representation. The human mind is not a passive receiver of external information, but is actively construing intramental representations of external reality in the epistemological process. Heidegger's aim was to reach a more primordial mode of understanding reality than what is possible in the Cartesian Subject-Object distinction. In Heidegger's philosophy, ontology as being-in-the-world is prior to knowledge concerning being. Ontology can be grasped only in the totality of being (Dasein), not only as an object of reflection and perception. According to Bohr, quantum mechanics introduces an irreducible loss in representation, which classically understood is a deficiency in knowledge. The conflicting aspects (particle and wave pictures) in our comprehension of physical reality, cannot be completely accommodated into an entire and coherent model of reality. What Bohr rejects is not realism, but the classical Einsteinian version of it. By the use of complementary descriptions, Bohr tries to save a fundamentally realistic position. The fundamental question in Barthian theology is the problem of God as an object of theological discourse. Dialectics is Barth¿s way to express knowledge of God avoiding a speculative theology and a human-centred religious self-consciousness. In Barthian theology, the human capacity for knowledge, independently of revelation, is insufficient to comprehend the being of God. Our knowledge of God is real knowledge in revelation and our words are made to correspond with the divine reality in an analogy of faith. The point of the Bultmannian demythologising programme was to claim the real existence of God beyond our faculties. We cannot simply define God as a human ideal of existence or a focus of values. The theological programme of Bultmann emphasised the notion that we can talk meaningfully of God only insofar as we have existential experience of his intervention. Common to all these twentieth century philosophical, physical and theological positions, is a form of anti-Cartesianism. Consequently, in regard to their epistemology, they can be labelled antirealist. This common insight also made it possible to find a common meeting point between the different disciplines. In this study, the different standpoints from all three areas and the conversations in Göttingen are analysed in the frameworkof realism/antirealism. One of the first tasks in the Göttingen conversations was to analyse the nature of the likeness between the complementary structures inquantum physics introduced by Niels Bohr and the dialectical forms in the Barthian doctrine of God. The reaction against epistemological Cartesianism, metaphysics of substance and deterministic description of reality was the common point of departure for theologians and physicists in the Göttingen discussions. In his complementarity, Bohr anticipated the crossing of traditional epistemic boundaries and the generalisation of epistemological strategies by introducing interpretative procedures across various disciplines.

Hjärtats vanor, tankens välvilja och handens gärning : dygd som vårdetiskt grundbegrepp

The main aim of the study is to elucidate the meaning and dimensions of the concept of „virtue‟, and to find the place of virtue in a caritative caring ethics, i.e. a caring ethics based on human love and mercy. The intention is to create a theory model which utilizes the possibilities of virtue in developing the caritative caring ethics as a whole. The caritative caring ethics has a universal potential – it is primarily not a professional ethics, but it may form a frame of reference and basis for formulating ethical codes, and for ethical discussions within different caring contexts. The hermeneutic approach of the study is inspired by Gadamer‟s philosophical hermeneutics combined with the view of hermeneutics as a hypothetical-deductive process. The study is guided by Eriksson‟s model of definition of concepts. The concept of „virtue‟ is studied focusing on its ethical dimensions. These ethical dimensions of virtue are seen as anchored to an inner ethos, whereas ethos stands for the ontological goodness, a basic notion of the Good that permeates the entity of the human being, and forms the base of the culture where he lives and acts. The overarching research questions are: 1. What is virtue? 2. What is „virtue‟ as a basic concept in caring science? 3. What place does virtue have in caritative caring ethics? The answer of the first question is mainly searched for by an ontological determination comprising partly an etymologic and semantic analysis of „virtue‟, and partly a determination of the essence of virtue. The answer to the second and third questions are mainly searched for using a contextual determination, where the purposive context and pragmatic features of virtue are studied in relation to caring ethics. The ontological and contextual determinations are brought together through hermeneutical interpretation, forming a new whole, which constitutes the results of the study. The results of the study are depicted in a theory model, in which the movement of virtue from ethos to deed is moulded as caritative caring ethics. The material of the study consists of dictionaries, texts written by Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, articles, dissertations, and books, as well as parts of a pilot survey answered by 33 nurses. The results of the study show that the essence of virtue is primarily functional, not ethical. The ethical emerges when virtue is contextualized in a human communion. Virtue makes something fulfil its function well; makes the human being good, and gives him morals and morality. The human being needs prudence, love, and humility to acquire and develop the moral virtues. Virtue is a power, related to a value, which considering a caritative caring ethics consists of the caritas motif. Human love is shown through deeds, making the human being do what he is expected to do. Virtue, as an active power of becoming, affirms and clarifies the human being‟s ability to develop in the direction of the Good. Virtue becomes essential and unifying when morality appears in the human mind as auctoritas, an inner, prompting power based on divinity or a transcendental ethos. Together ethos and virtue create opportunities for an inner ethics based on voluntariness and joy in being and doing the true, the good, and the beautiful.

Vårdande och icke-vårdande tröst

The aim of the thesis is, from a caring science perspective including a caring theology perspective, to illustrate the meaning of the phenomenon consolation and howconsolation relates to suffering and care. Two studies were completed where staff and elderly care receivers were interviewed and a third study focused on an analysis of consolation as it is presented in the Book of Job in the Old Testament. These studies deal with carers' experiences of consolation and consoling, elderly care receivers' experiences of consolation, and Job's experience of consolation. Phenomenology and hermeneutics form the basis for the methodological approach. A phenomenological- hermeneutic method, inspired by Paul Ricoeur, has been used for the text analyses. The thesis also covers significant aspects of poetical and religious texts. The metaphors that occur in the interview studies with the carers and the elderly are analysed in order to take care of the excess of meaning that, according to Ricoeur, can be expressed in metaphors. The result showfive overall meanings: The contradictory consolation, The bonding consolation, The mute and rigid consolation, The uncontrolled consolation and The restful consolation. A caring consolation is contradictory in the sense that it entails that the sufferer on the one hand passes on his or her suffering to someone else and on the other hand that the suffering can be returned to be suffered. Consolation can thus entail suffering. The bonding consolation is present, i.e. is with the sufferer and is based on that person's suffering. This consolation is characterised by a close fellowship, a feeling of being understood at a deeper level. The results also reveal a consolation that is mute and rigid. This consolation does not respond to the sufferer's experience of his or her suffering, is shapeless and therefore unable to follow the suffering. An example of a mute, rigid and non-caring consolation is the consolation of the friends in the Book of Job. This consolation is not capable of consoling because it does not correspond to where Job is, i.e. in his experience of his suffering. A caring consolation is also uncontrolled because it is on the one hand spontaneous and on the other hand helps the sufferer to lose control over the suffering. To lose control entails, amongst other things, the sufferer giving up trying to understand suffering and instead lets that which is incomprehensible be incomprehensible. A consoling and health-bringing rest in or from the struggle with suffering presents itself by giving up what in various ways is tied to the suffering. The result as a whole is interpreted from a caring science perspective with the following important concepts: caring relationship, faith, health and sacrifice. Consolation as health is considered on the basis of a theoretical model inspired by Katie Eriksson's ontological health model. The research is also illustrated from a philosophical-ethical perspective, mainly based on the work of Emmanuel Levinas. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research and also to caring science, society and care.

Det gyldne snitt : den estetiske dimensjon, en kilde til helse oget etisk anliggende

Within caring science, investigations and explorations have been carried out on the ontology of caring, and many aspects of the field have been the subject of scientific research. The main subject for this study is grounded on the human need for aesthetics. The purpose is to find how the aesthetic dimension is taken into consideration and how the aesthetic surroundings are evaluated and attended to, in the general hospitals in Norway. The theoretical perspective is founded basicly on the study of litterature from caring science and philosophy. The aim is to develop a disposition for a framework on the aesthetic surroundings in the hospitals, and to develop phenomenological and ontological knowledge and understanding of the aesthetic dimension. The study aspires to attain a deeper understanding of the aesthetic acknowledgment and of the aesthetic needs. The focus is how the aesthetic dimension can promote health and wellbeing, both for patients and for the caring staff, in the general hospitals and why the aesthetic dimension should be obligatory in `evident care¿. The study concentrates on 11 selected categories in the hospital environment, where aesthetics is of importance. The research is implemented on 5 part studies: 1. part is a study of caring science and philosophical theories about aesthetics, as a framework for the investigation. 2. part is a survey of the physical environment, in Norwegian somatic hospitals, with focus on aesthetics. This by analyzing the strategy plans for the hospitals. 3. and 4. part is questionnaires to patients and nurses to get their opinion and evaluation of the aesthetic environment in the hospitals they are connected to, and their opinion on how this influences the health and wellness for both patients and caring staff. 5. part is qualitative interviews with 16 experts, to get their opinion and evaluation of the aesthetic environment in hospitals they are or have been connected to. How would the experts like the aesthetic surroundings to be, and also their opinion on what influence they think aesthetics has on health and wellness. The main literature of caring science is rooted in K. Erikssons caring theory as well as philosophic literature; mainly I. Kant, Platon and Y. Hirn's theories on aesthetics. Various scientificresearchers of aesthetics have also been referred to. The methodological approach is a triangulation with a hermeneutic exploration, where H.G. Gadamer and Ricoeur provides the inspirational foundation. The findings and conclusions result in the development of new hypothesis for the caring science foundation and suggestions, a disposition for a framework related to future planning of the aesthetic environments in general hospitals. It might be said that a common thread arises/appears in the invariance's (invariables) that are discerned from the analysis and interpretation of the interviews and also important angles shows in the variances that crystallized. Based on the conclusions the study confirms that there is a clearconnection between health, wellness and aesthetics in the environment and that it is an ethical obligationfor those in the caring professions to be aware of and attend to the aesthetic dimension.

Essays on Business and Leadership Ethics

As this is a dissertation, an academic thesis, it is important to define the objectives of my research, even if ex post facto, explicitly: - To define, develop and study the concept of business and leadership ethics. - To empirically study the phenomena associated with business and leadership from an ethical perspective. - To create a new framework for the development of responsible business. - To create an “acid test” for my body of works, i.e. a test and an evaluation on how well my research and ideas hold up under academic philosophical reflection. The utilitarian reasoning had the most support when the actors justified their actions regarding economic benefit. (=instrumental good). Duty and benefit were often mixed up in people’s speech. Their meaning contents were blurred and the argumentation lines created by the actors were broken. This can be interpreted in a way that supports Frankena’s mixed deontological philosophy as a frame of reference. Deontologica reasoning was used e.g. in describing the personnel management processes of a company. Virtue ethics is a favourable starting point for studying management and leadership ethics. All the actors studied could name virtues for their operations, towards which to aspire to. They also named professional practices already in use that they considered to be virtuous. Finally, I wish to state that normative ethics is an important branch of philosophical ethics, if also very important in applied ethics especially. From the normative standpoint, the results of this dissertation want to lead nations, communities and individuals towards the virtues of democratic leadership and sustainable economic development.

Systeemiajattelu Neuvostoliitossa

Kirjallisuusarvostelu