52,623 research outputs found

    Phenomena and Objects of Research in the Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences

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    It is commonly held that research efforts in the cognitive and behavioral sciences are mainly directed toward providing explanations and that phenomena figure into scientific practice qua explananda. I contend that these assumptions convey a skewed picture of the research practices in question and of the role played by phenomena. I argue that experimental research often aims at exploring and describing “objects of research” and that phenomena can figure as components of, and as evidence for, such objects. I situate my analysis within the existing literature and illustrate it with examples from memory research

    The alchemy of life: magic, anthropology and human nature in a pagan theology

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    Reclaiming is a contemporary Pagan tradition rooted in the understanding that sacrality infuses the cosmos. Reclaiming teachers critique the 'mechanistic' basis of modern science and its rejection of magical thought, implicating this worldview in oppress

    Ontology, ethnography, archaeology: an afterword on the ontography of things

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    In commenting on the preceding articles of the Special Section, this afterword elaborates on the methodological and analytical implications for archaeology of the ontological alterity of animist phenomena. If such phenomena are challenging because they transgress the conceptual coordinates of archaeologists' habitual interpretive repertoires (mind vs matter, materiality vs culture, etc.), then what might archaeology's response to such challenges be, what might be distinctively archaeological about it, and how might it compare to related concerns among socio-cultural anthropologists and philosophers

    God’s Knowledge of Other Minds

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    This paper explores one aspect of God’s omniscience, that is, his knowledge of human minds. In §1 I spell out a traditional notion of divine knowledge, and in §2 I argue that our understanding of the thoughts of others is a distinct kind of knowledge from that involved in knowledge of the physical world; it involves empathizing with thinkers. In §3 I show how this is relevant to the question of how, and whether, God understands the thoughts of man. There is, we shall see, some tension between the alleged direct nature of God’s intuition-based knowledge and the empathetic nature of understanding other

    The Proceedings of the National Māori Graduates of Psychology Symposium 2002: Making a difference

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    This document contains the full conference proceedings.This is the full proceedings of the National Māori Graduates of Psychology Symposium 2002. The proceeding include the following themes: Kia matāra - negotiating the challenges in Māori development, kia mau – recruitment and retention, Tuhia mai, whiua atu – research and methodology, tinia mai – interventions and treatment, taitaia i te ahi manuka – pride upon the skin

    Fear, anxiety, and boredom

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    Phenomenology's central insight is that affectivity is not an inconsequential or contingent characteristic of human existence. Emotions, moods, sentiments, and feelings are not accidents of human existence. They do not happen to happen to us. Rather, we exist the way we do because of and through our affective experiences. Phenomenology thus acknowledges the centrality and ubiquity of affectivity by noting the multitude of ways in which our existence is permeated by our various affective experiences. Yet, it also insists that such experiences are both revealing and constitutive of human nature. It is precisely this last point that marks an important distinction between a phenomenological study of affectivity and perhaps all others. For phenomenology, one cannot understand the nature of human existence without coming to terms with the character of affectivity and at the same time, one cannot come to terms with the character of affectivity without understanding the nature of human existence. Practical and social engagements, scientific endeavors, familial and political interactions are all predicted on the fact that we are beings who are capable of being affectively attuned to ourselves, to the world, and to others. In this entry, we discuss Martin Heidegger's and Jean-Paul Sartre's respective accounts of affectivity. In the first section, we present Heidegger's understanding of affective existence. In this context, we discuss the significance of moods and offer an analysis of the affective phenomena of fear, anxiety, and boredom. In the second section, we present an overview of Sartre's account of emotions and advance a Sartrean interpretation of fear and boredom. We conclude by raising some brief concerns with both accounts

    Best interests, dementia and the Mental Capacity Act (2005)

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    The Mental Capacity Act (2005) is an impressive piece of legislation that deserves serious ethical attention, but much of the commentary on the Act has focussed on its legal and practical implications rather than the underlying ethical concepts. This paper examines the approach that the Act takes to best interests. The Act does not provide an account of the underlying concept of best interests. Instead it lists factors that must be considered in determining best interests, and the Code of Practice to the Act states that this list is incomplete. This paper argues that this general approach is correct, contrary to some accounts of best interests. The checklist includes items that are unhelpful. Furthermore, neither the Act nor its Code of Practice provides sufficient guidance to carers faced with difficult decisions concerning best interests. This paper suggests ways in which the checklist can be developed and discusses cases that could be used in an updated Code of Practice

    Learning strategies in interpreting text: From comprehension to illustration

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    Learning strategies can be described as behaviours and thoughts a learner engages in during learning that are aimed at gaining knowledge. Learners are, to use Mayer’s (1996) constructivist definition, ‘sense makers’. We can therefore position this to mean that, if learners are sense makers, then learning strategies are essentially cognitive processes used when learners are striving to make sense out of newly presented material. This paper intends to demonstrate that such thoughts and behaviours can be made explicit and that students can co-ordinate the basic cognitive processes of selecting, organising and integrating. I will discuss two learning strategies which were developed during three cycles of an action research enquiry with a group of illustration students. While each cycle had its own particular structure and aims, the main task, that of illustrating a passage of expository text into an illustration was a constant factor. The first learning strategy involved assisting students develop ‘macropropositions’—personal understandings of the gist or essence of a text (Louwerse and Graesser, 2006; Armbruster, Anderson and Ostertag, 1987; Van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983). The second learning strategy used a form of induction categorised as analogical reasoning (Holyoak, 2005; Sloman and Lagnado, 2005). Both strategies were combined to illustrate the expository text extract. The data suggests that design students benefit from a structured approach to learning, where thinking processes and approaches can be identified and accessible for other learning situations. The research methodology is based on semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, developmental design (including student notes) and final design output. All student names used are pseudonyms. The text extract from ‘Through the Magic Door’ an essay Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, (1907) has been included as it provides context to analysis outcomes, student comments and design outputs. Keywords: Action Research; Illustration; Macrostructures; Analogical Reasoning; Learning Strategies</p

    Emotions in Early Sartre: The Primacy of Frustration

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    Sartre’s account of the emotions presupposes a conception of human nature that is never fully articulated. The paper aims to render such conception explicit and to argue that frustration occupies a foundational place in Sartre’s picture of affective existence
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