Children are capable of contributing unique insights to philosophy, making their involvement in philosophical conversations important for them as well as for adults and the discipline in general. The chapter begins by examining whether children are capable of engaging in philosophical inquiry at all, which leads to an analysis of the related issue of what it means to do philosophy. The chapter then explores children’s philosophical thinking and in particular children’s epistemic openness, and considers the value (...) of philosophy for children, both instrumental and intrinsic. The ways that the failure to listen, solely on the basis of age, to children’s ideas and questions is argued to constitute a form of epistemic injustice, and the chapter concludes by claiming that paying attention to children’s philosophical engagement can help raise awareness about what a philosophical approach can offer to our combined thinking about ethics, social and political problems, and other important issues. (shrink)

This new collection covers a wide range of cutting-edge and timely questions in contemporary philosophy of religion from a rich variety of backgrounds and perspectives. The essays in the volume deal with a range of fascinating topics in the philosophy of religion such as views of God's nature in process philosophy and theology, process views compared with traditional views (such as that found in St Thomas Aquinas), teleology and purpose in human life and in the universe, religion and evolution, the (...) problem of evil both in human experience and in the natural world, and ethical questions concerning the human road to God, and the question of human rights in pluralist, democratic states. The essays in the first section, "Approaches to God," examine the rationality of the approach to the nature of God defended in process philosophy, particularly in the work of two pioneering thinkers, Charles Hartshorne and A.N. Whitehead. The second section of the book, "Science, Evolution and God," turns to the engagement of Christian views regarding the nature of God and creation with modern developments in science and philosophy. The last section, "Philosophy of Religion and Ethics," takes up broader, more foundational questions. Santiago Sia concludes the volume with a sustained reflection on the nature of philosophy, and philosophizing, a discussion to which he brings many insights and experiences from his own academic career. (shrink)

While small group discussion is invaluable to the philosophy classroom, I think it can be improved. In this paper I present a method that I have developed to better facilitate active learning in the spirit of a philosopher within a Socratic community. My method is to form what I call a “philosophical think tank,” which takes the form of a small group that persists for the duration of the semester in order to overcome deficiencies that can arise if groups (...) are determined anew with each class meeting. After presenting the technique, I offer an overview of results, possible issues, and ideas for future development. (shrink)

Designed for those wanting to be teachers, administrators, or other educational practitioners, this work shows how the study of educational philosophy should ...

This essay provides readers with a brief overview of both contemporary normative moral theory and meta-ethics to provide a basis for a discussion of how one can effectively think about important moral issues and reason philosphically about such issues.

Manifesting in diverse forms, mental and emotional health problems within the contemporary society have proven challenging to current biomedical healing practice and thereby remain a significant threat to individuals’ welfare. Considering the complexity of human emotions, ailing members of the society remain susceptible to adverse health implications accountable to poor emotional wellbeing. Spawning across diverse cultures with further support from narrative and explorative philosophies, the presence of body, spirit, and mind remains acknowledged as a fundamental foundation of human beings. The (...) study adopts a theoretical approach to research and subjects base eligible base literature to the Creswell data spiral for addressing the primary research problems. Through a concrete inclusion criterion, a total of 46 studies and corporate reports are explicitly explored within the exploration. The organization of information under themes indicates the imperative role of a myriad of holistic healing approaches in appraising the emotional and psychological welfare of individuals. Findings indicate that the adoption of philosophical reasoning remains critical in capacitating of hurt individuals to use their natural body resources in healing. Philosophical perspective allows for inner integration, balance and synchrony with nature such that the healing process emanates from within and further accentuates to natural healing. In essence, the integration of the mind, body and spirit holds the capacity to appraise the natural healing process in the quest to improve an individual’s welfare. Future explorations should concern with the integration of the holistic approaches within the contemporary medical practice for proximal health benefits. (shrink)

Shame in the deep sense of fear of exposure of human vulnerability (and not in the narrower sense of individual transgression or fault) has been identified as one mood or disposition of philosophical thinking. Philosophical imaginary, disciplinary identity and misogynistic vocabulary testify to a collective, underlying, unprocessed shame inherent to the (Western) philosophical tradition like Le Doeuff (1989), Butler (2004) and Murphy (2012) have pointed out. One aspect of collective philosophical shame has to do with (...) disgust of or denial of embodiment insofar as it poses a threat to ideals of sovereignty and rationality (Nussbaum 2006). Embodiment reveals finitude, being dependent and exposed to others (Sartre 1984; Merleau-Ponty 2012; Landweer 1999; Zahavi 2014), and ultimately points to human vulnerability as rooted in an experience of fear of shame (Gilson 2016). If the inability to process shame of embodiment has resulted in disembodied notions of the human being that may lead to defensiveness, aggression or violence, how can a constructive processing of shame based on an embodied notion of the human being result in a way of philosophical thinking that is more vulnerable? And how can philosophical thinking that has its point of departure in vulnerability, neither in the sense of the victim nor the hero but as a self-conscious emotion, lead to philosophical dialogues that can unsettle vicious cycles of shaming and blaming and are productive for deepening philosophical reflection? Susan Brison’s (2002) work on sexual violence will finally be discussed as an example of such a philosophy. (shrink)

The central issue of the presentation is two questions: the first one is related to the issue of competences which are currently penetrating into philosophy curricula. The second, also related to the first one, is the issue of formulation of curriculum objectives and consequently of teaching methodology and practice. The controversial thesis that “the practice of philosophy is a whole which can not be divided into parts, procedures and techniques” is discussed and the reasons for more articulated learning objectives are (...) offered. On the level of the curriculum a reflective approach to objectives-driven curriculum and the inclusion of process-driven curriculum is offered as a solution. On the level of the teaching methodology and practice the need for appropriately articulated learning objectives for the purpose of the conceptualisation of the process is shown. (shrink)

Abstract: This article presents a strategy for introducing Presocratic thought to students in a manner that is both engaging and relevant. The first section addresses students' reactions to the claim that the Presocratics were the first philosophers. The second section considers how the fragmentary state of Presocratic thought does not hinder its comprehension. The third section proposes a classroom exercise for testing the scientific merits of each of the Presocratic theories. The final section proposes the use of a mock trial (...) as a means of applying the materialist approach introduced by the Presocratics to contemporary debates about free will and determinism. (shrink)

The core objective of this article is to advocate for the cultivation of philosophical thinking, a pivotal element that fosters a profound understanding of the evolutionary trajectory of the information society and the human role within this paradigm. An examination of the unique attributes of the information-communicative educational space, coupled with the tenets of post-classical knowledge, underscores the imperative for nurturing human capabilities and personality traits essential for efficacious self-identification within the information society. The anthropological nature of philosophy (...) focuses on understanding that rational, abstract-universal, theoretical thinking is fundamentally value-laden, not free from human interests. These interests determine the directions of scientific research and, if necessary, limit freedom of choice. The philosophical perception of communication, seen as a wellspring of new knowledge generation aimed at pragmatic problem-solving and emerging from human solidarity, promotes the cultivation of creativity, an intrinsic quality of the persona. A favorable factor for the successful development of dialogical thinking is the transformation of the previously dominant written culture into an oral one, where natural spoken language plays an increasingly important role. The exigency for a high degree of personal individualization and thought individualization, prerequisites for successful self-identification, calls for the fostering of stereoscopic and pluralistic thinking. Such thinking, inherent to the philosophical discourse, inherently possesses an authorial essence and proffers diverse interpretative responses to identical queries, thereby catalyzing the development of contextual thinking adept at unraveling the meaning of events in situational contexts. Globalization, accompanied by an increase in the world’s diversity, contributes to the development of global thinking – the ability to solve local problems considering global patterns. As a counterbalance to informational pluralism, the visual turn emerges, epitomized by the capacity to encapsulate voluminous data into intricate montaged images and to adeptly interpret such constructs. This paradigm shift necessitates the enhancement of visual thinking, which, as contemporary philosophy posits, is oriented toward assimilating social experience, laying the groundwork for self-identification. The presented arguments substantiate the conviction that the development of philosophical thinking in the educational process is not an auxiliary factor, but an imperative of the modern information society. (shrink)

The essential purpose of this research study is to measure the impact of the applications of traditional Chinese philosophical thinking in film and television music composition; for measuring, the research study used open-ended and closed-ended questions related to the variables. This research study depends upon primary data analysis for collecting data associated with traditional Chinese philosophical thinking and music composition. These data were collected from film industries, directors, and actors in musical department research conducted in China. (...) For measuring, the research used smart PLS and run different results related to the variables, including independent and dependent variables. Indicator correlation, discriminant validity, and composite reliability are all tests run for measuring the research. The smart PLS Algorithm model explains the impact with each other. The overall result found a positive and significant effect on the applications of traditional Chinese philosophical thinking in film and television music composition. (shrink)

In Feeling Our Feelings, Eva Brann considers what the great philosophers on the passions and feelings have thought and written about them. She examines the relevant work of Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Aquinas, Descartes, Spinoza, Adam Smith, Hume, Kierkegaard, and Heidegger, and also includes a chapter on contemporary studies on the brain. Feeling Our Feelings provides a comprehensive look at this pervasive and elusive topic"-- Publisher description.

This is a collection of interviews with some of the world's most important and influential philosophers and intellectuals and leading figures in the arts and politics.

El resultado investigativo se centra en una de las prioridades de la línea del polo científico territorial y nacional: la necesidad de rescatar el papel de la intelectualidad cubana durante la República. Se analiza el papel de la cultura y la cubanía en la cosmovisión filosófica de Juan Marinello. El método empleado presupone un análisis dialéctico de la realidad, sustentado en una perspectiva crítica que permite interpretar y enriquecer la concepción sobre los hechos y procesos históricos. Desde una visión holística (...) del pensamiento filosófico cubano se revela la complejidad de un fenómeno multifactorial, la cubanía, como construcción cultural, a partir de la articulación de la concepción martiana y marxista de la cultura y los valores, lo que constituye un acierto del quehacer teórico - práctico marinelliano. El conocimiento de esta perspectiva enriquece los estudios sobre la obra de este intelectual y contribuye a dilucidar el devenir ideo-artístico y cultural cubano. The result of the research focuses on one of the priorities of the territorial and national scientific pole line: the need to recover the role of Cuban intellectuals during the Republic. The role of culture and Cubanism in Juan Marinello's philosophical world view is analyzed. The method used presupposes a dialectical analysis of reality, based on a critical perspective which allows to interpret and enrich the understanding of events and historical processes. From a holistic point of view of the Cuban philosophical thinking, Cubanism, a complex multifactorial phenomenon, is revealed as a cultural construction, starting from the articulation of Marti's and Marx's conception of culture and values, which is a good result of Marinello's theoretical-practical work. The knowledge of this perspective enriches the studies on the work of this intellectual and contributes to the clarification of the Cuban ideo-artistic and cultural evolution. (shrink)

In this book, Professor Mohanty develops a new interpretation of the ontology and nature of Indian philosophical thinking. Using the original Sanskrit sources, he examines the concepts of consciousness and subjectivity, and the theories of meaning and truth, and explicates the concept of theoretical rationality that underlies the Indian philosophies. The author brings to bear insights from modern Western analytical and phenomenological philosophies, not with a view to instituting direct comparisons but in order to interpret Indian thinking. (...) In doing so, he highlights some very distinctive features of Indian thinking. (shrink)

Time was when a sage could win a reputation by uttering or writing wise saws, pithy apophthegms and aphorisms. But what is an aphorism and does it have a place in philosophical thinking?

To date, the most substantial accounts of our engagement with literature have focused on prose-fiction, in particular the novel, drawing on issues of plot, character and narrative in explaining our understanding of literary works. These accounts do not consider how the poetic features of a literary work may affect our reading experience and how this contributes to the meaning of the work. In this thesis I show the philosophical importance of the experience of reading poetry for the role it (...) can play in inquiry, in particular, how such an experience can facilitate philosophical thinking and active inquiry. Adopting a reader-response view of our engagement with poetry, I argue that the experience of reading lyric poetry can make a valuable contribution to philosophical inquiry by enriching our conceptual understanding. The reading experience helps us to forge explicit awareness of our concepts and the networks of associations and beliefs that determine our use of them. Understanding poetry necessarily requires attending to the unity of form and content, and the particular perspectives on offer in the poem. This complex whole sustains perspectives and emotions where character and narrative are lacking. I argue that the perspectival nature of our reading experience is important for philosophical inquiry into aspects of human life. Encountering the perspectives of the poem helps to activate our own perspectives through our emotional and intellectual responses, bringing into focus what we value. I apply this argument to the moral domain, arguing that poetry can facilitate moral inquiry in particular by exposing moral significance in our concepts, helping us to feel what is at stake, and by testing our moral understanding. The way in which the poetic examples discussed engage us emotionally, imaginatively and cognitively (through the reading experience) help us address moral questions from distinctive and valuable perspectives, which provide us with moral insights of value in philosophical inquiry. (shrink)

The ecological crisis affects every person and place on the planet. Environmental thinking reflects on the causes of this crisis, the diversity of its consequences, as well as its solutions and their perception by individuals in the past and present. The presentation of local contexts of perceptions and solutions to the crisis emerging from lesser-known traditions helps to complete a holistic picture of a human and to find answers to the question of how to act rightly. Even Czech environmental (...) thinking emerging from specific Central European traditions (J. Hus, J. A. Comenius, T. G. Masaryk, V. Havel) has the potential to enrich the image of a human and the perception of the morality of existing proposed solutions. In the following text, the author will present the prehistory of environmental thinking in Czech lands, the development of this thinking, and the most important authors of the last 30 years. The presented research results are based on historical and research methods, the most important monographs, and scientific articles in the field of philosophy, history of philosophy, ethics, and sociology. Topics covered include the introduction and problems of evolutionary ontology, the importance of philosophy and environmental philosophy in times of ecological crisis, the issues of communities of people of voluntary frugality, the socio-ecological approach, ecological rationality, etc. The article points to the dominance of ecocentric views on the ecological crisis in Czech thinking, as well as to the causes of the limits of environmental thinking in the Czech environment. (shrink)

The art of dancing involves the motions of many body parts, particularly those that are rhythmically and musical. Modern dance is viewed as a type of nonverbal interaction that may be utilized to convey ideas, feelings, or even a narrative. Modern dances might be communal, audience-participatory, or both. Thus, following how the concept is used in the fast-expanding subject of the theory of dance, "philosophy" is understood widely here. Dance philosophy has a tone of promise, in part because dance is (...) so diverse that it may have connections to many different schools of thought. Modern dance has been practiced for a variety of goals all over civilization, including medicinal, economic, societal, cultural, and religious ones. Hence, in this paper, we review the conceptual foundations of Modern dance and how Marxist Philosophy was employed to create it. A recurrent procedures linear mixed model was developed for the study to predict a creative score and ascertain the impact of the key factors under consideration: experience and competence. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the average ratings of dance performance videos, and Pearson's correlation was used to investigate the relationships between the evaluations. (shrink)

Theoretical virtues play an important role in the acceptance and belief of theories in science and philosophy. Philosophers have well-developed views on which virtues ought and ought not to influence one’s acceptance and belief. But what do scientists think? This paper presents the results of a quantitative study with scientists from the natural and social sciences and compares their views to those held by philosophers. Some of the more surprising results are: all three groups have a preference order regarding theoretical (...) virtues, making theory choice a much more determinate matter than what has sometimes been suggested; the preference orders are very similar for the three groups; simplicity is viewed as an epistemic virtue particularly by social scientists ; and syntactic parsimony is preferred to ontological parsimony by all three groups. (shrink)

Abstract:With these reflections, I will address some selected features of philosophical thinking and elucidate how they may relate to classical music. Is there a relationship between the experience gained from philosophical thinking and the experience gained from listening to classical music? If there is a kinship between the two, it may show some of the importance of incorporating classical music in music education. This article is a philosophical essay that does not try to prove a (...) kinship between philosophical thinking and classical music; it is rather the result of a free-thinking process grounded in my experience in both fields. Subjective involvement is a necessary presupposition for being able to say something about the postulated kinship between classical music and philosophical thinking. The essay ends with a suggestion on how to understand what kind of knowledge this potential kinship may represent. (shrink)

In this book, Mohanty develops a new interpretation of the nature of Indian philsophical thinking. Using the original Sanskrit sources, he examines the concepts of consciousness and subjectivity, theories of language and logic, and meaning and truth, and explicates the concept of theoretical rationality which underlies the Indian philosophies. Mohanty brings to bear insights from modern western analytical and phenomenological philosophies, not so much for comparative purposes, but rather to interpret Indian thinking and to highlight its distinctive features.

Direct epistemic consequentialism is the idea that X is epistemically permissible iff X maximizes epistemic value. It has received lots of attention in recent years and is widely accepted by philosophers to have counterintuitive implications. There are various reasons one might suspect that the relevant intuitions will not be widely shared among non-philosophers. This paper presents an initial empirical study of ordinary intuitions. The results of two experiments demonstrate that the counterintuitiveness of epistemic consequentialism is more than a philosophers' worry---the (...) folk seem to agree! (shrink)

The present study explores the contribution of the Slovak philosophical school, which uniquely grasped the European and Czechoslovak heritage of phenomenology and existential philosophy. In the text, the authors present a congenial and undeniably up-to-date concept of syncriticism as developed by Jozef Piaček and analyse its contribution to Slovak philosophical discourse and more broadly, in the dialogue of phenomenology and existential philosophy in Slovakia. In the study, the authors also examine the cultural-philosophical starting points and specifics of (...) Slovak modern philosophy and postmodern thinking as phenomena of the Central European intellectual space in the context of thinking about the unique and inspiring project of perichronosophy as a thematic invariant developed at philosophical workplaces in Central Europe (Comenius University Bratislava, Trnava University Trnava, Charles University Prague, Masaryk University Brno). Jozef Piaček has been affiliated with the Faculty of Arts, Comenius University for many years, studied under Jan Patočka and is an expert on Husserl’s phenomenology. He has continuously developed a unique philosophical approach involving syncriticism and perichronosophy, which continues to resonate with his students at academic institutions in Slovakia and abroad. Piaček published several monographs and papers on the subject of syncriticism. The platform of living philosophy is his concept of a digital philosophical encyclopaedia, where he archives all publication outputs on the subject of the philosophy of syncriticism. This text will present Piaček’s concept of perichronosophy and concordance in Slovak philosophy, more broadly in phenomenology, as well as in the context of Patočka’s themes (philosophy as care for the soul in the village) with implications for the philosophy of education and philosophical therapy (dasein-analysis). (shrink)

Beardsley and Beardsley are to be congratulated for providing a definitively "non-run-of-the-mill" introductory text which is entirely intelligible for the beginner and yet genuinely philosophical in content and presentation. Twelve very well written chapters, each with a bibliography, cover most of the important problems in metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. The authors even try to convey that philosophy has human and moral relevance beyond game activity. A significant feature of the book is its intelligent and prolonged discussion of religious beliefs. (...) The authors keep their own views well into the background and make good their claim to stimulate the student's own thinking. For that reason, teachers of widely different philosophical persuasions will find this book equally useful. —D. J. B. (shrink)

Due to the differences of languages, “ontology” in its original Western sense had not been conceptualized in ancient China. The most prominent and unique feature of Confucian philosophy in early ancient China is “Zhongtaology” instead of “ontology”. Zhongtaology is the philosophical inquiring for the way of “Zhong”, which is based on all the primordially related semantic meanings embodied in the Chinese character “zhong”. Zhongtaological philosophy indicates an association between human beings and their world, a coincidence between subjectivity and objectivity, (...) a harmony of internal world and external world, an intersubjective perspective between self and others, an equilibrium among different ideas and divergences. Zhongtaology advocates inclusiveness and harmony when dealing with conflicts and contradictions. The rich historical and cultural background of Zhongtaology enriches it with profound philosophic significance, and makes it a general philosophical methodology of Confucianism. Zhongtaology not only provides a Confucian approach to some fundamental ontological and epistemological issues, a philosophical foundation for establishing ethical norms, moral standards, social justice and political principles, but also provides an angle to understand certain aspects of Chinese way of life. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to bring philosophical thinking closer to practice-based empirical work. Using Martin Heidegger’s philosophy, it offers a bridge between these two worlds, attempting to provide philosophical depth to the findings of a hermeneutic phenomenological study. This process unfolded through the appearance of three intertwined, potential, meaningful modes of being in the lifeworld: space as a condition for being and being for worlding the world; temporal and spatial self-being, the existence of multiple (...) selves in time and space; and suffering and thriving as modes of being. The article extends the dialogue and concludes with key reflections and insight for research practice. (shrink)