51 research outputs found
Exploring the ethical imagination: conversation as practice versus committee as gatekeeper
This conversation (from which some excerpts are reproduced below) was part of the preparatory work for my (Sabi) doctorate in education in which I focus on ethical decision-making in qualitative research in health care settings. Les and I hope that readers who share our concerns about how qualitative studies are reviewed may contribute to this dialogue so that, as a community of researchers, we can start to think and speak differently about ethics and ethical decision-making in qualitative research. Thinking and speaking differently, we hope, may bring about changes in the review processes to make them more congruent with the values of our work and reflect more faithfully the tensions and dilemmas we, and our students, face in our practice
The creativity of âunspecialisation': a contemplative direction for integrative scholarly practice
Within the context of health and social care education, attempts to define 'scholarship' have
increasingly transcended traditional academic conceptions of the term. While acknowledging
that many applied disciplines call for a kind of 'actionable knowledge' that is also not separate
from its ethical dimensions, engagement in the caring professions in particular provides an
interesting exemplar that raises questions about the nature and practice of 'actionable
knowledge:' how is such knowledge from different domains (the head, hand and heart) integrated
and sustained? This paper is theoretical and wishes to outline some philosophical ideas that may
be important when considering the characteristics of the kind of scholarship for caring practices
that draw on deep resources for creativity and integration. Firstly, there is an attempt to clarify
the nature of scholarly practice by drawing on Aristotle's notion of 'phronesis' (practical
wisdom). Secondly, a more meditative approach to the integration of knowledge, action and
ethics is highlighted. Finally, its implications for scholarship are introduced, in which scholarly
integration may best be served by more contemplative ways of being and thinking. Drawing on
Heidegger and Gendlin, we consider the challenges of contemplative thinking for pursuing
scholarly practice. We articulate contemplative thinking as an unspecialized mode of being that
is given to human beings as an intimate source of creativity. The sense in which unspecialization
can be cultivated and practiced is discussed
The meaning of understanding and the open body: some implications for qualitative research
This paper wishes to address the nature of embodied understanding and how such considerations may clarify the purpose and path of phenomenologically-oriented qualitative research. It proceeds by developing some foundational thoughts about what is involved in the kind of understanding that is experientially and qualitatively relevant. As such, particular themes from Husserl, Heidegger and Gadamer are lifted out before gathering these themes to settle on the work of Eugene Gendlin. The paper concludes with a consideration of how such an emphasis on embodied understanding may re-interpret the tasks of phenomenologically-oriented qualitative research
"In the middle of everywhere" : a phenomenological study of mobility and dwelling amongst rural elders
This study aimed to investigate the phenomenon of the meaning of mobility for elders living in rural areas. A phenomenological study was undertaken with older people living in rural South West England and Wales. Ten interviews were undertaken in peoplesâ homes and focused on the spatial dimensions of what it was like to live in the rural area and the everyday experiences of traversing rural space. Spatial mobility was experienced by our sample as any of the possible ways that achieved personal life activities where the traverse of space was normally relevant. We describe the meaning of mobility sensitised by the terms used in the âcontinuum of mobilitiesâ (Parkhurst et al., 2012): âliteral mobility,â âvirtual mobility,â âpotential mobility,â and âimaginative mobility.â Our phenomenological findings revealed that the transport and mobility needs of older people living in rural areas could not be meaningfully understood without understanding their well-being priorities, the kinds of movement that constituted well-being, and how this related to the phenomenon of âdwelling,â which included their feeling of âat-homenessâ in their rural environment. But also what emerged was a second phenomenon that we have called rural living as a portal to well-being in older people. The connection between well-being and rural place was constituted by two interrelated experiences: the importance of dwelling and slowing down in older age, and the importance of a ârich textured localeâ for the well-being of rural older people. We conclude by considering how the elders in our study may have something important to remind us: that mobility and sense of place are mutually implicated and that our present culture places an over emphasis on mobility, which may obscure the value of dwelling
The Wound that Connects: A Consideration of âNarcissismâ and the Creation of Soulful Space
This article develops an existential perspective on what has been called ânarcissismâ. Using both the psychoanalytic tradition and the literary myth of Narcissus as âtouchstonesâ, it unfolds a view of existential dilemmas and possibilities that are announced by this discourse. As such, it seeks to clarify the existential task of embodying human vulnerability â a journey that is potentially the source and depth of human compassion. With the help of the perspectives of A. H. Almaas and Eugene Gendlin, the phenomenon of âsoulful spaceâ is named, and pursued in both logical and evocative ways. 'Soulful space' is articulated as an existential achievement and an alternative response to the call of Narcissus: an embodiment of both vulnerability and freedom; a freedom-wound that grounds interpersonal empathy and openness.Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, Volume 4, Edition 1 July 200
Humanising Forces: Phenomenology in Science; Psychotherapy in Technological Culture
One of the concerns of the existential-phenomenological tradition has been to examine the human implications of living in a world of proliferating technology. The pressure to become more specialised and efficient has become a powerful value and quest. Both contemporary culture and science enables a view of human identity which focuses on our 'parts' and the compartmentalisation of our lives into specialised 'bits'. This is a kind of abstraction which Psychology has also, at times, taken in its concern to mimic the Natural Sciences. As such it may unconsciously collude with a cultural trend to view humans as objects like other objects and so, fit 'normatively' into the emerging world of specialised and efficient systems. The present paper examines how the findings of a phenomenological study of psychotherapy reflects a movement by people in psychotherapy to recover their sense of human identity in ways that always transcend any form of objectification. Their human complexity is somewhat restored as they move back towards the concrete details of their lives where the human order has its life. In addition to considering the implications of these findings for restoring the uniquely human dimensions of human identity, the paper will also consider the methodological role that an existential-phenomenological approach can play in supporting a broader view of science. In wishing to be faithful to the human order, it champions the value of the human individual as a starting point in human science and this includes a return to concrete experiences, the balance between unique variations and the ground that we share, and the movement from the particular to the general. As such, a phenomenologically-oriented psychology may have an important role to play in helping the broader sciences remember the 'human scale' of things. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, Volume 2, Edition 1, April 200
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