Introduction

This is an Introduction to the special issue of Metaphilosophy entitled Philosophy as a Way of Life, giving a brief account of the genesis of the project, an overview of the topic, and a summary of the topics covered in the issue.     

Predicting the biological variability of environmental rhythms: Weak or strong anticipation for sensorimotor synchronization?

The internal processes involved in synchronizing our movements with environmental stimuli have traditionally been addressed using regular metronomic sequences. Regarding real-life environments, however, biological rhythms are known to have intrinsic variability, ubiquitously characterized as fractal long-range correlations. In our research we thus investigate to what extent the synchronization processes drawn from regular metronome paradigms can be generalized to other (biologically) variable rhythms. Participants performed synchronized finger tapping under five conditions of long-range and/or short-range correlated, randomly variable, and regular auditory sequences. Combining experimental data analysis and numerical simulation, we found that synchronizing with biologically variable rhythms involves the same internal processes as with other variable rhythms (whether totally random or comprising lawful regularities), but different from those involved with a regular metronome. This challenges both the generalizability of conclusions drawn from regular-metronome paradigms, and recent research assuming that biologically variable rhythms may trigger specific strong anticipatory processes to achieve synchronization.     

What do academics know and do about plagiarism? An interview study with Chinese university teachers of English

Previous research on plagiarism has increased awareness and knowledge of the various aspects of this issue, such as contributing factors to plagiarism, students’ and teachers’ perceptions of plagiarism, and institutional policies and regulations on plagiarism. Yet much of this research, especially on the latter two aspects, has been conducted in Anglo-American contexts or English-as-a-second-language (ESL) settings (where English is an official or important language in the larger societal context), while the diversity of English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) contexts (where English as a foreign language is largely used only in the language classroom) remains relatively under-researched. Of those studies that did focus on EFL contexts, the majority were based on survey data that were limited in the depth of information collected. To address this relative lack of in-depth understanding of how plagiarism is understood and acted against in EFL contexts, this paper reports on an interview study with 13 EFL teachers from 12 universities in mainland China. The study focused on the teachers’ knowledge and attitudes concerning plagiarism, plagiarism-related pedagogical practices, as well as perceived stances and expectations of their institutions in plagiarism prevention. Its findings contribute to the current knowledge base of EFL academics’ views and practices regarding plagiarism, add to our understanding of EFL teachers’ experiences concerning plagiarism in specific educational settings, and inform institutions’ efforts to develop and improve strategies and policies for preventing plagiarism.     

The strings on David’s Harp: religious ritual as a container for spirituality

ABSTRACT

Religion and spirituality have often been defined over against each other. The spontaneous, emotional and experiential nature of the spirit has been seen as preferential to the structured, fixed, and predictable nature of religious ritual. Religion education for children has moved away from the performance of ritual behaviour toward creating an environment to nurture the innate spiritual nature of children. This paper questions whether the pendulum has swung too far, neglecting rituals that have sustained religious and communal life for generations, and considers ways of reimagining traditional ritual as a way to encounter the spirit and build community.     

Developmental Process of Japanese Psychotherapists Based on Their Life Histories

We identified the mastery processes of experienced psychotherapists by drawing their life histories, which indicated principles for guiding the development of young psychotherapists. Participants were psychotherapists with over 30 years of experience (N = 7, six men and one woman, mean age = 71.86 years). The data were analyzed using the trajectory equifinality model (TEM). The results indicated that a psychotherapist might continue to practice even while experiencing conflicts and might eventually integrate and establish their unique therapeutic approach into their work. Essential factors in facilitating the motivation to be a psychotherapist include: hope; good friends, coworkers, and supervisors; experience with many cases; learning from a global perspective; and interest in human beings. Moreover, after the mid-career, adverse events in participants' private lives had positive effects on their development as experts. It was concluded that the development of a psychotherapist is a process of growth as a person. This study indicated factors necessary to continue as a psychotherapist while facing conflicts, which is considered useful for educating future Japanese psychotherapists.     

Crossing Borders: Multicultural Counseling With Puerto Rican Migrant Women

Puerto Rican migrant women require cultural‐specific counseling. The intersection of ethnicity, gender, culture, and sociopolitical contexts affects Puerto Rican migrant women's psychological coping and identity development. A psychology of place lens is used to discuss how numerous Puerto Rican migrant women nurture their identity development from borderlands (transfronterizas ) to transboricuas (trans–Puerto Rican). A case vignette illustrates the use of a multicultural counseling approach to address Puerto Rican migrant women's psychological needs. Las mujeres puertorriqueñas emigrantes requieren servicios de consejería culturalmente específicos. La intersección de etnicidad, sexo, cultura y contextos sociopolíticos afecta a la capacidad de afrontamiento y el desarrollo de la identidad de las mujeres puertorriqueñas emigrantes. Se usa el enfoque de la psicología de lugar para discutir cómo muchas mujeres puertorriqueñas emigrantes cultivan el desarrollo de su identidad de transfronterizas a transboricuas. Se usa la viñeta de un caso para ilustrar el uso de una aproximación multicultural a la consejería para tratar las necesidades psicológicas de las mujeres puertorriqueñas emigrantes.     

Mental health – a normal state?

ABSTRACT

How can we conceptualize mental health; what is the relation between mental health and normality; and what has psychoanalysis to say about these questions? After a short resume of the views concerning normality and melancholia in the last centuries, the author turns to Freud and Bion. For Freud, mental health at best seems to be a relatively mild neurotic state, and perfect mental health is an unattainable ideal. Bion underlines the dynamic nature of the concept; mental health comprehended as a process. Problems connected to the individual’s subjective view of his or her mental health are considered, and some consequences that the questions under discussion have for psychoanalytic treatment are discussed. The author concludes with a reflection on the complex relation between mental health and normality.