Philosophical Beliefs Research Articles

The concept of God as a Contemplative: cosmological, anthropological, and ethical-soteriological aspects

In this publication, the authors offer an experience in the theoretical construction of a cosmological concept based on the idea of God as a Contemplative. The specifics of this model are revealed in comparison with similar schemes from the history of philosophy. The author's approach is consistent with the principles of the New Testament revelation, as well as modern scientific data. The article shows a way to overcome the typical problems of classical cosmogonic concepts for European philosophy, starting from Antiquity. The article presents the problems of typical solutions to the cosmological question in European philosophy and offers the experience of a consistent model of the coexistence of God as the Absolute and the worlds generated by him, including material ones similar to the observable universe, based on the category of "contemplation". This category is briefly considered by the authors in a historical and theological context, then a general description of the new theological and cosmological model is given. The authors reveal the paradigmatic limitations of the philosophical understanding of God, focusing on the need to take into account the influence of natural philosophical beliefs of a particular era, which are reflected in religious doctrines (along with the personal experience of a particular thinker). In the second half of the article, specific conclusions from the proposed theological and philosophical concept are indicated: 1) cosmological conclusions (divine ideas and the way they are implemented in the world; the question of theodicy; understanding divine Providence); 2) anthropological (human phenomenon; changing approach to human rationality; characterization of God's will in relation to individual freedom); 3) ethical-soteriological (communion with God, divine revelation and salvation; comprehension of certain ethical categories within the framework of a new concept; ontological meaning of heaven and hell). The presented philosophical and religious concept of the "Contemplative God" represents a fundamentally new direction within the framework of religious and philosophical thought. This model is distinguished by its uniqueness and internal logical consistency, being free from the limitations and disadvantages inherent in previous philosophical systems. Its theoretical significance and originality can arouse wide interest in the scientific and philosophical community, opening up new perspectives for research in this field.

The Periodic Table of the World's Religious and Philosophical Traditions: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?

ABSTRACTThis paper introduces the reader to the Periodic Table of the World's Religious and Philosophical Traditions (PTWRPT). It summarizes its background history, the conceptual thinking that underlies it, and explains why and how it was created. Using the same thinking that underlies Mendeleyev's Periodic Table of the Elements, it sets out in clear form all the world's different categories of religious and philosophical beliefs, showing the relationships and connections that exist between them. Each box of the table, as in Mendeleyev's table, gives the reader at a glance information about the faith tradition in question: when it was invented, how many people subscribe to that faith at the present, how many people in the whole of history up to now have followed this tradition, and which of the overall 16 categories of world faiths it belongs to. The table provides a basic bedrock of solid factual information for students to go on and explore the inner details of these complex traditions. Most importantly, it gives students the realization that the world's faiths, and our religious and philosophical traditions are far more complex and interesting than hitherto simplistic presentations have made out and that the subject deserves to be treated with as much seriousness as, say, chemistry, physics, or mathematics. The paper poses important philosophical questions about the metaphysical unity of ideas possibly underlying all these traditions and how the table can be of great value to frontline teachers and academics trying to get across the complexity of religious studies and philosophy to young minds.

The Grainger Test Challenged? Thomas v Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

ABSTRACT This note analyses the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) (Sheldon J) of Thomas v Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Brett. The central message of the case is that English Nationalism with an anti-Islamic, anti-immigrant tinge does not deserve legal protection as a philosophical belief under s.10 Equality Act 2010. Thomas raises an interesting point of principle regarding the question of whether the fifth limb of the Grainger v Nicholson test—namely whether philosophical beliefs are worthy of respect in a democratic society, compatible with human dignity or are in conflict with the fundamental rights of others (fifth limb)—should be expanded to exclude from protection beliefs espousing intolerance or discrimination, and provides helpful clarity on how tribunals may take into account material beyond what is pleaded by the claimant in order to ascertain what the true nature of a purported philosophical belief may be. The note concludes that the former point is a move which should be resisted given the importance of rights under Articles 9 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and also critiques the reasoning of the Employment Appeal Tribunal in countenancing this possibility. It also concludes that the latter point will be of particular interest to practitioners who plead these sort of cases before the tribunals and predicts respondents to be bolder in their use of extraneous material to interrogate the nature of a claimant’s beliefs beyond what is pleaded or contained in their witness statements. The note also concludes that tribunals can also have more confidence, in light of Thomas, in relying on such material in their judgments without excessive caution that they have blurred the lines of overreliance on manifestations of beliefs as opposed to focusing on the beliefs themselves.

The Motif of Death in Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Short Poems

In the early 19th century poetic tradition, there was a great emphasis on the poet as the creative genius, and subjectivity was cherished more than ever. As a poet of the Romantic Era, Percy Bysshe Shelley conveyed his emotions, philosophical beliefs, and religious convictions, as well as his fears and motivations, through his literary works. Death was an omnipresent theme in Shelley’s life, and he used poetry as a means to express his thoughts and feelings about it. The passing of those close to him, such as his wife Harriet and children Clara and William, confronted him with his own mortality. He responded to the death of his beloved ones by composing poems. In addition to expressing his grief over these losses, he also voiced the decrease of his life instincts and his death wish. This paper will examine Shelley’s short poems (“Death”, “On Death”, “To William Shelley”, “Stanzas Written in Dejection, near Naples” “Ode to the West Wind,” “To Night,” and “O world! O life! O time!”) through the lens of Sigmund Freud’s concepts of mourning and melancholy, as well as death wish. The chosen autobiographical poems reveal Shelley’s mourning process and his journey towards accepting death, showcasing his death drive, and reflecting his genuine emotions as well as his Neoplatonic philosophy.

Exploitation and Isolation in W.H. Auden’s The Age of Anxiety: An Existentialist Perspective

Existentialism is a philosophical belief that explores the issues of existence and questions on the identities. European ideological concern on existentialism was strongly brought into debate from 1930s to the late 90s. It discusses the views of two distinct groups of the philosophers: the theists, who believe in the existence of God first, and the atheists, who reject this view and propose the existence of humans first. The objective of this paper is to study about individual feelings, fears, and ideas related to socio-economic downfall and the structural loss of social prestige and position. It also deals with exploitation, isolation, domination, deprivation and it raises the questions on identity issues. Poverty, sexual exploitation, injustice and insecurity are the weapons of identity politics to seek the values of ‘I’ in existentialism. This study, applies Jean-Paul Sartre, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Soren Kierkegaard, Martin Buber, Gabriel Marcel and Karl Jaspers’ ideas explored in existentialist philosophy as methodological tools to analyze the experiences of Malin, Quant, Emble, and Rosetta in Auden’s ‘The Age of Anxiety.’

Axiological paradigm in the Russian picture of the world (based on F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel "The Brothers Karamazov")

The article defines the concept of "axiological paradigm" in its broad and narrow senses. Additionally, it considers axiological paradigm types, describes units with value-expressed content belonging to different levels. The characterisation of the anthropocentric paradigm of the conceptual field of the axiological paradigm is formed on the basis of the identified genetic semes and sense-making principles. They reflect the types of human relationships with reality and unreality and determine the boundaries of the core and peripheral zones of the field. Axiological meanings are conveyed primarily by verbs, nouns, and adjectives since these categories are the main expressors of the internal properties and semantic features of a particular conceptual field. Qualitative-quantitative differences in meanings are reflected both in the axiological paradigm and in the literary text: the creation of the lexical semantic field "Value", the use of linguistic units characterising material, intellectual, and spiritual values. The concepts "Faith", "Family", "Honour" dominate the linguo-cognitive axiological paradigm. They reveal the relationship between language, thinking, and communication. In the Russian picture of the world, the dominating moral and spiritual values not only convey the attitude towards God, but also become a qualitative characteristic of man. The analysis of the axiological paradigm in the Russian world picture is performed using the text of F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel "The Brothers Karamazov". The narrator devotes his careful attention to the establishment of moral values, the religious and philosophical beliefs of the characters in the novel, as well as their relationships and conflicts which are based on these values.

Exploring the Philosophical Assumptions in Social Education Research

Educational research enquiries differ based on philosophical beliefs and assumptions regarding researchers’ explicitly stated views. This paper critically explores the most dominant philosophical stances in social research sciences, namely positivism, interpretivism and pragmatism. It begins with an overview of the role of the aforementioned beliefs and assumptions in shaping research. It then delves into the epistemology, ontology and value views underlying each philosophical belief to examine its strengths and weaknesses. This discussion might be beneficial for researchers who encounter problems in determining designs for their research.

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF KEY PHILOSOPHICAL, METHODOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL RESEARCH ISSUES IN RELATION TO TEACHER’S PERCEPTION ON THE EFFECT OF ASSESSMENT ON COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THREE TO FIVE YEARS CHILDREN IN ENGLAND

The study critically analysed key philosophical, methodological, and ethical research issues related to teachers' perceptions of the effect of assessment on the cognitive development of three to five years of children in England. The study revealed philosophical issues such as tensions between positivist and interpretivist paradigms in understanding assessment’s impact and debates around the nature of childhood, learning, and development. Methodological issues such as challenges in measuring cognitive development in young children chosen methods’ potential impact on finding and interpretation. Ethical issues include concerns about labelling, stigma, and potential long-term consequences. Balancing accountability with development sensitivity and equity. The findings showed that teachers’ perceptions are influenced by philosophical beliefs, methodological approaches and ethical consideration.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0703/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Why will China and Russia not form an alliance? The balance of beliefs in peacetime

Abstract The ongoing war in Ukraine has thrust China–Russia relations into the global spotlight, with both nations asserting their stance against forming a military alliance. This article introduces a novel ‘balance-of-beliefs’ framework, positing that the foundation of peacetime alliances lies in leaders' shared beliefs. Using operational code analysis, this study quantifies the philosophical and instrumental beliefs of leaders from the United States (Barack Obama), Australia (Tony Abbott), China (Xi Jinping) and Russia (Vladimir Putin) between 2013 and 2015, and includes additional comparison between Putin and Xi between 2016 and 2022. This research examines the essential role of aligned world-views on ‘the nature of the political universe’ (which we label a P-1 belief) and ‘the strategic approach to achieving political objectives’ (an I-1 belief). The findings reveal that such congruence is crucial for fostering like-minded alliances in peacetime, as evidenced by the US–Australia alliance. In contrast, the divergent P-1 beliefs of Xi and Putin hinder a Sino-Russian military alliance; yet, their aligned I-1 beliefs facilitate pragmatic cooperation on specific issues. This analysis underscores the need for US and European policy-makers to devise nuanced strategies in response to the evolving dynamics of a rising China and a resurgent Russia.

Al-Bīrūnī on Greek and Indian Philosophy: Divine Action and Reincarnation

Abstract In his monumental work on Indian culture and society, al-Bīrūnī (d. around 1048 AD) sets out a multifaceted program. He aims at gathering various Indian religious, philosophical, and scientific beliefs for his Muslim audience, and in a second step compares this material to Greek philosophy and even Islamic doctrines. In this paper, we discuss al-Bīrūnī’s attitude towards his sources and his methodology in distinguishing beliefs held by the masses throughout the various religious traditions from beliefs that are rather established on firmer grounds, namely by way of a rational examination. We approach such questions by two case studies, on divine action and reincarnation.

Through the Lens of Merleau-Ponty

This article discusses how Merleau-Ponty’s existential phenomenology may serve as the lens and theoretical frame in a qualitative research study of the lived experience of patients, their families, and nurses during critical illness in the intensive care unit. Merleau-Ponty's unique existential concepts of corporeality, spatiality, temporality, and relationality provide a useful foundation and serve as a unifying philosophy of science in understanding this nursing phenomenon that is grounded in philosophical beliefs about humans, and the holistic nature of professional nursing that is not amenable to experimental investigative research methods. The research sheds light on the patients, families, and nurses’ embodied temporal, spatial, and relational horizons, and reveals a new conception of critical illness that will provide caregivers with knowledge about effective humanistic, and more holistic care, that opens new ways for coping amongst patients and their families, as well as caregiving possibilities for the nurses. Findings from this qualitative inquiry can help contribute knowledge about family engagement that would impact the provision of care in the intensive care unit, thus improving patient, family, and organizational outcomes.

No More the Nice Guy: Coping with Abusive Supervision through Service Sabotage Behaviours

‘Atithi Devo Bhav’, implying that guests must be treated as Gods, is the philosophical belief of Indian society indicating the importance of treating the customers with utmost respect and courtesy. The current study examines service sabotage behaviours by utilizing time-lagged method to collect data in three waves from 332 employees from Indian hotel industry. The study highlights the effects of abusive supervision on the employees who perceive disrespect, public humiliation or rude supervisory behaviours towards them as breach of psychological contract, and they retaliate by displaying deviant workplace behaviour such as service sabotage. The unique proposition of the research is to investigate the sequential mediating role of psychological contract violation and retaliation intention on the relationship between abusive supervision and service sabotage. The research utilizes psychological contract theory and frustration–aggression theory to draw logical inferences from the findings. Findings indicate that when employees perceive mistreatment or injustice, they experience psychological contract violation that instigates an urge to retaliate against the unfair treatment by engaging in negative service behaviours, for example, sabotage. Therefore, the hospitality organizations must implement practices and processes to take care of any unjust, unfair or hostile behaviour at play in the organization, as the success of the industry is dependent on the service quality and frontline employees’ encounters with the customer. The study provides some interesting and useful managerial and theoretical implications.

Exploring Vaccine Hesitancy Among Parents in a Rural Pediatric Clinic System: A Statistical Study.

Vaccine hesitancy has been a growing concern in the United States, particularly in rural areas where access to healthcare services may be limited. A rural pediatric clinic system in central Louisiana serves a population with historically low childhood immunization rates. This study explored the prevalence and determinants of vaccine hesitancy among parents of pediatric patients at the organization's clinics. A qualitative survey was conducted among parents who declined vaccines for their children at the organization's clinics. The survey collected information on parents' attitudes, beliefs, decision-making processes regarding childhood vaccinations, and demographic information about the parents, including income and education levels. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes and patterns in the survey responses. Thirty out of 47 parents (response rate: 64%) completed the survey. Most respondents (n=24, 80%) expressed concerns about vaccine safety and potential side effects. Many parents (n=16, 60%) cited information from social media and alternative health sources as influencing their decision to decline vaccines. Religious and philosophical beliefs were also common reasons for vaccine refusal (n=13, 43%). Another significant theme was the lack of trust in healthcare providers and the pharmaceutical industry (n=17, 53%). No significant differences in responses were observed based on the parent's race or the child's sex. Ninety percent of participants (n=27) reported a household income of under $50,000, and 87% of participants (n=26) had a high school education or less. Vaccine hesitancy among parents in this rural pediatric population appears to be driven by concerns about vaccine safety, exposure to misinformation, religious and philosophical beliefs, and distrust in the healthcare system. Addressing these factors through targeted education, provider communication, and community engagement may be essential for improving childhood immunization rates in this vulnerable population. The findings highlight the need for culturally sensitive, evidence-based interventions to combat vaccine hesitancy in rural communities.

Do students think that objects have a true definite position?

Previous research on student thinking about experimental measurement and uncertainty has primarily focused on students’ procedural reasoning: Given some data, what should students calculate or do next? This approach, however, cannot tell us what beliefs or conceptual understanding leads to students’ procedural decisions. To explore this relationship, we first need to understand the range of students’ beliefs and conceptual understanding of measurement. In this work, we explored students’ philosophical beliefs about the existence of a true value in experimental measurement. We distributed a survey to students from 12 universities in which we presented two viewpoints on the existence of a true definite position resulting from an experiment, asking participants to indicate which view they agreed with more and asking them to explain their choice. We found that participants, both students and experts, varied in their beliefs about the existence of a true definite position and discussed a range of concepts related to quantum mechanics and the experimental process to explain their answers, regardless of whether or not they agreed with the existence of a true value. From these results, we postulate that students who exhibit similar procedural reasoning may hold widely varying philosophical views about measurement. We recommend that future work investigates this potential relationship and whether and how instruction should attend to these philosophical views in addition to students’ procedural decisions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

CCM in the choral classroom: Pedagogical practices of two high school music educators

This study aims to enrich the discourse on integrating contemporary commercial music (CCM) genres into vocal music education. Despite existing methodologies by vocal pedagogues, there is a pressing need for a formalized CCM pedagogy. Developing such a pedagogy requires understanding and possibly drawing inspiration from the pedagogical practices and philosophical beliefs of current vocal music educators teaching these styles. To delve deeper, the author conducted a qualitative case study with two suburban high school music educators proficient in CCM vocal techniques. Each participant underwent a 30- to 40-minute semi-structured interview and an observed rehearsal, and provided course materials. Analysis revealed key themes: Caroline’s motivation, teaching techniques and community response; and Matt’s musical background, motivation, beliefs, teaching practices and community response. Despite contextual differences, both shared musical backgrounds and positive community feedback. These findings offer insights for vocal music educators and teacher education programmes.

The testimony challenge against the possibility of philosophical knowledge

AbstractWe access most of our most cherished beliefs via testimony. Philosophy is no exception. We treat spoken and written philosophical testimony as evidence for philosophical claims. Nonetheless, this paper argues that philosophical testimony is unable to justify philosophical beliefs. If testimony is the only evidence we have to justify philosophical beliefs, this entails skepticism about philosophy. Call this the testimony challenge. First, the paper argues that philosophical testimony does not meet the conditions under which evidence can justify our beliefs. Second, it shows that philosophical testimony cannot provide preemptive epistemic reasons as science and mathematics do. Finally, it answers the self‐defeat objection and a set of objections aiming to block the thesis that philosophical testimony does not justify philosophical beliefs. The paper aims to rethink the role of philosophical testimony in philosophy and reinforce the skeptical worries raised by methodological and disagreement challenges.

Honouring Indigenous knowledges: planetary health (curriculum+) obligations in teacher education, sport education, health education and health and physical education

ABSTRACT This paper documents historical and contemporary evidence of the HPE field’s honouring Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing – and argues that much more needs to be done. Underpinning this is our philosophical belief that honouring Indigenous knowledges ultimately contributes to planetary health. We begin the paper with the positioning of ourselves within the context of this work. Extrapolating this, we introduce our particular contexts, to help convey the complexity of socio-historical and political influences. Following this, we document a series of events in our field of HPE that convey working towards honouring Indigenous knowledges and illustrate examples of Indigenous ways in educational institutions. The final section introduces the other papers of this special issue. The issue captures a moment in time where practices associated with racism, specifically towards First Peoples, at systemic, institutional, embodied and epistemic levels, are being challenged and countered, yet still require further dismantling. We regard the movement towards obligations of not just acknowledging, but also engaging with and for First Peoples, as still not strong enough to claim our field is inclusive or honouring. Such movements signal important opportunities not just for HPE curricula, but also for the pedagogies, topics, partnerships and research for planetary health more widely.

Vaccine Refusal and Hesitancy among Iranians Participated in the National COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Survey: A Qualitative Study.

Success in COVID-19 vaccination depends on understanding why people refuse or hesitate to take the vaccine. This study aims to explore vaccine refusal and hesitancy among Iranians who participated in the national COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy survey. A qualitative content analysis approach was used. Twenty-six participants were selected by purposive sampling. In-depth, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted during the year 2022. A directed content analysis approach was used for analyzing the data by extracting the codes, subcategories, and categories. Four major categories and their respective subcategories related to refusal and/ or hesitancy against COVID-19 vaccination emerged: "lack of confidence" (distrust in policymakers and pharmaceutical companies, distrust in national media, belief in conspiracy theory, and lack of confidence in the vaccine's safety and effectiveness), "complacency" (Fatalism and philosophical beliefs, low perceived risk, and belief in the adequacy of the precautionary principles), "constrains" (personal and psychological barriers), and "coercion" (coercion by relatives and unsteady imposed mandatory vaccination by the government). Distrust, fatalism, low perceived risk, and overconfidence in traditional Persian medicine were important barriers to COVID-19 vaccine acceptability needing a variety of measures for improving COVID-19 vaccine uptake, including enhancing public trust in government and policymakers, clarifying vaccine safety and effectiveness, dealing with religious fatalism, and regulating anti-science messages on social media.

Factors that affect social workers' job satisfaction, stress and burnout

There has been a growing focus in academic research on the strain and exhaustion that are experienced by those who work in the medical field.Because of considerable developments in administration, society, and politics, the duties and responsibilities that employees are expected to fulfill have undergone significant transformations in recent years. The idea that predominates among academics is that social work is an extremely difficult line of work. This line of work is characterized by tensions between advocating for clients and meeting the needs of the agency, which acts as a primary source of stress for social workers. The investigation of previous work in the field of social work for the present study was directed by two key questions: Is it true that social workers are subjected to a greater amount of stress than other medical professionals? What factors contribute to social workers experiencing high levels of stress and weariness, and how may these factors be mitigated? The vast majority of the available research primarily relied on anecdotal evidence or compared the levels of stress experienced by social workers to the levels of stress experienced by the general population. This was done rather than doing an analysis comparing the levels of stress experienced by social workers and professionals in sectors that are comparable. It has been noted, on the basis of existing empirical data, that social workers have a higher susceptibility to stress and exhaustion when compared to their counterparts in other professional fields. This is because social workers deal with a greater variety of people and situations. The investigation of various variables, including the organizational framework of the work environment and the inherent tension that exists between job requirements and philosophical beliefs, has allowed for the establishment of a correlation between stress and fatigue within the social work profession. This association has been shown to be causal. It was discovered that there is evidence to support the preventative effects of cooperation and monitoring.

Factor Analysis of Stunting Toddler Feeding Patterns using Transcultural Nursing Approach

Background: In 2022, prevalence of stunting in Indonesia reach 21.6%. The direct causes of stunting was nutritional intake. The problem of nutritional intake was related to the cultural practices of Indonesian, so this research used a transcultural nursing. Objectives: This study aimed to identify factors influencing feeding patterns in stunting children based on transcultural nursing. Methods: Cluster sampling was used for this cross-sectional with 145 mother-child pairs. The independent variables were maternal education, economics, regulations and policies, cultural values and lifestyle, social and family support, religiosity and philosophy and technology. The dependent variable was feeding pattern. The instrument used was a questionnaire. Spearman Rho (p-value=0.05) was used to analyze the relationship between variables. Results: Economic factors (p=0.031; r=0.250), government policies and norms (p=0.034; r=0.180), cultural and lifestyle values (p=0.001; r=0.540), social support and family (p=0.000; r=0.270), religious and philosophical beliefs (p=0.000; r=0.321), and technological developments (p=0.002; r=0.210) were associated with feeding pattern, no correlation between feeding pattern and mother’s education (p=0.689). Conclusions: Economy, regulation and policy, cultural value and lifestyle, religiosity and philosophy, social support and family, and technology associated stunting child's feeding pattern. Cultural beliefs and lifestyle were the most important factors for stunting children's feeding patterns so it is envisaged that paramedics continue to expand their preventive and persuasive efforts by providing health consultations to moms and families.