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- 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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- Andersson, Cecilia
(författare)
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Performing search : Search Engines and Mobile Devices in the Everyday Life of Young People
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I denna avhandling undersöks sökmotorers och mobila redskaps betydelse i unga människors vardagsliv. Studien har genomförts i en svensk kontext med deltagare i åldern 13–16 år. Avhandlingen tar avstamp i den utbreddatillgången till sökmotorer vilken möjliggörs genom smarta mobiler, laptops, surfplattor och datorer. Detta scenario innebär att det är möjligt att söka information om nästan vadsomhelst, närsomhelst och varsomhelst. Att användasökmotorer har kommit att bli en del av vardagen i dagens samhälle. Avhandlingen är en sammanläggningsavhandling som består av fyra artiklar. För att uppnå syftet med avhandlingen så utforskas sökning, mobilaredskap och sökmotorer från olika perspektiv i de fyra artiklarna. Följande forskningsfrågor formuleras i avhandlingen:1. Hur genomförs sökning på internet i skolan, och hur legitimerasaktiviteten i en skolkontext?2. Vilka inramningar går att identifiera i relation till hur tonåringarbeskriver samt använder Google Sök?3. Hur blir unga människor medvetna om spåren efter sina sökningarpå internet, samt vilka strategier har de för att hantera spåren, omnågra?4. Vilka inramningar av den smarta mobilen går att identifiera utifrånsättet som redskapet används och beskrivs av unga människor, samthur relaterar dessa inramningar till sökning på internet?Genom dessa infallsvinklar så undersöks i avhandlingen både sättet som unga människor använder sökmotorer i sin vardag, samt hur de förhåller sig till normer gällande användningen av sökmotorer och mobila redskap i olika sociala kontexter. Sammantaget så visar resultaten på den viktiga roll som sökning spelar i unga människors vardag. Avhandlingen visar på att unga människor inte använder mobila redskap slumpmässigt eller ogenomtänkt. Iställetframträder en medvetenhet om normer som präglar olika sociala kontexter. Samtidigt pekar resultaten på hur osynliggjort sökning är i vardagen vilket medföljer att aktiviteten inte alltid reflekteras över. Det går därmed attidentifiera en spänning i materialet mellan en medvetenhet om social kontext och ett förgivettagande av sökning i vardagen. Detta förgivettagande underbyggs även av sättet som vuxenvärlden, lärare och föräldrar, använder sig av sökmotorer och mobila redskap i vardagen. Resultaten bör därför betraktas i ljuset av ett samhället präglat av en användning av sökmotorer för att hitta information. Bland deltagarna i studien så associeras användningen av Google Sök med skola och faktaletande, till skillnad från andra former av sökning, så som via YouTube. Olika former av sökning överlappar dock, vilket framkommer i avhandlingen. Resultaten pekar på ett behov av att synliggöra och problematisera användningen av sökmotorer i vardagen.
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Bild och natur : Tio konstvetenskapliga betraktelser
- 2018
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (refereegranskat)abstract
- Anthology that investigates the complex relationship between nature and images. The book encompasses 10 chapters focusing on a wide range of empirical material, including photographic works, scientific images, news images, street art, public art, computer games, installation art, religious spaces and architecture.
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| 6. |
- Graminius, Carin
(författare)
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Research communication in the climate crisis : Open letters and the mobilization of information
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- What happens to researchers when the topic they study poses an existential threat to the world as we know it? When communication on the topic is politically polarized, but at the same time institutionally encouraged and existentially needed? By what means do researchers come to navigate this complex communication environment? The climate crisis and changing social, political, and academic conditions bring such questions to the forefront in researchers’ public communication on climate issues. This thesis engages with open letters as a form of research communication to explore the practices climate scholars engage in to convey information and inspire urgent action in climate matters. Contrary to views of open letters as political opinion pieces used for popular mobilization, this dissertation explores their multifaceted roles through a variety of information and communication practices. The thesis illustrates how open letters provide a space to contemplate one’s role as an academic in the climate crisis, emphasizing the transformative and constitutive potential of communication as practice. Moreover, researchers’ practices and engagement in open letters on climate change also contribute to reconceptualizing the notion of mobilization, thus expanding the breadth and understanding of how information is put into action.
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- Hamnell, Bruno
(författare)
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Two Quests for Unity : John Dewey, R. G. Collingwood, and the Persistence of Idealism
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- After having dominated philosophical thought in Britain and the United States during the end of the nineteenth century, idealism was in steady decline by the outbreak of World War I. Its ideas and ideals seemed unsuited to face the transition from Victorianism to modernism and the rapid social changes of the post-war era. Its Anglo-American proponents—who were often liberals—were accused of indirectly promoting Prussian militarism and authoritarianism because of idealism’s German background. Idealism was also charged with being ill-attuned to the development of the natural sciences, and was replaced by the narrower and more scientific ideal of analytical philosophy. While idealists had been preoccupied with religion, history, aesthetics, and metaphysics, the analysts turned toward an increasingly specialized and theoretical notion of philosophy focused on formal logic, epistemology, and language analysis.This study of two philosophers avoids the simplistic but well-established division between (Anglo-American) analytical and continental philosophy. I claim that the overlooked similarities between John Dewey (1859–1952) and Robin George Collingwood (1889–1943) can be explained with reference to their shared background in idealism. Their philosophies should be regarded as continuous struggles regarding which aspects of idealism should be kept, rejected, or revised. By choosing an American and a British philosopher as the main subjects, this study also aims to highlight the transatlantic philosophical connections that have often been neglected due to methodological nationalism. Comparing Collingwood’s idealism to Dewey’s pragmatism will also highlight the historical similarities between these philosophical traditions.The overarching aims of Dewey’s and Collingwood’s thought are interpreted as quests for unity, drawing attention to the continuing influence of a persistent idealist notion. I argue that there were four types of unity shared by Anglo-American idealists, Dewey and Collingwood: unity of experience, unity of opposites, unity in diversity, and social unity. Furthermore, I argue that Dewey’s and Collingwood’s social and political thought should be regarded as a continuation of the social liberalism of the Oxford idealist T. H. Green. Like earlier Anglo-American idealists, Dewey and Collingwood insisted on the importance of philosophy’s practical value. While both came to reject transcendental, metaphysical, and absolutistic notions in favor of a more historical and humanistic idealism, they nevertheless kept idealism’s basic view of philosophy as a broad, synthetic, situated, and reconstructive form of cultural criticism committed to the common good. This ideal has unfortunately been lost, but a critical conversation with philosophers like Collingwood and Dewey may help us imagine what such a philosophy—adapted for the twenty-first century—might look like.
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| 8. |
- Hanell, Fredrik
(författare)
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Lärarstudenters digitala studievardag : Informationslitteracitet vid en förskollärarutbildning
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation reports on an investigation into how digital tools are used, negotiated and given meaning in Swedish pre-school teacher education. The overall aim has been to create a deeper understanding of how students’ information literacies are enacted when digital tools are used and appropriated in the daily life at a pre-school teacher education, in relation to conceptions of the digitalisation of teacher education in national policy. A netnographical study at a pre-school teacher education was conducted between 2012 and 2015. The study generated online material, mainly from a Facebook Group used by students and teacher, and field notes from participant observations, transcribed interviews and a field diary. Through application of a socio-cultural perspective on information literacy, the netnographical material was analysed using the concepts appropriation and identity. To analyse the discursive level, four national policy documents with demands for increased digital competence in teacher education were analysed using Carol Bacchi’s ‘what’s the problem represented to be?’ approach.The findings show how views on learning and identity interact with the materiality of the digital tools and the enabling and constraining properties of the local learning environment when information literacies are enacted. The identity position discussion-oriented student is connected to how the Facebook Group is appropriated as a relation-building tool and a relational information literacy. This type of information literacy entails a view on learning as co-learning, rooted in the historical development of pre-school teacher education, and a non-hierarchical understanding of teacher and student roles. The identity positions goal-oriented student and customer-oriented student are connected to how the Facebook Group is appropriated as a collaborative problem-solving tool and a pragmatic information literacy. This form of information literacy reflects instrumental and neoliberal views on learning, and a traditional understanding of teacher and student roles. The policy analysis shows how an economic and competitive perspective underpins demands for increased digital competence in teacher education, and how the value of digital tools for learning and teaching is taken for granted. The idea of co-learning, that is found to be influential but not fully accepted at the pre-school teacher education, is difficult to combine with an economic perspective emphasising measurability and quantification. The economic perspective is partly compatible with a pragmatic information literacy. The findings of the dissertation shed light on the gap between what is described as important in policy documents and what teacher students and teachers describe as important when digital tools are used in teacher education.
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