Ontogeny of critical consciousness

This dissertation studies the generic construct of critical consciousness, defined as the kind of awareness characterized by the independent and interdependent investigation of truth and meaning, both internally and in one\u27s social environment, which allows an individual to disembed from it, engage in a critical moral dialogue with it, and become a moral and caring agent for positive change in his/her social world. The study subjects the broad phenomenon of CC to a rigorous empirical and developmental exegesis through descriptive accounts of the levels of its evolution in the life-span of interview subjects and secondary life histories from different cultural and historic contexts. It brings together Neo-Piagetian and Vygotskian understanding into an integrated model of the ontogeny of CC as an alterative, optimal developmental pathway of the evolving of adult social consciousness on the boundary of public and private. This study has established three levels in the CC pathway: Pre-CC, Conventional CC, and Postconventional CC. Each level is described in terms of a different range of tasks, concerns, and capabilities in their cross-cultural and socio-contextual variation. Converging theoretical and empirical evidence supports the empirical claim that the centrality of authentic moral concerns in the formation of consciousness is independent of the level of operant structural development, although the moral motivational dimensions are continuously elaborated throughout development. Hence, the ontogeny of CC is described as the synergistic outcome of the on-going interplay between moral motivation and the composite structural development of consciousness. The composite structural developmental component includes social-cognitive and ego development. Moral motivation is analyzed in terms of the interaction of four dimensions in the formation of personhood. They are: (1) the formation of a moral sense of identity and moral imperative; (2) the negotiation of external moral authority progressively internalized as moral responsibility and agency; (3) the formation of empathic and permeable relationships, and concerns with justice and not hurting, which grow into social consciousness; (4) the search for greater meaning in life than the individual self, which serves as a vantage point for self-reflection and critical examination of reality

Education for critical moral consciousness

This paper proposes a lifespan developmental model of critical moral consciousness and examines its implications for education in childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Mature moral consciousness, central to negotiating the challenges of the 21st century, is characterized by a deepening lifelong integration of moral motivation, agency and critical discernment. The paper describes the evolution of moral consciousness through three levels; pre-critical consciousness (pCC), transitional critical consciousness (tCC) and critical consciousness (CC) and eight chronologically ascending psychosocial themes. It focuses on the ®rst two periods and operationalizes the role of education in cultivating the four dimensions of moral motivation: a moral sense of identity, a sense of responsibility and agency, a deep sense of relatedness on all levels of living and a sense of meaning and life purpose. The paper proposes a re-envisioning of education in the direction of integrating mind and heart, developing both moral motivation and critical discernment and integrating these into optimal consciousness

Phylogeography of the Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus Horridus) Based on mtDNA Sequences

The Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) is beset by a variety of conservation problems, including habitat loss and persecution. Effective management plans require an understanding of rangewide population structure and intraspecific evolutionary subdivisions. Northern and southern populations have been recognized as distinct subspecies, but this classification remains controversial. A proposed alternative arrangement recognizes southern, northern, and western morphotypes. To resolve intraspecific partitions, we examined a 319 base-pair (bp) fragment of mtDNA cytochrome b in 123 specimens of C. horridus. Neighbor-joining and parsimony analyses reveal a shallow gene genealogy (dmax = 0.024) and sharing of haplotypes among putative subspecies. Analysis of molecular variance demonstrates that traditional subspecific divisions explain only 3.5% of variation, whereas the alternative geographic classification (southern, northern, and western regions) explains 18.6% of genetic variation. The superior performance of the regional grouping can be attributed to an east-west phylogeographic partitioning at the Appalachian and Allegheny Mountain ranges, which were probably uninhabitable at higher elevations during glacial intervals. Distribution of haplotypes and climatic data suggest that a radiation into more northern areas occurred after the most recent (Wisconsinan) glaciation. Hence, the mtDNA data indicate distinct population segments across the range of C. horridus but do not show evolutionary separations that would support subspecific designations