Gender gaps: who needs to be explained?

The hypothesis that explanations for differences between prototypical and nonprototypical members of categories would focus more on attributes of the latter than on those of the former was examined. Explanations for alleged gender differences in the behavior of voters, elementary school teachers, and college professors were elicited. As predicted, explanations for gender differences within the 3 categories emphasized the qualities of the "deviant" member. Ss' explanations of alleged gender gaps in the behavior of voters and college professors focused more on qualities of women than on qualities of men. In contrast, Ss' explanations of an alleged gender gap in the behavior of elementary school teachers focused more on qualities of men than on qualities of women. The results are interpreted in terms of Kahneman and Miller's (1986) norm theory.     

The ‘Radical’ Revisions of the Commentary on the Seven Penitential Psalms: Luther and his ‘Enemies’ (1517-1525)

Abstract

The context in which Luther wrote his original commentary on the Seven Penitential Psalms (1517) was very different from the later edition at the time of the Peasants’ Revolt (1525). While revising his writing purportedly to update it due to his improved knowledge of Hebrew, Luther himself now read the words of the Psalmist through a new lens. He connected passages about the Psalmist's ‘enemies’ to those whom he himself struggled against during that period, in particular his ‘radical’ contemporaries. Previous studies that have compared the 1517 edition with the 1525 revision have examined only internal factors that may have influenced the revision. By taking account of the external factors as well, this study attempts to account for both what motivated his decision to make the revisions and the manner in which Luther changed the translation and commentary.     

A versatile Mathal: ‘the man who hired laborers’

The parable of ‘The man who hired laborers’ is found in the adīth literature of Islam, in the Gospel of Matthew and in the Rabbinic literature of Judaism. This article focuses mainly on how the adīth texts use the parable, describing themes, rhetorical devices and narrative patterns of fourteen variant readings. Then the Jewish and Christian examples are compared with the Islamic ones, showing both the variety of themes to be found and the similarity of the common parabolic structure.     

Strange-but-true: a (quick) new argument for contextualism about ‘know’

A powerful objection to subject-sensitive invariantism (SSI) concerns various ‘strange-but-true’ (or “embarrassing”) conditionals. One popular response to this objection is to argue that strange-but-true conditionals pose a problem for non-sceptical epistemological theories in general. In the present paper, it is argued that strange-but-true conditionals are not a problem for contextualism about ‘know’. This observation undercuts the proposed defence of SSI, and supplies a surprising new argument for contextualism.     

‘Everyone who wants to,can be a Körtti’: how young people negotiate the religious space of a revivalist movement

19th century Protestant revivalist movements have played an important role in Nordic societies at large. In this article, I explore young people’s socio-spatial construction of the Awakening movement, one of the largest traditional yet vibrant revivalist movements under the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. In doing so, I aim to reveal how youths define their collective religious identity in a time when non-institutional and private emphasis on religion prevails. In addition, vague membership, ritual-centred participation, and the significance of the annual gathering raise topical questions regarding belonging. I build my analysis on Henri Lefebvre’s theory of the production of social space. The research data consist of interviews with young people (aged 14–18) and the narratives the young people wrote themselves. These data are complemented with my observations from the movement’s summer gathering. The findings reveal the agency of the young people as ‘inhabitants’ (Lefebvre) of tradition-based religious space.     

On Failing to be Cartesian: Reconsidering the ‘Impurity’ of Descartes’s Meditation

Abstract

This paper begins from the observation that in the Meditations, Descartes never achieves the ‘pure’, thoroughly decontextualized kind of thinking he famously promoted. Some commentators have used this observation to promote pure inquiry more diligently and to criticize Descartes for failing to achieve it. Other commentators have simply called for greater historical fairness and urged that we renew our efforts to understand how Descartes’s inquiry actually does operate. This paper, although sympathetic with this second group of commentators, argues that in revisiting the tensions between what Descartes actually accomplished and what he said he was trying to accomplish, we should see a contemporary lesson, not just better historical understanding. It is argued that in spite of the strong presence in his writings of the imagery of the ‘Cartesian’ ideal of a perfectly presuppositionless philosophical standpoint, not only does Descartes himself never become a Cartesian, but his own practice provides perhaps the best evidence against the very possibility of the Cartesian ‘project of pure inquiry’ to which he aspired.     

Nominalistic content,grounding, and covering generalizations: Reply to ‘Grounding and the indispensability argument’

‘Grounding and the indispensability argument’ presents a number of ways in which nominalists can use the notion of grounding to rebut the indispensability argument for the existence of mathematical objects. I will begin by considering the strategy that puts grounding to the service of easy-road nominalists (“Nominalistic content meets grounding” section). I will give some support to this strategy by addressing a worry some may have about it (“A misguided worry about the grounding strategy” section). I will then consider a problem for the fast-lane strategy (“Grounding and generality: a problem for the fast lane” section) and a problem for easy-road nominalists willing to accept Liggins’ grounding strategy (“More on the grounding strategy and easy-road nominalism” section). Both are related to the problem of formulating nominalistic explanations at the right level of generality. I will then consider a problem that Liggins only hints at (“Mathematics and covering generalizations” section). This problem has to do with mathematics’ function of providing the sort of covering generalizations we need in scientific explanations.     

How (not) to think of the ‘dead-donor’ rule

Although much has been written on the dead-donor rule (DDR) in the last twenty-five years, scant attention has been paid to how it should be formulated, what its rationale is, and why it was accepted. The DDR can be formulated in terms of either a Don’t Kill rule or a Death Requirement, the former being historically rooted in absolutist ethics and the latter in a prudential policy aimed at securing trust in the transplant enterprise. I contend that the moral core of the rule is the Don’t Kill rule, not the Death Requirement. This, I show, is how the DDR was understood by the transplanters of the 1960s, who sought to conform their practices to their ethics—unlike today’s critics of the DDR, who rethink their ethics in a question-begging fashion to accommodate their practices. A better discussion of the ethics of killing is needed to move the debate forward.     

“Why do (don't) you ask?” transference and the desire (not) to know

One of the criterial distinctions of psychoanalysis is its renunciation of indoctrination through suggestion. In spite of the fact that psychoanalysis is both an organized body of knowledge and a disciplined form of interpersonal influence, it regards an analyst who tells the analysand what to think or do as essentially doing harm by substituting a new form of prejudice and alienation for the preexisting form he is attacking. Even though an analyst regards his knowledge of psychoanalytic theory as adequate at a general level, this "truth" is not an adequate mode of discourse with an individual. Why not? It is a fact that analysands often do not accept an analyst's idea. However, the fundamental problematic of clinical psychoanalysis comes precisely at the point that the analysand would accept the analyst's idea, involving the distinction between a properly psychoanalytic cure and a transference cure. Psychoanalytic theory itself holds that unreflective incorporation of another's idea about oneself comes at the expense of autonomous and spontaneous self-revelation. Despite its resolute pursuit of new truths, the aim of psychoanalysis is less concerned with attaining specific ideas about unrecognized conflicts than it is with achieving a general attitude--that self-understanding requires a capacity to admit dubious and unwanted ideas and feelings that symptoms, dreams, and free associations bring to light. This "psychoanalytic" attitude permits a new type of discourse in which the person recognizes himself or herself through expression, rather than parrotting the analyst's (or others') words, or continuing rigidly to hide the truth of desire for oneself. In the long run, psychoanalysis offers to correct a primary misunderstanding: that one can acquire a comprehensively true image of oneself. As Barratt (1988) emphasizes, this transformation is tantamount to a change in personal epistemology for the analysand and a change in epistemological theory for the culture as a whole. In our culture, most analysts and lay people alike take for granted that the ego is an agent that is to be integrated and strengthened in order to direct one's life. Likewise, the unconscious is commonly regarded as a type of savage alter ego that must be mastered by the ego. According to Lacan's critique, the ego is a snare and a delusion for the patient, however highly commended by society it may be, because its very essence is to furnish the illusion of enduring self-knowledge.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Maintaining the ability to be unsettled and learn afresh: what philosophy contributes to our understanding of ‘reflection’ and ‘experience’

In this paper, Heidegger’s and Gadamer’s examinations of the terms ‘reflection’ and ‘experience’ are explored in depth in order to contribute to discussions about the benefits of critical reflection of practice for practitioners in the helping professions. The importance of maintaining humility and an undogmatic stance is stressed since this allows helping professionals to learn afresh from critical reflection of their practice. As Gadamer points out ‘being experienced’ does not consist of knowing everything or knowing more than anyone else. Rather, he suggests that a truly experienced person is someone who is undogmatic. This encourages practitioners to hold knowledge tentatively and be willing to be surprised by new ways of thinking and being.     

‘There is a Time to be Born and a Time to Die’ (Ecclesiastes 3:2a): Jewish Perspectives on Euthanasia

Reviewing the publications of prominent American rabbis who have (extensively) published on Jewish biomedical ethics, this article highlights Orthodox, Conservative and Reform opinions on a most pressing contemporary bioethical issue: euthanasia. Reviewing their opinions against the background of the halachic character of Jewish (biomedical) ethics, this article shows how from one traditional Jewish textual source diverse, even contradictory, opinions emerge through different interpretations. In this way, in the Jewish debate on euthanasia the specific methodology of Jewish (bio)ethical reasoning comes forward as well as a diversity of opinion within Judaism and its branches.     

Adolescents' perception of bullying: who is the victim? Who is the bully? What can be done to stop bullying?

The main aim of this study was to describe adolescents' perceptions and experiences of bullying: their thoughts about why children and adolescents are bullied, their ideas about why some bully others, and what they believe is important in order to stop bullying. The adolescents were asked about experiences throughout their school years. The study group was comprised of 119 high school students, with a mean age of 17.1 (SD = 1.2). Of the adolescents who reported, 39% indicated that they had been bullied at some time during their school years and 28% said that they had bullied others; 13% reported being both victims and bullies. The ages during which most students had been bullied at school were between 7 and 9 years. Bullies reported that most of the bullying took place when they were 10 to 12 years old. The most common reason as to why individuals are bullied was that they have a different appearance. The participants believe that those who bully suffer from low self-esteem. The most common response to the question "What do you think makes bullying stop?" was that the bully matures. The next most frequent response was that the victim stood up for himself/herself. Those who were not involved in bullying during their school years had a much stronger belief that victims can stand up for themselves than did the victims themselves.     

It’s not just what you know, it’s who you know: Testing a model of the relative importance of social networks to academic performance

Applying three mathematical modeling techniques, this study proposes and tests the fit of an academic performance model, and then estimates the relative importance of four performance predictors: academic ability, performance goal orientation, educational technology use, and social network density. Drawing on social network theory, findings from this study show that social network density is a statistically important and unique predictor of academic performance, suggesting that “who you know” matters in large classroom settings. However, this study also indicates that academic ability is the most dominant factor in the explanation of academic performance. Practical and theoretical implications for enhancing academic performance through social networks are discussed.

From ‘slumdog’ to humanitarian: educating orphans to save the world

The purpose of education should not only be to build content knowledge and literacy but to awaken the inherent human values within each child and encourage the translation of those values into social transformation. At the Hariharananda Balashram, we see one example of how destitute children are being provided with a moral and academic education that fits both Paulo Freire’s model of empowering the oppressed and Joseph and Efron’s emphasis on the seven worlds of moral education. The result is a group of children who not only are determined to succeed, but to use that academic and moral foundation to give back to their communities and become agents of social change.