METAPHILOSOPHY, Issue 1 2007
MICHAEL J. SHAFFER
Abstract: In a series of influential articles, George Bealer argues for the autonomy of philosophical knowledge on the basis that philosophically known truths must be necessary truths. The main point of his argument is that the truths investigated by the sciences are contingent truths to be discovered a posteriori by observation, while the truths of philosophy are necessary truths to be discovered a priori by intuition. The project of assimilating philosophy to the sciences is supposed to be rendered illegitimate by the more or less sharp distinction in these characteristic methods and its modal basis. In this article Bealer's particular way of drawing the distinction between philosophy and science is challenged in a novel manner, and thereby philosophical naturalism is further defended. [source]

Théodule Ribot's ambiguous positivism: Philosophical and epistemological strategies in the founding of French scientific psychology

JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, Issue 2 2004
Vincent Guillin
Théodule Ribot (1839,1916) is regarded by many historians of psychology as the "father" of the discipline in France. Ribot contributed to the development of a "new psychology" independent from philosophy, relying on the methods of the natural sciences. However, such an epistemological transition encountered fierce opposition from both the champions of the old-fashioned metaphysical psychology and the representatives of the "scientific spirit." This article focuses on the objections raised by the latter, and especially philosophers of science, against the possibility of a scientific psychology. For instance, according to Auguste Comte, psychology does not satisfy certain basic methodological requirements. To overcome these objections, Ribot, in his La Psychologie Anglaise Contemporaine (1870/1914), devised an epistemological strategy that amounted to invoking criticisms of Comte's views made by other representatives of the positivist school, such as John Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]

Sir Humphry Davy; his researches in respiratory physiology and his debt to Antoine Lavoisier

ANAESTHESIA, Issue 4 2002
J. S. Sprigge
Summary This article shows how the original works of the French scientist Antoine Lavoisier were developed by Humphry Davy, a trainee surgeon from Cornwall, while he was working as a physiologist. Antoine Lavoisier had worked out how oxidation involved the consumption of oxygen and the release of energy. Davy's book, Researches Chemical and Philosophical, Chiefly Concerning Nitrous Oxide, published in 1799, describes the measurement of his own lung volumes, including the first recorded measurement of the residual volume. He measured his own rates of oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production. He is famous for his investigations into nitrous oxide, but he also investigated the effects of breathing nitric oxide and carbon monoxide. He made these observations with a gasometer and analysis of his expired air, and his work anticipates the invention of blood gas analysis. [source]

PATTERNS OF ATTENTION: FROM SHOP WINDOWS TO GALLERY ROOMS IN EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY BERLIN

ART HISTORY, Issue 4 2005
Charlotte Klonk
In the aesthetic programmes promoted by the various German cultural reform movements that flourished in the years before the 1914,18 war patterns took on unprecedented significance. This article investigates the importance of abstract pattern-making in the display strategies adopted in the museum and in the market place. Philosophical and experimental psychology was a common background in both cases. Among the questions that the article addresses are the following: Why were abstract colours and forms and their rhythmic arrangement assigned such a prominent place in Germany in the first decades of the twentieth century? Why were they favoured above the more traditional illusionistic designs? Did gendered assumptions about consumption determine design choices? The article ends with an account of a new kind of display strategy that emerged in the late 1920s in antithesis to pre-war efforts to engage patterns of attention. This abandoned the attempt to make a psycho-physical impact on the perceiving subject in favour of a discursive strategy that posits subjects as part of rational collectives. [source]

The Nature of Scientific Evidence: Statistical, Philosophical and Empirical Considerations

AUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 6 2005
GRAEME HASTWELL
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

The Knowledge Translation Paradigm: Historical, Philosophical, and Practice Perspectives

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 11 2007
Jerris R. Hedges MD
First page of article [source]

Journeys of Expansion and Synopsis: Tensions in Books That Shaped Curriculum Inquiry, 1968,Present

CURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 1 2010
WILLIAM H. SCHUBERT
In honor of the 40th volume of Curriculum Inquiry, I begin by claiming that pursuit of questions about what is worthwhile, why, and for whose benefit is a (perhaps the) central consideration of curriculum inquiry. Drawing autobiographically from my experience as an educator during the past 40 years, I sketch reflections on curriculum books published during that time span. I situate my comments within both the historical backdrop that preceded the beginning of Curriculum Inquiry and the emergence of new curricular languages or paradigms during the late 1960s and early 1970s. I suggest that two orientations of curriculum books have provided a lively tension in curriculum literature,one expansive and the other synoptic,while cautiously wondering if both may have evolved from different dimensions of John Dewey's work. I speculate about the place of expansion and synopsis in several categories of curriculum literature: historical and philosophical; policy, professional, and popular; aesthetic and artistic; practical and narrative; critical; inner and contextual; and indigenous and global. Finally, I reconsider expansive and synoptic tendencies in light of compendia, heuristics, and venues that portray evolving curriculum understandings without losing the purport of myriad expansions of the literature. [source]

Curricular Theorizing From the Periphery

CURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 5 2008
ANGELINA WEENIE
ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to propose theory and knowledge from the peripheral space. Through an analysis of historical and contemporary perspectives of curriculum, the intent of this article is to make explicit the story of curriculum, and the influence of poststructuralist, postmodern, and postcolonial paradigms on the development of Aboriginal curriculum. This article will explore the philosophical and ontological basis of Aboriginal knowledge and its implications for curricular theory. [source]

Misunderstanding Gödel: New Arguments about Wittgenstein and New Remarks by Wittgenstein

DIALECTICA, Issue 3 2003
Victor Rodych
The long-standing issue of Wittgenstein's controversial remarks on Gödel's Theorem has recently heated up in a number of different and interesting directions [(Floyd and Putnam. 2000), (Steiner, 2001), (Floyd, 2001)]. In their (2000), Juliet Floyd and Hilary Putnam purport to argue that Wittgenstein's,notorious'(RFM App. III, §8) "Contains a philosophical claim of great interest," namely, "if one assumed. that ,P is provable in Russell's system one should, give up the "translation" of P by the English sentence ,P is not provable'," because if ,P is provable in PM, PM is , -inconsistent, and if PM is ,-inconsistent, we cannot translate ,P'as 'P is not provable in PM'because the predicate,NaturalNo.(x)'in ,P'"cannot be,interpreted" as "x is a natural number." Though Floyd and Putnam do not clearly distinguish the two tasks, they also argue for "The Floyd-Putnam Thesis," namely, that in the 1930's Wittgenstein had a particular (correct) understanding of Gödel's First Incompleteness Theorem. In this paper, I endeavour to show, first, that the most natural and most defensible interpretation of Wittgenstein's (RFM App. III, §8) and the rest of (RFM App. III) is incompatible with the Floyd-Putnam attribution and, second, that evidence from Wittgenstein's Nachla (i.e., a hitherto unknown "proof sketch" of Gödel's reasoning, Wittgenstein's only mention of ,-inconsistency, and Wittgenstein's only mention of "K provable") strongly indicates that the Floyd- Putnam attribution and the Floyd-Putnam Thesis are false. By way of this examination, we shall see that despite a failure to properly understand Gödel's proof,perhaps because, as Kreisel says, Wittgenstein did not read Gödel's 1931 paper prior to 1942-Wittgenstein's 1937,38, 1941 and 1944 remarks indicate that Gödel's result makes no sense from Wittgenstein's own (idiosyncratic) perspective. [source]

Wittgenstein as Exile: A philosophical topography1

EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY, Issue 5 2008
Michael A. PetersArticle first published online: 22 AUG 200
Abstract This paper argues that Wittgenstein considered himself an exile and indeed was a self-imposed exile from his native Vienna; that this condition of exile is important for understanding Wittgenstein the man and his philosophy; and that exile as a condition has become both a central characteristic condition of late modernity (as much as alienation was for the era of industrial capitalism) and emblematic of literary modernism. The paper employs the notion of ,exhilic thought' as a central trope for understanding Wittgenstein and the topography or geography of his thought and suggests that philosophy might begin to recognize more fully the significance of location and place in order to come to terms internationalization, multiculturalism and globalization, and with postmodern notions of subjectivity that embrace aspects of the condition of being an exile. [source]

THE BORDER CROSSED US: EDUCATION, HOSPITALITY POLITICS, AND THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE "ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT"

EDUCATIONAL THEORY, Issue 3 2009
Dennis CarlsonArticle first published online: 6 OCT 200
In this essay, Dennis Carlson explores some of the implications of Derrida's "hospitality politics" in helping articulate a progressive response to a rightist cultural politics in the United States of policing national, linguistic, and other borders. He applies the concept of hospitality politics to a critical analysis of the social construction of the "problem" of "illegal immigrants" in U.S. public schools. This entails a discussion of three interrelated discourses and practices of hospitality: a universalistic discourse of philosophical and religious principles, a legalistic-juridical discourse, and a discourse and practice grounded in the ethos of everyday life. Derrida suggested that a democratic cultural politics must interweave these three discourses and also recognize the limitations of each of them. Moreover, a democratic cultural politics must be most firmly rooted in the praxis of ethos, and in the ethical claims of openness to the other. [source]

SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR: THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIVED EXPERIENCE

EDUCATIONAL THEORY, Issue 2 2006
James D. Marshall
In this essay, James D. Marshall aims to present Beauvoir, not as a mere entry in the history of French philosophy, nor as an under-laborer to Jean-Paul Sartre, but as someone who has important philosophical insights to contribute to ongoing debates on the human condition, including those concerned with education. Central to these debates are issues such as what does it mean to be an individual human being and what characterizes the relations between individuals and others and between individuals and society. Marshall argues that Beauvoir can participate in such philosophical and educational debates, for philosophy of education has major interests in such questions as who or what is this "person" whom we profess to be educating, what kind of person or outcome of education is desirable, and in what kind of society should these individuals take part? [source]

THE OBJECT OF DESIRE SPEAKS: INGEBORG BACHMANN'S ,UNDINE GEHT' AND LUCE IRIGARAY 'S ,WOMAN'

GERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 2 2008
Lorraine Markotic
ABSTRACT This article presents a detailed examination of Ingeborg Bachmann's ,Undine geht'. It argues for the uniqueness of this work: the text's astonishing ability to depict an object who is also a subject, able to articulate her otherness. Undine is a speaking and desiring subject at the same time as she remains an object of projection. The article compares Bachmann's short story with Irigaray's extensive philosophical and feminist project, showing the many ways in which ,Undine geht' anticipates (and is ultimately more successful than) Irigaray's concept of ,woman' and her mimetic strategy. Bachmann's Undine subversively mimes what she represents; she both incarnates and eludes her representation as man's imaginary other. While ,Undine geht' appears to provide an alternative conception of female subjectivity or to articulate repressed female desire, it ultimately explores the radical complexity of these concepts. Bachmann's short story illustrates, moreover, the salience of Irigaray's attempt to examine the way in which language constructs and reproduces sexual difference. ,Undine geht' goes further, however, by also exploring the constitutive role of narrative and culture in subjectivity. The text is less an account of a female figure who finds her voice than of the difficulty and impediments to so doing. [source]

Education for All: Reassessing the Historiography of Education in Colonial India

HISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 2 2009
Catriona Ellis
This essay won the 2007 History Compass Graduate Essay Prize, Asia Section. Despite the extensive literature on the history of education in colonial India, historians have confined their arguments to very narrow themes linked to colonial epistemological dominance and education as a means of control, resistance and dialogue. These tend to mirror the debates of the colonial period, particularly regarding the Anglicist-Orientalist controversy. This article argues that such an approach is both gendered and hierarchical, and seeks to fundamentally redress the balance. It looks firstly at formal school education , colonial and indigenous , in both philosophical and technological terms. It then turns to education as experienced by the majority of Indian children outwith the classroom, either formally or within the domestic sphere. The article then looks at the neglected recipients of education, and seeks to re-establish children as agents within these adult-driven agendas. By considering educational discourse and practice, and the emerging historiography of Indian childhood and children, we can begin to establish a more rounded and inclusive picture of what education really meant. [source]

Using process-oriented holonic (PrOH) modelling to increase understanding of information systems

INFORMATION SYSTEMS JOURNAL, Issue 5 2008
Ben Clegg
Abstract., Methodologies for understanding business processes and their information systems (IS) are often criticized, either for being too imprecise and philosophical (a criticism often levied at softer methodologies) or too hierarchical and mechanistic (levied at harder methodologies). The process-oriented holonic modelling methodology combines aspects of softer and harder approaches to aid modellers in designing business processes and associated IS. The methodology uses holistic thinking and a construct known as the holon to build process descriptions into a set of models known as a holarchy. This paper describes the methodology through an action research case study based in a large design and manufacturing organization. The scientific contribution is a methodology for analysing business processes in environments that are characterized by high complexity, low volume and high variety where there are minimal repeated learning opportunities, such as large IS development projects. The practical deliverables from the project gave IS and business process improvements for the case study company. [source]

Old World Teaching Meets the New Digital Cultural Creatives

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ART & DESIGN EDUCATION, Issue 3 2009
Elizabeth Delacruz
This article sets forth a conceptual, philosophical and social agenda for art and design education in the twenty-first century, considering how a set of beliefs articulated within US art education discourse interfaces with conceptualisations about emerging global digital media and technologies. Discussion highlights selected writings in the USA primarily, writings about art education technology orientations; and then describes the professional experiences and insights of the writer as she embraced, implemented and made sense of technology in terms of her own multicultural educational orientation in a US university. Based on these insights, this writer proposes that technology pedagogy is not actually about digital technologies per se, but about what we intend to do with new technologies in the twenty-first century. Old notions of art as an embodiment of things that matter and a testament to the human condition are now connected to contemporary ideas about citizenship, caring and public engagement. In this trajectory, citizenship education is then posed as central to a future vision of art education in the digitally connected classroom. Caveats and limitations of the educational and transformative power of new global electronic media being set forth in this article are also noted, including paradoxical self-contradictions within the orientation itself. [source]

Assimilation and Otherness: the Theological Significance of Négritude

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, Issue 3 2009
A.N. WILLIAMS
This article argues that otherness is a root concept in Christian theology, functioning as such in Christology and the doctrines of the Trinity, creation, sanctification and consummation. Recent philosophical and theological treatments of otherness or alterity have, however, focused on its problematic aspects, its link to ills such as racism, sexism and genocide. The thought of the Senegalese statesman and poet Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906,2001) is proposed as an aid in mediating between the tradition's conceptions of otherness and contemporary debates and contexts, illuminating root concepts which have not been recognized as such, their systematic interconnectedness and their enduring relevance. [source]

The Place of Theology in Theological Hermeneutics

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, Issue 2 2002
Donald Wood
This article attempts to analyse the recent theological interest in special hermeneutics by tracking the place it accords Christian doctrine when construing the context of scriptural interpretation. A typology is developed which both takes up and relativizes the distinction between general and special hermeneutics, arguing that while the church may welcome the renewed interest in its own peculiar reading practices, it need not lean too heavily on the philosophical and sociological commitments that underlie much of the interest in special hermeneutics. Theological hermeneutics will best serve the church when it attends from first to last to the divine grace that establishes and limits the church's interpretation of scripture. [source]

Chinese values, health and nursing

JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 2 2001
Yu-chih Chen PhD RN
Chinese values, health and nursing Purpose.,To describe the roots of Chinese values, beliefs and the concept of health, and to illustrate how these ways have influenced the development of health care and nursing among Chinese in the Republic of China (ROC) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). Scope.,Based on the literature and direct observation in the PRC and ROC, this is an introduction to Chinese philosophies, religion, basic beliefs, and values with a special meaning for health and nursing. Chinese philosophies and religion include Confucian principles, Taoism, theory of ,Yin' and ,Yang', and Buddhism. Beliefs and values include the way of education, practice of acupuncture, herbal treatments and diet therapy. How people value traditional Chinese medicine in combination with western science, and the future direction of nursing and nursing inquiry are also briefly addressed. Conclusion.,Chinese philosophies and religions strongly influence the Chinese way of living and thinking about health and health care. Nurses must combine information about culture with clinical assessment of the patient to provide cultural sensitive care. A better way may be to combine both western and Chinese values into the Chinese health care system by negotiating between the traditional values while at the same time, respecting an individual's choice. The foundation of China's philosophical and aesthetic tradition, in combination with western science is important to the future advancement of nursing research that will be beneficial to the Republics, Asia, and the world. [source]

No Old Man Ever Forgot Where He Buried His Treasure: Concepts of Cognitive Impairment in Old Age Circa 1700

JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 11 2005
Daniel Schäfer PhD
Cognitive impairment in old age is one of the most important topics in modern geriatrics. This article discusses the historical dimensions of this phenomenon. To this end, a number of primary sources ranging from antiquity to the modern era are evaluated. Although a physiology and pathology of old age were conceptualized in Greco-Roman times, cognitive impairment in old age remained a marginal issue until the 17th century. Alternatively, after 1500, medicine boasted detailed theories on the physiology and pathology of old age. There are several possible explanations for this unusual situation. Underlying conflict between idealistic and materialistic views of man played a decisive role, for these concepts differed considerably regarding the intellectual and mental functioning of the soul as well as the effects of the passage of time. After Cartesianism and Iatromechanism had pushed these traditional boundaries back, the problem of cognitive impairment in old age was increasingly regarded as a physical illness and began to receive more attention. Just as its philosophical and theological context shaped early modern medicine, contemporary nonmedical disciplines such as genetics, (neuro-)biology, and the information sciences influence modern research. [source]

Liberalism, Fundamentalism and Truth

JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHILOSOPHY, Issue 4 2006
MATT SLEAT
abstract One way in which we may be tempted to understand the distinction we make in practice between liberals and fundamentalists is via the issue of truth. Liberals are generally more sceptical about truth while fundamentalists tend to be more objectivist, believing not only that objective truth exists but also that they know it. I call this interpretation the ,truth interpretation'. In this paper I attempt to undermine the ,truth interpretation' by showing that it does not map on adequately to the sorts of distinctions that we actually make in practice. We will see that thinking that the distinction between liberals and fundamentalists revolves around the philosophical issue of truth, such that the ,good guys' are sceptics and the ,bad guys' objectivists, fails to connect with our practical distinctions. The second half of the paper then addresses the question of what role, if any, truth does play in distinguishing between liberals and fundamentalists, arguing that if truth does play a role we should see it as a very narrow and political, rather, than philosophical one. [source]

Narrative Methods and Children: Theoretical Explanations and Practice Issues

JOURNAL OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIC NURSING, Issue 1 2008
Lorna Bennett RN
TOPIC:,The Narrative approach is an innovative way of working with children and adolescents experiencing mental health problems. This approach can be effectively integrated with the expressive arts and other nonverbal ways of accessing the life world of children. In addition, the approach promotes respect for and collaboration with the child in working towards healing and growth. PURPOSE:,In this paper core features of the narrative approach are described; the theoretical and philosophical and evidence base for this approach as well as its congruence with the special nature and needs of children will be explored. Finally, the benefits and challenges of this approach in relation to a specific clinical situation will be highlighted. SOURCES USED:,Published literature and the author's clinical experiences. CONCLUSION:,Narrative methods are ideally suited for addressing needs of children experiencing mental health problems and can enhance therapeutic effectiveness. Some of the challenges associated with its use include: finding creative ways to apply specific narrative concepts and methods with diverse clinical issues/problems; learning to collaborate with children and respect them as experts in their own lives; and shifting the nursing focus from a problem-focused orientation to a strength-oriented and child-centered approach. [source]

Religion and the secularisation of health care

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 14 2009
John Paley
Aims and objectives., To assess the claim that conceptualisations of religion and spirituality should be grounded in theology, and acknowledge the global resurgence of religion. Background., Although there is widespread agreement in the nursing literature that ,spirituality' is a broader concept than ,religion,' and should be understood generically, this approximate consensus has occasionally been challenged. A recent paper by Barbara Pesut and colleagues argues that the generic view not only empties spirituality of powerful religious symbols and narratives, but underestimates the continuing social influence of religion, and its resurgence on a global scale. Accordingly, these authors suggest three principles for conceptualising spirituality and religion in health care, one of which is that conceptualisations should be grounded in philosophical and theological thinking, and should not ignore the global resurgence of religion. Method., Critical review. Conclusion., The Pesut principle privileges theology, disregarding other disciplines which theorise religion. Arguably, it privileges specifically Christian theology, the history of which suggests a politics of orthodoxy and an epistemology of authority and obedience. The global resurgence of religion is not, in fact, global, as the industrialised countries have experienced a marked shift towards secular-rational values; and the postindustrial phase of development is associated with self-expression values, which represent a challenge not merely to religious institutions (arguably an affirmation of ,spirituality') but to traditional elites and structures of all kinds. Finally, religion ,resurgent' is not an attractive model for health care, since many of its most obvious manifestations are incompatible with the ideology of health professionals. Relevance to clinical practice., In the secular societies of Europe, if not North America, there should be no expectation that nurses provide spiritual care. It is a requirement of the great separation between civil order and religion that the health services, as a public space, should remain thoroughly secular. [source]

Conceptualising spirituality and religion for healthcare

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 21 2008
Barbara Pesut
Aims., To discuss some of the challenges of conceptualising spirituality and religion for healthcare practice. Background., With the growing interest in spirituality in healthcare, has come the inevitable task of trying to conceptualise spirituality, a daunting task given the amorphous nature of spirituality, the changing understandings of spirituality among individuals and the diverse globalised society within which this task is taking place. Spirituality's relationship to religion is a particularly challenging point of debate. Design., Critical review. Conclusions., Three social and historical conditions , located in the context of Western thought , have contributed to current conceptualisations of spirituality and religion: the diminishment of the social authority of religion as a result of the Enlightenment focus on reason, the rise of a postmodern spirituality emphasising spiritual experience and current tensions over the ideological and political roles of religion in society. The trend to minimise the social influence of religion is a particular Western bias that seems to ignore the global megatrend of the resurgence of religion. Current conceptualisations are critiqued on the following grounds: that they tend to be ungrounded from a rich history of theological and philosophical thought, that a particular form of elitist spirituality is emerging and that the individualistic emphasis in recent conceptualisations of spirituality diminishes the potential for societal critique and transformation while opening the door for economic and political self interest. Relevance to clinical practice., Constructing adequate conceptualisations of spirituality and religion for clinical practice entails grounding them in the wealth of centuries of philosophical and theological thinking, ensuring that they represent the diverse society that nursing serves and anchoring them within a moral view of practice. [source]

A concept analysis of health-related quality of life in young people with chronic illness

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 14 2008
DipRes, Rachel M Taylor MSc
Aims., To critique existing concept analyses of quality of life and develop a definition applicable for young people with chronic illness. Background., Quality of life is a commonly used phrase but there is no universal definition. Five perspectives of quality of life have been proposed: sociological, economic, psychological, philosophical and ethical. However, health has emerged as an important but distinct perspective. The nursing profession has made a substantial contribution to the understanding of the interrelationship of health and quality of life. Design., Literature review. Methods., A search on electronic databases to April 2007 was made using the terms ,quality of life' and ,concept analysis'. Papers were included in the review if they used a recognised method of concept analysis and were conducted by nurses. A new concept analysis was then performed specifically focusing on young people's experiences of living with chronic illness. Results., Eight concept analyses were identified, all of which had limitations. All the concept analyses were based on adult literature so did not take into consideration developmental changes, language level, or young people's construction of health and illness. The new concept analysis found that young people living with chronic illness generally view themselves and their lives in the same way as their healthy peers. While their aspirations are often constrained by illness and treatment the relationship between illness and life cannot be seen in isolation of development. Conclusion., Previous definitions of quality of life derived from concept analyses with adult populations do not adequately represent the experience of young people with chronic illnesses, but can be made more specific by incorporating important attributes such as developmental stage and the importance of peer group and family. Relevance to clinical practice., The current analysis provides a clear definition of quality of life from the health perspective which is specific for use with young people with chronic illness to guide practice and research. [source]

Spirituality at the beginning of life

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 7 2006
Jennifer Hall MSc, PGDip(HE)
Aim., The aim of this paper was to explore the issues surrounding the spirit of the unborn child. Background., Pregnancy and birth have been recognised to have a spiritual nature by women and health professionals caring for them. Midwives and nurses are expected to have a holistic approach to care. I suggest that for care to be truly holistic exploration is required of the spiritual nature of the unborn fetus. Methods., Historical, philosophical and religious views of the spirit of the fetus, are explored as well as those of women. Investigation was made of views of the timing of ,ensoulment'. Results., The review demonstrates the value women place on the sacredness of pregnancy and birth, and that the spiritual nature of the unborn should be recognised. Conclusion., This paper shows that the views and values women have of pregnancy and birth and the powerful, spiritual relationship they have with the unborn, indicates that further discussion and research needs to be carried out in this area. Relevance to clinical practice., It is recommended that all who work with women who are pregnant should recognise the spiritual nature of the unborn when carrying out care. [source]

The place and function of power in community psychology: philosophical and practical issues

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2007
Adrian T. Fisher
Abstract Much of the training of psychologists in the western world follows a logical positivist, scientist-practitioner model based in scientific objectivity and removed from politics. In this paper, we explore issues around alternative understandings of the role and place of psychologists and psychological actions. In so doing, we discuss a number of issues of ontology, epistemology and pragmatics to demonstrate that the role and function of power in our society need to be addressed more directly and more politically in order for us to successfully achieve our roles as community psychologists. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

A critical appraisal of evidence-based medicine: some ethical considerations

JOURNAL OF EVALUATION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 2 2003
M. Gupta MD CM FRCPC MA
Abstract Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is a concept that has grown to dominate the medical literature over the last decade. EBM has provoked a variety of criticisms, scientific, philosophical and sociological. However, while its basic conclusion , that we should practise EBM , is ethical, there has been limited ethical analysis of EBM. This paper aims to provide an analysis of EBM from an ethical perspective and identify some of EBM's potential ethical implications. Following a description of what constitutes EBM, this paper will identify and assess some of the basic values and epistemological assumptions of EBM that provide support for the moral duty to practise EBM. It will then examine potential ethical implications that could arise from practising EBM, given the challenges that have been made of EBM's assumptions and claims to authority. This paper will conclude by arguing that practitioners could strengthen the ethics of EBM by embracing a broader definition of evidence and including ethical criteria in the critical appraisal of research studies. [source]

A Critique of Occidental Geist: Embedded Historical Culturalism in the Works of Hegel, Weber and Huntington

JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2006
FETHI AÇIKEL
Hegel's contribution to the philosophy of history is most clearly seen where he introduces a theory of historical development based on the secularisation of Christian cosmology. With Hegel, the Spirit (Geist), previously theologically understood, gradually becomes the embodiment of historical development. In the Hegelian vocabulary, the phenomenology of religion is formulated along with the theory of historical progress. In this article, I will argue that the question of historical development has been continuously elaborated in a culturalist fashion in works of Friedrich Hegel, Max Weber and Samuel Huntington as those scholars, through different intellectual traditions, essentialises the spiritual backgrounds of world religions and ties the phenomenology of religion with the philosophy of history in their historical analyses. This paper will argue that these scholars, by relying on the idealised images of religions and particularly of the Occidental Spirit, subtly elaborate the historical culturalist notion of development within Western thought. By arguing for an inherent link between religion and development, these scholars implicitly institutionalize a Eurocentric understanding of Western Christianity and the Occidental path of development within mainstream social theory. Be they philosophical (Hegel), sociological (Weber) or political (Huntington), the historical culturalism of these approaches shape our understanding of historical change, and ironically, instead of countering the excesses of crude materialism, they lead social theory into a form of Eurocentic historical culturalism. [source]

Demonstrably Awful: The Right to Life and the Selective Non-Treatment of Disabled Babies and Young Children

JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 4 2004
Janet Read
Twenty-five years ago it was common practice to bring about the deaths of some children with learning disabilities or physical impairments. This paper considers a small number of landmark cases in the early 1980s that confronted this practice. These cases illustrate a process by which external forces (social, philosophical, political, and professional) moved through the legal system to effect a profound change outside that system , primarily in the (then) largely closed domain of medical conduct/practice. These cases are considered from a socio-legal perspective. In particular, the paper analyses the reasons why they surfaced at that time, the social and political contexts that shaped the judgments, and their legacy. [source]