Existential Consequences Research Articles

Los principios lógicos y ontológicos del concepto currículo. Una relación epistemológica

El objetivo central de la presente investigación consistió en analizar la relación epistemológica que se puede establecer entre los principios lógicos y ontológicos del concepto currículo. Se partió del supuesto de que dichos principios se encuentran relacionados epistemológicamente en las diferentes construcciones de este término, llevadas a cabo por los principales estudiosos del tema y, a causa de esto, las conceptualizaciones sobre el mismo difieren en significados, sentidos y consecuencias existenciales.
 Un segundo supuesto, que deriva del anterior, consistió en estimar que los principios ontológicos se refieren al ser y los lógicos, a las razones en que se apoyan los raciocinios sobre el ser. A ello se debió que, en un primer y segundo momentos, se analizaron los principios lógicos y ontológicos de la ciencia —respectivamente— para, finalmente, intentar relacionarlos entre ellos y con las diferentes concepciones de currículo desde sus respectivas circunstancias de modo, tiempo y lugar.
 
 Los hallazgos revelan la existencia de una relación o correspondencia entre los principios lógicos y ontológicos de la ciencia y entre las necesidades existenciales del ser humano, las facultades con las que este pretende resolver los problemas del conocimiento y los supuestos filosóficos en los que, necesariamente, se ubica el concepto aquí en cuestión.
 Lo anterior permite concluir —entre otras cosas— que la construcción del término currículo es un problema político sin solución definitiva debido a que depende de circunstancias (emociones, pasiones y sentimientos del ser humano; sus necesidades y deseos) de modo, tiempo y lugar que influyen en la voluntad y las intenciones del sujeto cognoscente poniendo en acción sus facultades (su razón y/o sus sentidos) que le posibilitan para actuar y construirse un “currículo” acorde a sus necesidades existenciales, desde determinados supuestos relacionados con las mismas.

Cancer patients’ interest in participating in cancer rehabilitation

Introduction: Rehabilitation for cancer patients aims at preventing and reducing the physical, mental, social and existential consequences of a cancer disease and its treatment. The aim of this study is to describe the patients’ self-perceived interest in participating in cancer rehabilitation (CR).Material and methods: A total of 1179 cancer patients, diagnosed with 28 different cancer diagnoses, from November 2015 to October 2016, were identified via the national cancer quality registers. A questionnaire was developed for the purpose of this study, the Cancer Rehabilitation Interest. The questionnaire comprises 16 different rehabilitation activities. This study describes what activities the patients are interested to participate in.Results: The response rate was 62% and the final sample comprised 728 patients. The rehabilitation activities wanted by the cancer patients were Psychoeducational support group together with others with the same cancer diagnosis, Open lectures on cancer, Individual weight training with a physiotherapist and Personal support from a social worker. Most interested in cancer rehabilitation were women, younger patients, university educated patients and those who had received their diagnosis ≥12 months prior. Patients with a mandatory educational level had the lowest interest in all suggested activities compared with those having medium or high education.Conclusions: The interest of cancer rehabilitation of all approached patients in this study were 21%. Most interested were women, young patients, university educated and those who received their diagnosis ≥12 months earlier. About 30% of the participating cancer patients reported an interest of information and supportive groups, physical training and support from a hospital social worker. Patients with low level of education reported a low interest in CR. There are limitations in rehabilitation accessibility and that might affect a person’s motivation to participate in this study.

Negativity and Wisdom as Part of Philosophy Education

Negativity is understood here as the theoretical insight into the limits of knowledge as well as the practical, even existential consequences of this insight. The tradition of philosophical wisdom reflects negativity in this sense since antiquity. The concepts of negativity in Nietzsche, Hegel, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger are also reconstructed in the article as part of this tradition. The text tries to make these philosophies accessible to philosophy education. The starting point here is the question about a way of life that has dissociated itself from ideological certainties.

ИСПЫТАНИЕ ЗНАНИЕМ: ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ КАК ФОРМИРОВАНИЕ СУБЪЕКТА ПОЗНАНИЯ

The article considers the cognitive dimension of education as testing space that forms the horizons of the reality perception and the criteria of truth. The author emphasizes that the process of forming cognition subject has existential consequences, knowledge acquisition acts as acquisition of self-being. The paper notes dangerous trends in modern education transformations associated with the subject’s infantilization, creation of illusory ideas about his/her cognitive status.

Lived experiences of surviving in-hospital cardiac arrest.

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors suffer from psychological distress and cognitive impairments. They experience existential insecurity and vulnerability and are striving to return to a life in which well-being and the meaning of life have partly changed. However, research highlighting the experiences of in-hospital cardiac arrest survivors is lacking. This means that evidence for postresuscitation care has largely been extrapolated from studies on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors, without considering potential group differences. Studies investigating survivors' experiences of an in-hospital cardiac arrest are therefore needed. To illuminate meanings of people's lived experiences of surviving an in-hospital cardiac arrest. An explorative, phenomenological hermeneutic method to illuminate meanings of lived experiences. Participants were identified through the Swedish national register of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and recruited from two hospitals. A purposive sample of eight participants, 53-99 years old, who survived an in-hospital cardiac arrest 1-3 years earlier, was interviewed. The survivors were striving to live in everyday life and striving for security. The struggle to reach a new identity meant an existence between restlessness and a peace of mind, searching for emotional well-being and bodily abilities. The search for existential wholeness meant a quest for understanding and explanation of the fragmented cardiac arrest event and its existential consequences. The transition from hospital to home meant a transition from care and protection to uncertainty and vulnerability with feelings of abandonment, which called for a search for security and belonging, away from isolation and loneliness. Surviving an in-hospital cardiac arrest can be further understood by means of the concept of hospital-to-home transition. Following hospital discharge, patients felt vulnerable and abandoned when pending between denial and acceptance of the 'new' life. Hence, the healthcare system should play a significant role when it comes to facilitate cardiac arrest survivors' security during hospital-to-home transition.

Lived experiences of surviving in-hospital cardiac arrest

Background Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors suffer from psychological distress and cognitive impairments. They experience existential insecurity and vulnerability and are striving to return to a life in which well-being and the meaning of life have partly changed. However, research highlighting the experiences of in-hospital cardiac arrest survivors is lacking. This means that evidence for postresuscitation care has largely been extrapolated from studies on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors, without considering potential group differences. Studies investigating survivors' experiences of an in-hospital cardiac arrest are therefore needed. Aim To illuminate meanings of people's lived experiences of surviving an in-hospital cardiac arrest. Design An explorative, phenomenological hermeneutic method to illuminate meanings of lived experiences. Method Participants were identified through the Swedish national register of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and recruited from two hospitals. A purposive sample of eight participants, 53-99 years old, who survived an in-hospital cardiac arrest 1-3 years earlier, was interviewed. Findings The survivors were striving to live in everyday life and striving for security. The struggle to reach a new identity meant an existence between restlessness and a peace of mind, searching for emotional well-being and bodily abilities. The search for existential wholeness meant a quest for understanding and explanation of the fragmented cardiac arrest event and its existential consequences. The transition from hospital to home meant a transition from care and protection to uncertainty and vulnerability with feelings of abandonment, which called for a search for security and belonging, away from isolation and loneliness. Conclusion Surviving an in-hospital cardiac arrest can be further understood by means of the concept of hospital-to-home transition. Following hospital discharge, patients felt vulnerable and abandoned when pending between denial and acceptance of the 'new' life. Hence, the healthcare system should play a significant role when it comes to facilitate cardiac arrest survivors' security during hospital-to-home transition.

Living with painful endometriosis – A struggle for coherence. A qualitative study

ObjectivesThe study sought to examine women’s experience of painful endometriosis including long-term aspects, social consequences, impact of treatment and development of own coping strategies. Study designThis qualitative study was based on 16 individual interviews analyzed according to grounded theory. The thirteen women (age 24–48) were recruited at a pain clinic in Stockholm, Sweden. ResultsA theory illustrating women’s experience of living with painful endometriosis was developed with three categories and one core category. Bidirectional interactions between the categories and with the core category were found. Endometriosis influenced the women’s sensations, feelings and reactions, creating a sense of difference from other women (category: Woman with painful endometriosis). The condition led to either helpful or harmful encounters with health care and significant others (category: Dependence). It also had overall physical, social and existential consequences (category: A ruined life). To cope, the women had to struggle for coherence by searching for understanding, coping and meaning (core category: Living with painful endometriosis). ConclusionsLiving with severe painful endometriosis signified a struggle for coherence. The women needed to deal with feelings of difference, dependence and a ruined life and thus struggled for understanding, coping and meaning. Health-care providers should promote the struggle for coherence by explaining the feeling of difference, minimizing dependence and supporting the process of disease-related grief.

Governing Boring Apocalypses: A new typology of existential vulnerabilities and exposures for existential risk research

In recent years, the study of existential risks has explored a range of natural and man-made catastrophes, from supervolcano eruption to nuclear war, and from global pandemics to potential risks from misaligned AI. These risks share the prospect of causing outright human extinction were they to occur. In this approach, such identified existential risks are frequently characterised by relatively singular origin events and concrete pathways of harm which directly jeopardise the survival of humanity, or undercut its potential for long-term technological progress. While this approach aptly identifies the most cataclysmic fates which may befall humanity, we argue that catastrophic ‘existential outcomes’ may likely arise from a broader range of sources and societal vulnerabilities, and through the complex interactions of disparate social, cultural, and natural processes—many of which, taken in isolation, might not be seen to merit attention as a global catastrophic, let alone existential, risk.This article argues that an emphasis on mitigating the hazards (discrete causes) of existential risks is an unnecessarily narrow framing of the challenge facing humanity, one which risks prematurely curtailing the spectrum of policy responses considered. Instead, it argues existential risks constitute but a subset in a broader set of challenges which could directly or indirectly contribute to existential consequences for humanity. To illustrate, we introduce and examine a set of existential risks that often fall outside the scope of, or remain understudied within, the field. By focusing on vulnerability and exposure rather than existential hazards, we develop a new taxonomy which captures factors contributing to these existential risks. Latent structural vulnerabilities in our technological systems and in our societal arrangements may increase our susceptibility to existential hazards. Finally, different types of exposure of our society or its natural base determine if or how a given hazard can interface with pre-existing vulnerabilities, to trigger emergent existential risks.We argue that far from being peripheral footnotes to their more direct and immediately terminal counterparts, these “Boring Apocalypses” may well prove to be the more endemic and problematic, dragging down and undercutting short-term successes in mitigating more spectacular risks. If the cardinal concern is humanity’s continued survival and prosperity, then focussing academic and public advocacy efforts on reducing direct existential hazards may have the paradoxical potential of exacerbating humanity’s indirect susceptibility to such outcomes. Adopting law and policy perspectives allow us to foreground societal dimensions that complement and reinforce the discourse on existential risks.

Narratives In|With and Beyond Borders: Constraints and Potentialities of Biographical Research with Refugees

Biographical research among refugees brings to the fore the need to analyze the texts and contexts of narratives as scenes of testimonial. The legal, sociological, and existential consequences of e...

The tragedy of self in digitised popular culture: the existential consequences of digital fame on YouTube

Digital data is constitutive of many forms of popular culture and user engagement. How data feeds back and is integrated into practice is of critical importance when it comes to analysing the place of the ‘self’ in contemporary culture. This article provides an account of video-blogging on YouTube. It takes as its case study three UK ‘YouTube Celebrities’ – Charlie McDonnell, Chris Kendall and Benjamin Cook – and focuses upon three vlogs which all express disquiet with their celebrity. This unease is articulated in relation to the digital consummation of self YouTube provides its users. Through a textual and performance analysis the article explores the cultural heritage of the vlog in what Charles Taylor calls western culture’s ‘expressive turn’. It argues that what a digitised popular culture gives us is a novel space to rework longstanding cultural ideals around the self, individuality and self-expression.

Kierkegaard as Socratic Street Preacher?: Reimagining the Dialectic of Direct and Indirect Communication for Christian Proclamation

Is it possible to believe that the implications of the Christian Gospel are of such a kind that it cannot be communicated directly, and that the implications of the Christian Gospel are of such a kind that it ought to be preached on the street? Whether such a view is indeed “possible” did not bother the great paradoxical thinker, Søren Kierkegaard, who appeared to hold it. Indeed, one of the most enduring elements of Kierkegaard's theological legacy is his rigorously dialectical approach to Christian communication. For the reader of Kierkegaard, comprehending his (in)direct communication is typically both a frustrating and inspirational affair. On the one hand, Kierkegaard believed that the Gospel—precisely because of its unique existential consequences—cannot be preached directly; and on the other hand, he believed in the impassioned proclamation of this very same Gospel for the very same reasons. Traveling through his enigmatic authorship, one finds both of these aspects side by side, back to front, or sometimes one on top of the other. It is well noted that although Kierkegaard displays different stages of emphasis, he never totally relinquishes the importance of either method. It is the question of this article to re-engage this dialectical quandary, and to see how the paradoxical juxtaposition might prove both directly and indirectly instructive to a theology of Christian proclamation.

Experiences and explanations of mental ill health in a group of devout Christians from the ethnic majority population in secular Sweden: a qualitative study

ObjectiveTo explore existential meaning-making in an ethnic-majority subgroup with mental ill health and to increase knowledge about the importance of gaining access to such information in mental healthcare.DesignQualitative study using...

The Discovery of Incorporeality and the Supernatural in Middle Platonism and its Existential Consequences

The most important and enduring input of Middle Platonism is the way it unveiled the fascinating depths of human nature in its supernatural dimension, and its greatest secrets, including the most important and most sacred mystery of human love, which is the initiation into divinity itself. The discovery of the supernatural dimension of the human nature enforced a change from materialistic life preferences to spiritual ones — it was the consequence of accepting the supernatural aspects of human existence, but also, above all, it revealed its fascinating and mysterious depth in which divinity itself is both hidden and somehow exposed (although only to those who are initiated). Middle Platonic philosophers returned to Platonic postulates: “follow God” and “imitate to God,” which replaced the Stoic “live in accordance with nature” and “follow nature.” In the eyes of the Platonics, the new direction of human ethical development was to be found in imitating the transcendent and incorporeal divinity.

Anabaptist Sixteenth-Century Baptism as Exponent of Christian Spirituality in a Time of Cultural, Social, and Political Breaches

The Reformation was the religious representative of an encompassing breach in European history. In this transition Anabaptism combats infant baptism as being a symbol of the social-religious unity of the corpus christianum that was passing by. Hence it introduces believer’s baptism as being a major symbol of a new epoch, of which persecution by church and state was the sad and existential consequence. Baptism of itself pertains to a sacrament of transition from old to new, achieved by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Medicalization of Childhood: Sociocultural Genealogy

The article reconstructs sociocultural genealogy of the process of childhood medicalization. The author reveals a social context that causes the establishment of medical regulation of various phenomena of a child’s existence as a norm in the contemporary European culture; some global anthropological effects of the regulation are demonstrated. Reconstructing the origin of childhood medicalization from the culture of charity institutions, the author determines interrelations between the modern project of children’s health protection and the process of control of children’s existence’s marginal phenomena and defines some existential consequences of the typical for the present medico-technological identity of childhood.

Auswirkungen der anhaltenden Niedrigzinsen auf das Versicherungswesen

Abstract Helmut Gründl discusses in his paper the effects of the present low interest rate environment on the German life insurance industry. By referring to a recent study of the “International Center for Insurance Regulation”, he assesses insolvency probabilities for life insurers with different capital endowments under different interest rate scenarios. Based on that, he discusses measures of insurance regulation that try to cope with the imminent problems of the life insurance industry. Finally, he has a look at product developments and investment strategies of life insurers in the presence of low interest rates. Hereby, he argues, that life insurance products with lower investment guarantees that are granted for a shorter period of time are regarded as the best remedy to avoid low interest rate problems in the future. Such product development also allows for a more risky investment policy of life insurers that can make life and annuity products more attractive. Rolf Ketzler und Peter Schwark explicate that the very accommodative monetary policy of the ECB and the related extremely low interest rates are involved with major challenges for the German insurance sector, in particular for life insurers. As long-term investors, insurers are not only affected in their capital investment strategy, but also by different households’ retirement saving patterns in response to the low interest rate environment. Several significant steps have already been taken in order to ensure the long-term viability of life insurance. These include changes in the product portfolio as well as new approaches in the investment strategy. In addition, new regulatory requirements have been established to strengthen the risk bearing capacity of life insurers. Given the substantial risks of low interest rates, from an economic point of view the question concerning an appropriate exit from the low interest rate environment needs more attention in the public debate. They argue that in this context, further progress regarding the economic reform policies in the euro zone is still necessary as a condition for the ECB to normalize its monetary policy as soon as possible. Focusing the perspective of German life insurance industry, the article of Heinrich Schradin starts with a brief description and discussion of the financial impact of the persistently low interest rate environment. Based on an empirical data set of German life insurers, the author illustrates actual limitations to generate sufficient investment income for to meet the given specific financial guarantees. Moreover, the core problem, caused by the use of volatile timing-related interest rates for to evaluate long-term cash flows, becomes obvious. The currently observed regulatory interventions are trying to overcome the existential consequences of the so-called fair value measurement. In consequence, the author derives four central theses: 1. Life insurance in Germany suffers from insufficient capital adequacy. 2. Persistent low interest rates threaten the fulfillment of financial guaranty commitments of German life insurers. 3. The generally accepted principals of economic evaluation do not satisfy to the traditional business model of German life insurers. 4. Under a business perspective, the development of new life insurance products is inevitable.

Auswirkungen der anhaltenden Niedrigzinsen auf das Versicherungswesen

Abstract Focusing the perspective of German life insurance industry, this article starts with a brief description and discussion of the financial impact of the persistently low interest rate environment. Based on an empirical data set of German life insurers, the author illustrates actual limitations to generate sufficient investment income for to meet the given specific financial guarantees. Moreover, the core problem, caused by the use of volatile timingrelated interest rates for to evaluate long-term cash flows, becomes obvious. The currently observed regulatory interventions are trying to overcome the existential consequences of the so-called fair value measurement. In consequence, the author derives four central theses: 1. Life insurance in Germany suffers from insufficient capital adequacy. 2. Persistent low interest rates threaten the fulfillment of financial guaranty commitments of German life insurers. 3. The generally accepted principals of economic evaluation do not satisfy to the traditional business model of German life insurers. 4. Under a business perspective, the development of new life insurance products is inevitable.

Secular studies come of age

In this essay I review three important volumes for the field of secular studies: Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age, Rethinking Secularism, and The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere. All three volumes explore the nature of the secular and the status, role, and possible futures of religion in our late modern, globalized world. The volumes present 34 essays by 30 authors representing seven disciplines, and at least six end games. For some, questions of religion-secular entanglement are a historical matter and the task is to map intellectual and ideological trajectories. A second purpose is to empirically document the complexities of particular religion-secular entanglements in particular socio-cultural locations. For others, the remit is theoretical, to discern a conceptual agenda for the ongoing study of religion-secular entanglements. Others are more philosophical, chasing the existential consequences of secularity. A fifth end game is applied in nature: reflections on how political actors might best engage the religious and the secular in acts of governance and international relations. Finally, there are normative voices, those seeking to name what a good, productive religion-secular entanglement ought to look like. Taken together, the volumes mark a thriving, mature field of scholarly inquiry: secular studies has come of age.

Introduction

Introduction

Existential security is a necessary condition for continued breastfeeding despite severe initial difficulties: a lifeworld hermeneutical study.

BackgroundThe majority of new mothers in Sweden initiate breastfeeding and many experience initial difficulties. This experience is an important cause of early breastfeeding cessation. To increase understanding, there is a need to explore the lived experiences of the decision to continue or cease breastfeeding. The aim of this study is therefore to explain and understand how this decision is influenced by the meaning of severe initial difficulties.MethodsA lifeworld hermeneutical approach was used for the study. The study was conducted in Sweden with eight mothers who experienced severe difficulties with initial breastfeeding. All except one were interviewed on two different occasions resulting in fifteen interviews. The interviews were conducted between 2010 and 2013.ResultsMothers who experience severe difficulties with initial breastfeeding feel both overtaken and violated not only by their own infants and their own bodies but also by their anger, expectations, loneliness and care from health professionals. These feelings of being overtaken and invaded provoke an existential crisis and place mothers at a turning point in which these feelings are compared and put in relation to one another in the negotiation of the decision to continue or cease breastfeeding. This decision thus depends on the possibility of feeling secure with the breastfeeding relationship. If insecurity dominates, this can, in severe cases, create a feeling of fear of breastfeeding that is so great that there is no alternative but to stop breastfeeding.ConclusionsExistential security in the breastfeeding relationship seems to be an underlying factor for confidence and therefore a necessary condition for continued breastfeeding when having severe initial breastfeeding difficulties. Unresolved feelings of insecurity may be a serious barrier to further breastfeeding that can result in a fear of breastfeeding. Such fear can force the mother to cease breastfeeding. This study highlights how women are situated in a complex cultural and biological context of breastfeeding that has existential consequences for them. An existential crisis forces mothers into a turning point for the breastfeeding decision. In the existential crisis, mothers’ responsibility for the mother-infant relationship guides continuing or ceasing breastfeeding.