Beyond Original Sin: A Paradigm Shift for the Age of Neuroscience

In this article I explore the implications of Jesus?? location of the kingdom of heaven in the lived experience of the individual and of the findings of neuroscientific research for a paradigm shift in Christian theology, one that moves us beyond the Adamic myth and belief in original sin. Support for a theological paradigm shift based on lived experience is provided by Capps (1993) and for this particular paradigm shift by Pagels (1989) and Ricoeur (2004). I point out that the doctrine of original sin supports and fosters the negativity bias of the brain and inhibits the resculpting of the brain. Drawing on Hanson??s (2009) evidence in support of the brain??s neuroplasticity (i.e., its capacity to change itself) and on Brach??s (2003) critique of the ??trance of unworthiness,?? I make the case for meditative and mindful awareness practices in Christianity and other religious traditions as proven methods for the resculpting of the brain in order that individuals may experience greater joy, contentment, and awareness of the goodness of life and of God??s creation. A longitudinal neuroscientific research study of Roman Catholic nuns (Newberg and Waldman 2009) provides evidence in support of the role of contemplative prayer and meditation in generating the joy and serenity that Jesus?? allusion to the hidden treasure envisions.     

Opening Scenarios: A Relational Perspective on How to Deal with Multiple Therapeutic Views

The aim of this work is to provide therapists with a conceptual outline to help them utilize theoretical and methodological perspectives from different psychotherapy models. More specifically, we will start with three basic assumptions from the social constructionist paradigm, particularly effective in bringing together different perspectives in therapy and providing therapists with useful criteria for selecting among them. The assumptions are as follows: (1) the psychological world of the individual is constructed within relational processes, mainly through dialogue; (2) in general, discourse can be classified as either generative or degenerative; and (3) individuals construct their life narratives based also on a common-sense that can derive from psychological theories developed within specific cultural traditions. These assumptions derive mainly from Gergen??s relational perspective (2009) and lead us to foresee a set of implications for clinical practice, where therapist and client are seen as ??multi-beings??, consequently endowed with multiple views, not one.     

Semantic plasticity and epistemicism

This paper considers the connections between semantic shiftiness (plasticity), epistemic safety and an epistemic theory of vagueness as presented and defended by Williamson (1996a, b, 1997a, b). Williamson explains ignorance of the precise intension of vague words as rooted in insensitivity to semantic shifts: one??s inability to detect small shifts in intension for a vague word results in a lack of knowledge of the word??s intension. Williamson??s explanation, however, falls short of accounting for ignorance of intension.     

The (Un)bearable Educational Lightness of Common Practices: On the Use of Urban Spaces by Schoolchildren

The present paper is about the author??s current research on children??s education in urban contexts. It departs from the rising offer of programmes for school children in out-of-school contexts (e.g. museums, libraries, science centres). It asks what makes these practices educational (and not just interesting, entertaining and/or audience building). Based on Biesta (2006a, 2010) theory of education, the author frames and analyses the educational characteristics of, and possibilities of articulating, in and out-of-school educational practices. This paper aims at understanding if the occasional outing from primary school premises promotes interruptions in the humanist foundations of school. In order to analyse relations between different institutions and professionals (to be) engaged in educational activities and programmes, Nóvoa (2002, 2009) essays will be brought to the discussion, namely his conception of the ??Public Space of Education????as a space where culture, education, arts, sports and leisure are shared responsibilities, and where diverse institutions are networked aiming towards societal pluralism. I argue for the possibility of using cities?? public spaces as contexts with a worldly quality to complexify children??s education. Nevertheless, I draw attention to the unbearable educational lightness that these practices may carry if they do not go beyond the praise of chance; as well as to their unsustainable weight if they perpetually repeat school??s normal orders and add up rational discourses.     

Disrupting the Coloniality of Being: Toward De-colonial Ontologies in Philosophy of Education

This essay works to bridge conversations in philosophy of education with decolonial theory. The author considers Margonis?? (1999, 2011a, b) use of Rousseau (1979) and Heidegger (1962) in developing an ontological attitude that counters social hierarchies and promotes anti-colonial relations. While affirming this effort, the essay outlines a coloniality of being at work in Rousseau and Heidegger through thier reliance on the colonial conceptualization of African Americans and Native Americans as savage and primitive. The essay turns to decolonial theory and the work of Maldenado-Torres (Cult Stud 21(2?C3):240?C270, 2007, 2009) to highlight how a decolonial attitude complicates, yet enriches Margonis?? philosophical framework.     

Pereboom on the Frankfurt cases

According to the principle of alternative possibilities (PAP), a person is morally responsible for what he has done only if he could have done otherwise. In what follows, I want to defend this principle against an apparent counterexample offered recently by Derk Pereboom (Living without free will, 2001; Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 29:228?C247, 2005). Pereboom??s case, a variant of what are known as ??Frankfurt cases,?? is important for it attempts to overcome a dilemma posed for earlier alleged counterexamples to PAP. However, I will argue that by paying closer attention to the details of Pereboom??s example, we see that his example fails to show a way between the horns of the dilemma posed for the earlier Frankfurt examples.     

Indeterminism is a modal notion: branching spacetimes and Earman’s pruning

The paper defends an Aristotelian notion of indeterminism, as rigorously formulated in the framework of branching space-times (BST) of Belnap (1992), against criticism by Earman??s (2008) based on a model-theoretic characterization of indeterminism. It delineates BST branching against the background provided by Earman??s (2008) distinction between individual versus ensemble branching. Partly in order to motivate our responses to Earman, it describes a construction of physically motivated BST models, in which histories are isomorphic to Minkowski spacetime. Finally it responds to Earman??s criticisms leveled against BST by addressing a topological issue, the question of an actual future, the past/future asymmetry, and some semantical questions.     

The Laborers in the Vineyard: Putting Humor to Work

This article focuses on Jesus?? parable popularly known as ??The Laborers in the Vineyard?? (Matt. 20:1?C16). I propose that a psychoanalytic reading of the parable offers insights that are missing or overlooked in more traditional readings. In support of this proposal, I discuss the interpretation of the parable by Richard Q. Ford (1997) and his emphasis on the critical role of the listener in effecting the reconciliation of disputing parties; and then turn to Freud??s analysis of beggar jokes (Freud 1905/1960) to explore the generosity vs. envy issue to which the landowner alludes in his response to the complaining workers. I also employ Freud??s view that humor (Freud 1927/1963) reflects the superego??s comforting side to suggest that humor may assist in the effort to get the disputing parties to listen to one another and even perhaps to resolve their differences.     

Keith Lehrer on the basing relation

In this paper, we review Keith Lehrer??s account of the basing relation, with particular attention to the two cases he offered in support of his theory, Raco (Lehrer, Theory of knowledge, 1990; Theory of knowledge, (2nd ed.), 2000) and the earlier case of the superstitious lawyer (Lehrer, The Journal of Philosophy, 68, 311?C313, 1971). We show that Lehrer??s examples succeed in making his case that beliefs need not be based on the evidence, in order to be justified. These cases show that it is the justification (rather than the belief) that must be based in the evidence. We compare Lehrer??s account of basing with some alternative accounts that have been offered, and show why Lehrer??s own account is more plausible.     

Discussions with Bocheński concerning Soviet Marxism–Leninism, 1952–1986

Boche??ski??s lucid, unpartisan, and judiciously critical discussion of Soviet Marxism?CLeninism in his book Der sowjetrussische dialektische Materialismus (1950) filled a major gap in our understanding of that influential movement. Prior to its publication there had been only two works on the subject in English, John Somerville??s Soviet Philosophy (1946) and the Handbook of Philosophy (1949), edited and adapted by Howard Selsam from the Kratkij filosofskij slovar?? (2nd ed. 1940). Both are marked by strong partisanship and ideological bias. Somerville is uncritically pro-Soviet and abjectly Stalinist. Selsam, although he tones down the adulation of Marx, Stalin et al. of the KFS, retains that work??s abuse of such ??reactionary?? and ??idealist?? thinkers as Plato and such ??reactionary?? and ??bourgeois?? thinkers as Hegel. The benign influence of Boche??ski??s work increased with the publication of the English translation, Soviet Russian Dialectical Materialism, in 1963.     

The Logical Form of Interventionism

This paper argues that, notwithstanding the remarkable popularity of Woodward??s (2003) interventionist analysis of causation, the exact definitional details of that theory are surprisingly little understood. There exists a discrepancy in the literature between the insufficient appreciation of the logical details of interventionism, on the one hand, and the amount of theoretical work interventionism is expected to do, on the other. The first part of the paper distinguishes four significantly different readings of the logical form of Woodward??s analysis and identifies the two readings that best capture Woodward??s intentions in (2003) and (2008a), respectively. In the second part, I show that these different readings are not clearly kept apart in the literature, and, moreover, that neither of them can do all the work that interventionists would like the theory to do.     

Pereboom’s Frankfurt case and derivative culpability

Pereboom has formulated a Frankfurt-style counterexample in which an agent is alleged to be responsible despite the fact that there are only non-robust alternatives present (Pereboom, Moral responsibility and alternative possibilities: essays on the importance of alternative possibilities, 2003; Phil Explor 12(2):109–118, 2009). I support Widerker’s objection to Pereboom’s Tax Evasion 2 example (Widerker, J Phil 103(4):163–187, 2006) (which rests on the worry that the agent in this example is derivatively culpable as opposed to directly responsible) against Pereboom’s recent counterarguments to this objection (Pereboom 2009). Building on work by Moya (J Phil 104:475–486, 2007; Critica 43(128):3–26, 2011) and Widerker (Widerker 2006), I argue that there is good reason to measure the robustness of alternatives in terms of comparative, rather than non-comparative likelihood of exemption, where the important factor for blame is whether the agent is “doing her reasonable best” to avoid blameworthy behaviour. I maintain that an agent only ever appears responsible when alternatives are robust in this sense. In Pereboom’s examples, both Tax Evasion 2, and his more recent version, Tax Evasion 3 (Pereboom 2009), I maintain the robustness of the alternatives, so understood, is unclear. We can clear up any ambiguity by sharpening the examples, and the result is that the agent appears responsible when the alternatives are made clearly robust, and does not appear responsible when alternatives appear clearly non-robust. The comparative nature of our judgements about blame, I maintain helps to explain the continuing appeal of the “leeway-incompatibilist” viewpoint.     

Margaret R. Miles’ Augustine and the Fundamentalist’s Daughter: An Eriksonian Perspective

My perspective on Margaret R. Miles’s Augustine and the Fundamentalist’s Daughter is informed by Erik H. Erikson’s life cycle model (Erikson 1950, 1959, 1963, 1964, 1968a, b, 1982; Erikson and Erikson 1997) and, more specifically, by my relocation of his life stages and their accompanying human strengths (Erikson 1964) according to decades (Capps 2008). I interpret Miles’s account of her life from birth to age forty as revealing the selves that comprise the composite Self (Erikson 1968a) that come into their own during the first four decades of the life cycle, i.e., the hopeful, willing, purposeful, and competent selves     

Interventionist counterfactuals

A number of recent authors (Galles and Pearl, Found Sci 3 (1):151?C182, 1998; Hiddleston, No?s 39 (4):232?C257, 2005; Halpern, J Artif Intell Res 12:317?C337, 2000) advocate a causal modeling semantics for counterfactuals. But the precise logical significance of the causal modeling semantics remains murky. Particularly important, yet particularly under-explored, is its relationship to the similarity-based semantics for counterfactuals developed by Lewis (Counterfactuals. Harvard University Press, 1973b). The causal modeling semantics is both an account of the truth conditions of counterfactuals, and an account of which inferences involving counterfactuals are valid. As an account of truth conditions, it is incomplete. While Lewis??s similarity semantics lets us evaluate counterfactuals with arbitrarily complex antecedents and consequents, the causal modeling semantics makes it hard to ascertain the truth conditions of all but a highly restricted class of counterfactuals. I explain how to extend the causal modeling language to encompass a wider range of sentences, and provide a sound and complete axiomatization for the extended language. Extending the truth conditions for counterfactuals has serious consequences concerning valid inference. The extended language is unlike any logic of Lewis??s: modus ponens is invalid, and classical logical equivalents cannot be freely substituted in the antecedents of conditionals.     

Turkish Migrants�� Organizations in Germany and Their Role in the Flow of Remittances to Turkey

Various studies, including ?stergaard-Nielsen (New York & London: Routledge, 2003), Pries and Sezgin (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag f??r Sozialwissenschaften, 2010), Thr?nhardt and Wei? (Freiburg: Lambertus, 2005), and Yurdakul (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2009) have examined the aims, activities, functions, and structures of migrant organizations in Germany. Among others, Daume et al. 2007, Kausch (Nr. 28: 21?C25 (http://www.service-eine-welt.de/images/text_material-1049.img). Accessed 23 October 2009, 2007), and Schmelz (Eschborn: GTZ, 2007) illustrated that some migrant organizations aim at supporting the development of their countries of origin. These organizations invest in infrastructure and agriculture, facilitate funding for development projects, provide post-disaster humanitarian aid, and offer social and financial assistance to their counterparts and to certain religious and/or political movements. A research gap, however, persists concerning the role of Turkish migrants?? organizations (TMOs) in the flow of remittances to Turkey. Particularly, it is not clear how organizational characteristics of TMOs influence their potential in attracting and transferring remittances. Combining approaches from organizational sociology and migration research, this paper intends to generate empirically founded knowledge about TMOs in Germany, while highlighting their need to legitimate themselves in multiple organizational fields. This paper illustrates that the potential of TMOs in attracting and transferring remittances depend on multiple factors such as the demographic characteristics of the Turkish migrants, Turkish and German governmental policies, and the organizational characteristics of TMOs. It also shows that the role of TMOs in the flow of remittances is limited as: (1) Turkish migrants?? social and economic resources are restricted, (2) TMOs?? competency in mobilizing migrants, fundraising, project development, and management has not been fully developed, and (3) Turkish and German governments do not actively cooperate with TMOs in transferring remittances.     

The Parable of the Squirrel: Alleviating the Anxiety of Agoraphobia

This article focuses on agoraphobia, one of the anxiety disorders, and draws on William James (James 1890/1905), the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association 2000) and Aaron T. Beck and Gary Emery (1985) to present and explore the psychodynamics of agoraphobia, including its behavioral manifestations, the personality features that may predispose a person to become agoraphobic, and the factors that may precipitate its emergence at a particular time in one??s life. A parable concerning a squirrel having difficulty crossing the street frames the discussion.     

The importance of perceived autonomy support for the psychological health and work satisfaction of health professionals: Not only supervisors count, colleagues too!

Previous studies show that supervisors?? autonomy-supportive style predicts greater psychological health (Baard et al. in J Appl Soc Psychol 34:2045?C2068, 2004; Blais and Brière 1992; Lynch et al. in Prof Psychol Res Pract 36:415?C425, 2005) and lower psychological distress (Deci et al. in Personal Soc Psychol Bull 27:930?C942, 2001). The goal of the present study is to extend these results and investigate the contribution of colleagues?? perceived autonomy support in the prediction of health professionals?? work satisfaction and psychological health. The combined impact of supervisors?? and colleagues?? perceived autonomy support is also examined. A sample of 597 health professionals from the province of Quebec (Canada) completed a questionnaire, which included measures of perceived supervisors?? and colleagues?? autonomy support and outcome variables. Results confirm that supervisors?? and colleagues?? perceived autonomy support predict health professionals?? work satisfaction and psychological health. Results also show that colleagues?? perceived autonomy support adds to the prediction of health professionals?? work satisfaction, subjective well-being, and suicidal ideation above and beyond supervisors?? perceived autonomy support.