| 1. |
- Nilsson, Kristian
(författare)
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Baltic-Finns and Scandinavians : Comparative-Historical Linguistics and the Early History of the Nordic Region
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The study investigates how the early nineteenth century invention of comparative-historical linguistics affected European ethnohistoric thought, and how this process altered ethnohistorical research on the early, pre-Christian history of the Nordic region. The case study of the Nordic region (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Estonia) includes the discipline histories of Finno-Ugric studies, linguistics and the larger field of intellectual history. The study examines the ethnohistorical narratives on relations between Finno-Ugric-speaking Baltic-Finns and Indo-European-speaking Scandinavians. The study covers a time period from the Middle Ages until 1900, with a chronological focus on the period 1770-1900.
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| 2. |
- Danneskiold-Samsøe, Jakob
(författare)
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Muses and Patrons : Cultures of Natural Philosophy in Seventeenth Century Scandinavia
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study analyses the development of natural philosophy in Scandinavia in the 16th and 17th century. Rather than dealing with individual natural philosophers and ideas, it evolves around groups of natural philsophers - the Bartholin family and the former assistants of Tycho Brahe in Denmark, the Rudbeck family in Sweden. The study of nature is put into a cultural, religious, social, and political context, and much attention is given to the phenomenon of patronage. General developments in the two countries, particularly political, are drawn upon to explain the different conext, national style, and development of natural philosophy in Denmark and Sweden
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| 3. |
- Håkansson, Håkan
(författare)
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Seeing the Word : John Dee and Renaissance Occultism
- 2001
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study reassesses the occult philosophy of the British polymath John Dee (1527-1609). Focusing on his treatise Monas hieroglyphica (1564) and his notorious angelic conversations in the 1580s, it describes Dee’s philosophical career as a continuous search for a language which could yield knowledge of both nature and God. Situating Dee’s philosophy in the context of early modern “symbolic exegesis”, a group of discursive practices aimed at uncovering the creative principles of God by means of language, the study is an attempt to show how Dee’s seemingly divergent interests were interrelated. In Monas hieroglyphica he treated such disciplines as grammar, biblical exegesis, kabbalah, astronomy, alchemy, and mathematics as grounded on a common foundation, identical to the Word of God. By conceiving a graphical symbol, expressing God’s Word in visual form, Dee believed that he could bring these sciences to perfection. In the later angelic conversations, Dee’s aim was to recover the language spoken by the prelapsarian Adam. The Adamic language was conceived of as representing accurately God’s creative Word, and Dee’s recovery of this tongue would ultimately result in a complete restitution of both religion and knowledge. Dee’s works provide an example of how metaphoric associations between the Word of God, language, nature and the human soul could be exploited in Renaissance occult thought. Such metaphoric associations had an important role in shaping and legitimizing early modern views of symbolism, mysticism, and magic. Relying on Dee’s own sources, many of which still survive with his annotations, this study tries to reconstruct Dee’s search for the perfect language, while simultaneously stressing the syncretistic character of his views.
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| 4. |
- Libell, Monica
(författare)
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Morality Beyond Humanity : Schopenhauer, Grysanowski, and Schweitzer on Animal Ethics
- 2001
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The study examines the character and development of the animal ethical ideas of three German thinkers: Arthur Schopenhauer, Ernst Grysanowski, and Albert Schweitzer. By situating them in their cultural and intellectual context, the study explores the differing meanings of their ethical views of animals and seeks to answer the question of how their ideas can be explained historically. It is argued that from the beginning of the 19th century through the 1880s, the animal ethical discourse received heightened attention, a development that was largely due to two parallel bodies of ideas, both emanating out of the Enlightenment project. The early 19th century showed an increasing scientific interest in basic existential matters, such as the physical body, intuition, and instincts. Simultaneously, a social movement arose, which stressed the importance of civilization, education, humane conduct, and social reforms. Towards the close of the century, these two movements merged, while their focus shifted to an interest in the economy and morality of Nature, which increasingly displaced the earlier ideal of civilized society and the overt focus on social reforms. The investigation suggests that these developments shows that the discourse of animal ethics followed a circular rather than linear pattern. The era started with the humanitarian ideals of the Enlightenment and ended in the early decades of the 20th century with the appropriation of social-Darwinist morality.
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| 5. |
- Norris, Matthew
(författare)
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A Pilgrimage to the Past : Johannes Bureus and the Rise of Swedish Antiquarian Scholarship, 1600-1650
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- At the end of the eighteenth century, Edward Gibbon described the antiquarian scholars of previous generations as men of “profound learning and easy faith.” His exemplar was the Swedish polymath Olof Rudbeck, who in a series of frantic and combative tomes sought to portray Sweden as the model for Plato’s Atlantis and the seething cultural cauldron from which Western civilization had emerged. A Pilgrimage to the Past takes a century-wide step back and investigates the wellspring of a number of Rudbeck’s ideas and methods in the scholarly milieu surrounding Johannes Bureus (1568–1652), archivist, alchemist, self-proclaimed herald of the Apocalypse, and Sweden’s first antiquarius regni. The book follows Bureus and his contemporaries on a whirlwind scholarly expedition traversing through thrilling new discoveries and debilitating dead-ends, set against the backdrop of a world in which the vision of antiquity served as a virtual battleground on which the spiritual and intellectual convictions of a divided and gradually transforming Europe came to blows. In the process, it reminds us that the past has always been both a challengingly foreign and deceptively familiar place. Chapter One serves as a general introduction to Bureus and early modern antiquarianism. Chapter Two begins with an overview of Bureus’ early life and education, and proceeds to chart his lifelong engagement with astronomical, astrological, and cosmological questions, introducing a number of the key components of his thought, and showing how his antiquarian pursuits were firmly embedded in a complex web of broader scientific, philosophical, and spiritual concerns. It then turns to a discussion of his early encounter with the runes and his exploratory documentation of the domestic cultural landscape. Chapter Three explores the challenges attached to the recovery of ancient barbarian culture in the midst of an ongoing Renaissance of classical antiquity, and through a series of case studies, details the ways in which hypothetical reconstruction based on comparative analysis and the creative interpretation of visual and material evidence were methods used to accomplish that goal. Here Bureus’ motives, methods, and conclusions are compared with those of his friend and antiquarian colleague Johannes Messenius (c. 1579–1636). Chapter Four focuses on Bureus’ view of the history of language and writing, and traces the ways in which the project to retrieve and restore ancient Swedish culture fell into conflict with contemporary patriotically-oriented projects waged by Danish and German scholars. The fifth chapter broadens the scope of its predecessor and focuses on Bureus’ enduring quest to understand the place of the language and writing system of his ancestors in relation to the languages and scripts of the ancient Orient. A short epilogue pulls back in order to view the phenomenon of early seventeenth-century Swedish antiquarianism from the vantage point of the longue durée.
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| 6. |
- Sundeen, Johan
(författare)
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Andelivets agitator : J A Eklund, kristendomen och kulturen
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this thesis is to study the formation of opinions in issues related to the problem area of Christianity and culture of Public Theologian J A Eklund (1863-1945). The concept of Public Theologian refers to a theologian, who by participating in the cultural debate, strives to convince the public that Christianity is a superior theory of life even in modern society, and of Christianity’s relevance in every area of society. The thesis demonstrates that the issue of the relationship between Christianity and culture is visible throughout most of Eklund’s rich and multifaceted authorship, and can be said to pose a life long problem for him. Many other theologians in his time were also engaged in the issue of Christianity and culture. It was a problem characteristic of the generation. For more than thirty years Spiritual Life (Geistesleben, in german) was Eklund’s ideological signature. To him the concept carries humanistic, idealistic and Christian implications. Spiritual life is a denotation for the superior, free human life as opposed to nature, guided by laws and/or instincts. At times Eklund constrains the concept and gives it a more distinct religious meaning as he, for example, speaks of spiritual life in terms of “human life from above”. One must not thereby be led to believe that Eklund limits spiritual life to the sphere of the church; rather, in contrast he stresses that spiritual life also applies to science and learning, art and literature, customs and traditions, working life etc. Eklund’s use of the concept is highly connected to his interest in the problems pertaining to Christianity and culture. The title of this thesis – Agitator of the Spiritual Life – is explained by Eklund perceiving himself as a cross between a priest and an agitator. It is characteristic to his often unconventional approach and actions in his functions as priest and bishop that he perceived himself as an agitator, a political character who in his time was commonly referred to as the demagogue. The combination of a vehement temper, frequent controversial initiatives and an intensive will to take part in the cultural struggle earned him the name “the polemical Bishop of Karlstad”. The character of Eklund’s public theology, its agitating and often highly polemical mark, has to be put in relation to the intensive debates of the late 19:th century and the early 20:the century, between proponents of different theories of life. The issue of Christianity’s relationship to culture is treated as a group of problems in the thesis. Based on the occurrence of distinct themes in Eklund’s bibliography, a number of sub-problems have been identified. The thesis discusses Eklund’s view of the relationship between: 1) Christianity and science 2) Christianity and humanities 3) Christianity and philosophy 4) Christianity and fiction 5) Christianity and politics/state 6) Christianity and nationalism/ethnicity 7) Christianity and history. Finally it discusses Eklund’s view of Christianity’s standpoint in the issue of war and peace.
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| 7. |
- Dunér, Ingrid
(författare)
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Controlling Destiny : Julian Huxley's Post-Darwinian Evolutionism and the History of Transhumanism
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley (1887–1975) attempted to promote a “religion for the future,” which he would come to refer to as Transhumanism. It was Huxley’s firm belief that mankind needed a unifying system of thought that could motivate action and change. Transhumanism was also an attempt to unite a more traditional humanistic view of the human as containing some form of core essence or potential with an evolutionary point of view of humans as a work in progress. Before humans, natural selection had been responsible for the transformation of life. Through its ordering principles and through chance, it had given rise to humankind, which had ushered in a new phase of evolution. It was now time for humans to take charge of the process. Humanity stood on the threshold of yet another critical point in evolution: The consciously purposive phase of evolution. This study explores the history of transhumanism by analyzing how Huxley’s transhumanism develops and why it does at this particular point in time, by placing it firmly within the context of his specific scientific and sociopolitical milieu, starting roughly in the interwar years and stretching over the Second World War to the 1970s. Continuing, the study then focuses on the new transhumanists of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s and investigates continuity in mode of thinking, contributing to a more coherent understanding of transhumanism, its history and of modern projects of human enhancement. By surveying the literature available to the new generation of transhumanists, the study finds and discusses connections between Huxley’s transhumanism and newer versions of it. Huxley—along with likeminded future-oriented thinkers of his generation helped naturalize a way of thinking about a possible future and disseminate ideas about conscious human evolution and human enhancement into a wider sociotechnical imaginary. The dissertation explains Huxley’s transhumanism, as well as his influence on a new generation of futurists and suggests that his narrative about evolution and the future was perpetuated. The study captures how scientific and technological development in relation to society and social order shapes images and expectations of the future and of what future is desirable. The ambition is to historicize transhumanism, by placing it in a precise historical context. Transhumanism uses evolution and biology to imagine the future, which is why it is here put in relation to evolutionary thought developed after Darwin, including ideas that would not be termed Darwinian in the strict scientific sense of the word, as well as evolutionary ideas that tended toward opposition to some of the perceived implications of Darwinism. The study also focuses on developments within the field of experimental biology—as well as Huxley’s own involvement in it—and ideas of controlling life, alongside political events and developments throughout the twentieth century. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of recognizing that visions of the future no matter how optimistic—often express worries and fears about the social, technological and scientific development. At its core, transhumanism can be viewed as a result of the attempt to solve profoundly existential issues.
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