Phenomenological Account Research Articles

A phenomenological study of prospective teachers’ first-time science teaching experiences

ABSTRACT This study provided a phenomenological account of 22 pre-service elementary teachers’ experiences transitioning from being pre-service teachers learning the knowledge base about science instruction to teaching a physical science topic in a microteaching activity. This transition within a phase of the professional teacher continuum is just as crucial as the transitions pre-service teachers take along the professional teacher continuum. This transition provides experiences to make sense of their growing knowledge and skills for science instruction and navigating with the knowledge and skills in student teaching and beyond. Data about the first-time science teaching experiences were collected using an open-ended interview question. Other data included video recordings of each pre-service teacher’s 30-minute microteaching and the use of reflective prompts to verify pre-service teachers’ responses to the interview question. Analysis of interview transcripts, video recordings, and responses to reflective prompts revealed three themes: (1) finding a space for teacher-centered instruction; (2) reimaging the role of engagement and participation with scientific practices; and (3) seeking middle ground for science instruction. An important implication included the need for science teacher educators to help pre-service teachers mediate and internalize pedagogical discourses resulting from first-time science teaching experiences.

The Chattering Mind: A Conceptual History of Everyday Talk

The Chattering Mind: A Conceptual History of Everyday Talk

Floating sanctuaries: The ethics of search and rescue at sea

AbstractSearch-and-Rescue NGOs in the Mediterranean have been increasingly criminalized. This criminalization has chilled conversation about the ethical dilemmas practitioners face. What, if any, can be the adverse byproducts of rescuing life at sea? In this article, we concentrate on the dilemmas involved in search and rescue (SAR) as rescuers have described them. Our aim is two-fold. The first is to offer a phenomenological account of search-and-rescue dilemmas. The article sheds light on the complexity and nuance of the ethical landscape of maritime rescue, revealing an intricate web of interactions acknowledged by rescuers as posing ethical challenges. The second aim is to offer a conceptual framework for what it is that SAR NGOs are, in fact, doing. We contextualize their actions within the larger terrain of ‘border externalization’, in which states have moved enforcement activities to extraterritorial zones, where human rights law is diluted or inapplicable. We thus argue that the set of norms underlying NGO rescue practices amounts to a strategy of counter-externalization. The ideal here is that a window of opportunity can be created at sea, where human rights or international law protections more broadly apply, but enforcement powers of states are suspended. By utilizing these legal gray zones to the benefit of migrants, rescuers effectively turn extraterritorial zones from spaces of lawlessness into spaces of resistance. The rescue ship thus becomes a ‘floating sanctuary’.

Givenness, ‘Mystery,’ and the Question of Nature and Grace: Reading Marion with the Help of Josef Pieper

AbstractThis essay argues that Jean‐Luc Marion’s theology of nature and grace provides a lens through which to assess his entire project. It considers his thought with attention to the nouvelle théologie movement and issues that arise for a contemporary theology of nature and grace—focusing on the question of a shared human ‘nature.’ The article demonstrates how problematic emphases of Marion’s phenomenological account of the self’s givenness mirror a conflation of nature and grace in his explicitly theological work. It then points briefly to what Marion’s project might gain through the intervention of a key insight from Josef Pieper’s The Silence of St. Thomas. Marion and Pieper engender two versions of apophaticism with divergent approaches to the mystery of our shared human nature. In the light of this, I show how Pieper offers a corrective to Marion’s theology that could make his overall project a better resource for theologians. The analysis results in a constructive proposal for approaching nature and grace through dialogical engagement with the disciplines of phenomenology and theological metaphysics.

“Now I Can See Things for What They Are”: The Experiences of Adult Children of Narcissists

This study drew on the Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF) and narrative therapy literature to explore the experiences of adult children of narcissists (ACON) to understand how they have made sense of their own experiences and protected themselves from adversity. Data from semi-structured interviews with six individuals who identified one of their parents as a narcissist were analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. The experiences of these participants were captured by four themes: “It’s a brutal way to be raised,” “A way forward: it was them not me,” “I see the tentacles of how deep and far and wide it goes,” and “The lost ideal.” “Journey of healing" was identified as the overarching theme that encapsulated the essence of the participants’ experiences. This study is the first phenomenological account of this hitherto under researched cohort. It has also extended the literature on the PTMF by demonstrating its utility in formulating ACON’s experiences of psychological distress. Findings illustrate how personal narratives can be used to facilitate individual recovery. These findings can potentially aid clinicians to better understand and support ACON in clinical settings. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2022.2048285 .

Scale of the Nation: Alberto Giacometti's Miniature Monument

In 1939, Alberto Giacometti proposed an unusual work for the Swiss National Exhibition: a tiny head placed on a wide pedestal, which gave rise to dramatic scalar effects. This essay places this little‐known episode at the origin of Giacometti's post‐war experiments with scale, and argues that those experiments emerged out of a historical context – Switzerland's tense negotiation of national identity in the 1930s – in which monumental forms of sculpture could no longer fulfil their political functions. By untethering the bigness of a monument from its scale, Giacometti's little head disclosed scale's more profound social operation: to formalize and embody our historical practices of engaging with vast structures, including the political structure of the nation. This alignment of aesthetic and political scale suggests how a new phenomenological account of modern sculpture, indebted to Jean‐Paul Sartre rather than Maurice Merleau‐Ponty, calls into question modernism's supposed negation of the monument.

Language and symbolic violence in computational models of ethnocentrism: A critical phenomenology and Southern re-orientations

Viewing code as heterogeneous language we offer an investigation of the relationship between language and symbolic violence in computational models of sociopolitical phenomena such as segregation and ethnocentrism. We offer a critical phenomenological account of how the transparency and ambiguity inherent in computational models of ethnocentrism embody and enact symbolic power and violence through assumptions of docility and omissions of marginalized voices and experiences. Centering voices of immigrants of color and Dalit scholars from the Global South, we present an empirical vignette as well as theoretical arguments that illustrate experiences of pain, oppression and erasure that underlie experiences of migration and urban segregation. Our work illustrates that dignity in learning is not independent of how dignity is represented computationally, and argues for a fundamental axiological re-orientation of computational ontologies toward Southern perspectives.

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of major depression: a synthesis of phenomenological explanations.

Psychedelic-assisted Psychotherapy (PAP) combines the use of psychedelic compounds, such as psilocybin, with psychotherapy. PAP has shown some promise as a novel treatment for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), and empirical research suggests that its efficacy turns on the altered states induced by psychedelic compounds. In this paper we draw on the literature of phenomenology to explain the therapeutic potential of psychedelic experiences. Svenaeus characterises mental illness as a form of suffering that entails three distinct but related experiences of alienation or "unhomelike being-in-the-world": (1) illness suffering, which relates to embodiment; (2) existential suffering, which relates to self-narratives, and (3) political suffering, which relates to social relationships. Ratcliffe further characterises the experience of MDD in phenomenological terms as a loss of pre-intentional possibility that manifests as excessive noematic feeling in the experience of embodiment, restrictive narratives in the construction of self, and disconnectedness in experience of the social world. We contend that PAP ameliorates the suffering associated with MDD by inducing and consolidating a state of broadened pre-intentional possibility-one that entails sudden, profound and enduring changes in embodiment, self-narratives, and social experience. We argue further that this phenomenological account is consistent with a bio-psycho-social model of mental health and illness, and we frame it as an argument supporting the plausibility of recent claims about treatment success. This helps to justify ongoing future empirical research in this setting.

Stabilization of 1D solitons by fractional derivatives in systems with quintic nonlinearity

We study theoretically the properties of a soliton solution of the fractional Schrödinger equation with quintic nonlinearity. Under “fractional” we understand the Schrödinger equation, where ordinary Laplacian (second spatial derivative in 1D) is substituted by its fractional counterpart with Lévy index alpha. We speculate that the latter substitution corresponds to phenomenological account for disorder in a system. Using analytical (variational and perturbative) and numerical arguments, we have shown that while in the case of Schrödinger equation with the ordinary Laplacian (corresponding to Lévy index alpha =2), the soliton is unstable, even infinitesimal difference alpha from 2 immediately stabilizes the soliton texture. Our analytical and numerical investigations of omega (N) dependence (omega is soliton frequency and N its mass) show (within the famous Vakhitov–Kolokolov criterion) the stability of our soliton texture in the fractional alpha <2 case. Direct numerical analysis of the linear stability problem of soliton texture also confirms this point. We show analytically and numerically that fractional Schrödinger equation with quintic nonlinearity admits the existence of (stable) soliton textures at 2/3<alpha <2, which is in accord with existing literature data. These results may be relevant to both Bose–Einstein condensates in cold atomic gases and optical solitons in the disordered media.

To Pardon what Conscience Dreads

This article will examine the religious phenomenology of Max Scheler as it is found in his essay on repentance. In outlining Scheler’s understanding of repentance, I shall note his attempt at defining the phenomenon, as well as the presuppositions to and outcomes of this religious act. With this foundation laid, I shall then offer two critiques. First, Scheler’s rendering of repentance limps in not accounting for the cyclical and repeatable nature of repentance, to which human experience and Scheler’s own broader philosophy attest. Second, Scheler’s essay does not consider the role of other persons both in leading one to repentance and in completing the process. As with the first critique, both human experience and Scheler’s own personalist philosophy testify to the necessary role of other persons. These lacunae detract from the otherwise rich phenomenological account.

Things, Goods, and Values: The Operative Function of Husserl’s Unitary Foundation in Scheler’s Axiology

In this paper, I contend that the core intuition that resides at the basis of Scheler’s metaethics is expressed through the formal axiological distinction between things, goods, and values. I pursue a twofold aim: 1) to show that Scheler implicitly operates within Husserl’s concept of ‘unitary foundation’ when describing how values inhere within goods; 2) to compare Scheler’s metaethical argument concerning the independence of a world of goods with Hare’s ‘indiscernibility argument’. Scheler’s reversal of Hare’s argument confronts us with the formal-ontological difference between the analytic account of supervenience and the phenomenological account of unitary foundation. My argument is based on the formalization of the second type of unitary foundation that Husserl outlines in his Third Logical Investigation. The second type of unitary foundation is usually conflated with the first type of unitary foundation, as a result of the gross mistakes found in Findlay’s English

Paraontology: Oskar Becker’s Philosophy of Race and the Ironies of Ahistorical Phenomenology

This paper reconstructs Oskar Becker’s phenomenology of race, a project he called “paraontology.” For Becker, a fervent National So-cialist, paraontology provided a phenomenological account of “na-ture”—a realm of ahistorical essences encompassing both the “super-historical” truths of mathematics and metaphysics and the “sub-historical” forces of “blood and soil.” The impetus for this reconstruc-tion is the re-emergence of this term in contemporary Black studies, where it is used to problematize ontology’s usefulness for thinking black life. This paper asks what the possibility of such an iteration shows about Becker’s project and its investment in non-historical repetition, arguing it reveals a profound disavowal of the historical at the heart of Becker’s project rather than a phenomenological disclosure of the natural.

Susan Bredlau. The Other in Perception: A Phenomenological Account of Our Experience of Other Persons

Susan Bredlau. The Other in Perception: A Phenomenological Account of Our Experience of Other Persons

From virtual to embodied extremism: an existential phenomenological account of extremist echo chambers through Ortega y Gasset and Merleau-Ponty

The current paper explores the existential motivation for the formation of extremist echo chambers through a phenomenological analysis. We advance two claims. Firstly, following Ortega y Gasset, that virtuality is a constant framework for experience. And secondly, following Merleau-Ponty, that there is persistent embodiment in online spaces. On this account virtuality is a permanent feature of embodiment, existing prior to technological intervention while at the same time being modifiable by technological artefacts. Understanding virtuality in this way allows us to analyse the existential phenomenological characteristics of extremist echo chambers online. We argue that due to the persistence of embodiment throughout, and the restructuring of the virtual axes of experience, such online spaces can and do influence political praxis in offline spaces.

A Nickelate Renaissance

The 2019 discovery of high temperature superconductivity in layered nickelate films, Nd1-xSrNiO2, has galvanized a community that has been studying nickelates for more than 30 years both as cuprate analogs and in their own right. On the surface, infinite layer nickelates, and their multilayer analogs, should be promising candidates based on our understanding of cuprates: square planar coordination and a parent d9 configuration that places a single hole in a dx2-y2 planar orbital makes nickelates seem poised for superconductivity. But creating crystals and films of sufficient quality of this d9 configuration in Ni1+ has proven to be a synthetic challenge, only recently overcome. These crystalline specimens are opening windows that shed new light on the cuprate-nickelate analogy and reveal nuances that leave the relationship between cuprates and nickelates very much an area open to debate. This Perspective gives a qualitative, phenomenological account of these newly discovered superconductors and multilayer members of the infinite layer nickelate family. The focus is on our current understanding of electronic and magnetic properties of these materials as well as some future opportunities, explored from the viewpoint of synthetic challenges and some suggested developments in materials discovery and growth to make further progress in this rejuvenated field.

Beyond adaptive preferences: Rethinking women's complicity in their own subordination

AbstractAn important question confronting feminist philosophers is why women are sometimes complicit in their own subordination. The dominant view holds that complicity is best understood in terms of adaptive preferences. This view assumes that agents will naturally gravitate away from subordination and towards flourishing as long as they do not have things imposed on them that disrupt this trajectory. However, there is reason to believe that ‘impositions’ do not explain all of the ways in which complicity can arise. This paper defends a phenomenological account of complicity, which offers an alternative explanation.

Zen Buddhism and the Phenomenology of Mysticism

Abstract In this paper, I use a comparative analysis of mysticism in Zen and the Abrahamic faiths to formulate a phenomenological account of mysticism “as such.” I argue that, while Zen Buddhism is distinct from other forms of mystical experience in important ways, it can still be fit into a general phenomenological category of mystical experience. First, I explicate the phenomenological accounts of mysticism provided by Anthony Steinbock and Angela Bello. Second, I offer an account of Zen mysticism which both coheres with and problematizes these accounts, arguing that Zen demonstrates the inadequacy of these accounts as descriptions of mysticism as a universal religious category. Lastly, I use this investigation to propose that Zen mysticism does generally cohere with the mystical experiences of other religions, but only if we devise a new formula for speaking phenomenologically about mystical experience as such which captures this phenomenon in all of its manifestations.

Contributions to a Phenomenology of Historical Experience

AbstractIn this article, I propose a phenomenological account of historical experience, aimed at showing how people directly experience an event as being historical. After examining the only previous phenomenological account, David Carr’s Experience and History, and exploring its limits, I present my own contributions. My analysis focuses on the features of three main concepts or “moments”: eventfulness, substantiality, and narrativity. Considering the transcendent character of historical experience in the moment of eventfulness brings three features to light: initial incomprehensibility, need for categorization, and memorability. The concept of “substantiality,” on the other hand, shows how a historical event is felt as a moment of change. History is perceived as a structure shaping a community and whose unity seems irremediably shattered. Three features of historical change are explored: threatened identity, broken temporality, and emphasized belongingness. Lastly, I look at the decisive role of the gradual transformation of past beliefs and expectations as it occurs “narratively,” revealing a further two features of historical experience: narrative justifications and uncertain new normativity. Dealing narratively with a historical event means providing justifications for how it constitutes a new configuration of practices and ideas foreshadowing the now uncertain future.

Shared action: An existential phenomenological account

Drawing on recent phenomenological discussions of collective intentionality and existential phenomenological accounts of agency, this article proposes a novel interpretation of shared action. First, I argue that we should understand action on the basis of how an environment pre-reflectively solicits agents to behave based on (a) the affordances or goals inflected by their abilities and dispositions and (b) their self-referential commitment to a project that is furthered by these affordances. Second, I show that this definition of action is sufficiently flexible to account for not only individual action (in which both (a) and (b) refer only to an individual) but also several distinct subtypes of shared action. My thesis is that behaviour counts as shared action if and only if it is caused by a solicitation in which either (a) the goals, or (b) the commitments, or both (a) goals and (b) commitments are joint, i.e., depend on several individuals. We thereby get three distinct subtypes of shared actions: (i) jointly coordinated individually committed action, (ii) individually coordinated jointly committed action, and (iii) jointly coordinated jointly committed action.

Delusional mood and affection

ABSTRACT Delusional mood is a well-recognized psychological state, often present in the prodromal stage of schizophrenia. Various phenomenological psychopathologists have proposed that delusional mood may not only precede but also contribute to the later formation of schizophrenic delusion. Hence, understanding experiential abnormalities involved with the delusional mood have been considered central for the understanding of schizophrenic delusion. Ranging from traditional and contemporary phenomenological and neurobiological accounts, it has been often mentioned that the peculiar affective saliency of the world experience may underpin the emergence of delusional mood. In this paper, I employ Edmund Husserl’s account of affection and affective syntheses to clarify the nature of such an experience and illuminate how this experiential abnormality contributes to the emergence of the delusional mood. I conclude by relating the phenomenological account I advance here with a neurobiological account of aberrant salience hypothesis and chart out a possible way toward mutual enlightenment for both approaches.