In the late 19th century in northern Spain and southern France prehistoric mural paintings and engravings were discovered. Cave Art, Perception and Knowledge inquires into epistemic questions related to images, depicting and perception that this rich and much debated material has given rise to. Focusing respectively on the historical and scientific circumstances and controversies and on the epistemic and perceptual problems and questions the discovery of these paintings and engravings gave rise to, the book traces the outline of the doxa of cave art studies. It criticizes the different ways of trying to make sense of the cave art. Furthermore it suggests, with the help of both Cornelius Castoriadis's concept of technique and Ernst Cassirer's notion of symbolic form, a yet untried way out of the hermeneutical impasse where the interpretation of the paleolithic pictures finds itself today.

In medieval Sweden, many church bells were inscribed with texts, often formulated in the Latin language. These inscribed bells were then hung in remote places such as church towers or detached bell-towers and could therefore not easily be read. For whom were these words intended? The present article will discuss the function and purpose of these inscriptions in the Swedish medieval society, through the eyes of the terms ‘rhetorical situation’ and ‘genre’. This discussion leads up to a definition of ‘monumental rhetoric’ or ‘the rhetoric of durability’, that is how rhetorical efficiency is achieved in inscriptions.

The use of press releases by Dansk Folkeparti

Dansk Folkeparti (the Danish People's Party) uses press releases to a much larger extent than any other Danish party. But they also use them in a different way. Through an analysis of press releases from a randomly chosen month in 2010, this article discusses the party's use of press releases not only as a source of information about the party's political initiatives but as a way of doing what George Lakoff has called Moral Politics. The use of press releases is then discussed in relation to the distinction presented by Lees-Marshement between product oriented, sales oriented and market oriented  parties. The conclusion is that Dansk Folkeparti use the press releases as a part of their political marketing, but that the party due to its moral politics has to be classified as a sales oriented party.

Bland lärarutbildningens mest centrala inslag finner vi teorier om lärande. Den nationella utvärderingen av lärarutbildningen lyfter fram problem med att hantera relationen mellan pedagogisk teori och praktik. I fokusgruppssamtal med svenska lärarutbildare framkommer att det här är en fråga som engagerar och där man arbetar intensivt med att finna arbetssätt och synsätt som skapar bättre interaktion. Finska och ungerska lärarutbildare har liknande erfarenheter men hanterar dem på något annorlunda sätt. I denna rapport analyseras några olika utmaningar inom detta fält utifrån ett toposdidaktiskt perspektiv. Den topiska didaktiken har utvecklats ur den antika läran om topos som är en pedagogik för perspektivbyte och perspektivisering. Topos är de värden, begrepp och tankeoperationer som strukturerar olika språkliga praktiker. En pedagogisk teori är en sådan språklig praktik. Att tillgodogöra sig en teori blir då att kunna delta i dess praktik genom att lära sig använda dess topos. Topos fungerar som ingångar till tankesystem eller broar mellan synsätt samtidigt som de har en förankring i vår erfarenhetsvärld. Därför bör en topisk didaktik kunna bidra till att upplösa motsättningar mellan teori och praktik. I rapporten görs därför också försök att exemplifiera hur detta skulle kunna ske i seminarierummet.

Most theories of meaning making in Swedish higher education pedagogy today are based on a broadly perspective view of knowledge. But, in practical terms, how can academic teachers facilitate the inclusion of different perspectives that challenge one another in the classroom while avoiding anything-goes relativism? The present thesis seeks solutions to this problem in rhetorical theory and, more specifically, in the concept of topos. Topos theory was developed as a cognitive toolkit for thinking and reasoning about contingent and multifaceted matters. It proceeds from the assumption that issues can be fruitfully addressed through themes, arguments and reasoning methods previously shown to work for similar issues. The merits of the various topoi  could then be debated, thus allowing diverse perspectives to be tried out and scrutinised. I believe that topos theory may have much to contribute to pedagogy for higher education vis-à-vis problematic knowledge in a dynamic world. Such a theoretical enterprise, however, must be founded on a carefully developed theory of meaning making. The specific aim of the present thesis is to investigate the feasibility of such a theory. The main question is: How is meaning making to be understood from the viewpoint of topos theory? An overview of the emergence and historical context of the concept of topos, and a reconstruction of its underlying epistemology form the basis of a proposal for a novel/contemporary model. The proposed concept will be employed to advance a sociocultural and dialogic approach to meaning making, inspired by the work of Bachtin. Finally, these ideas will be used as vantage points for designing higher education seminars.