Philosophical Roots Research Articles

Single-Case Research Methods: History and Suitability for a Psychological Science in Need of Alternatives.

This paper presents a historical and conceptual analysis of a group of research strategies known as the Single-Case Methods (SCMs). First, we present an overview of the SCMs, their history, and their major proponents. We will argue that the philosophical roots of SCMs can be found in the ideas of authors who recognized the importance of understanding both the generality and individuality of psychological functioning. Second, we will discuss the influence that the natural sciences' attitude toward measurement and experimentation has had on SCMs. Although this influence can be traced back to the early days of experimental psychology, during which incipient forms of SCMs appeared, SCMs reached full development during the subsequent advent of Behavior Analysis (BA). Third, we will show that despite the success of SCMs in BA and other (mainly applied) disciplines, these designs are currently not prominent in psychology. More importantly, they have been neglected as a possible alternative to one of the mainstream approaches in psychology, the Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST), despite serious controversies about the limitations of this prevailing method. Our thesis throughout this section will be that SCMs should be considered as an alternative to NHST because many of the recommendations for improving the use of significance testing (Wilkinson & the TFSI, 1999) are main characteristics of SCMs. The paper finishes with a discussion of a number of the possible reasons why SCMs have been neglected.

Using dialectic debates to enhance innovative teaching of Conceptual and Historical Issues in Psychology

An enormous amount of research and debate on innovative teaching and learning strategies has gone on over the last three decades (e.g. The Higher Education Academy (HEA), 2013; Dearnley, McClelland & Irving, 2013; Hannan, English & Silver, 1999, 2000). HEA rightly champions excellence in innovative teaching and learning across the higher education sector. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) takes a monitoring role with the aim of ensuring that all higher education (HE) students benefit from a high-quality learning experience that fully meets their needs and the needs of society. The critical issue is not so much about governing bodies and frameworks, rather it is about the individual tutor’s enthusiasm and how such enthusiasm can inspire active learning. It is also worth recognising that some topics, such as Conceptual and Historical Issues in Psychology (CHIP) can be potentially boring. Such topics require enthusiastic tutors with innovative approaches to teaching and learning. The CHIP module delivered at the University of Derby uses dialectic debates to enhance students’ learning experience. No assumption is made here that dialectic debates are the only innovative approach as other papers in this volume show. We chose dialectic debate because of its potential for interactivity and critical thinking. The dialectic method (dialectics) has its roots in philosophy (e.g. Hegelian dialectic) where it encouraged critical analysis of propositions, counter-propositions and the synthesis of new insights. For dialectic debates to succeed the teaching and learning strategy has to be very different from traditional didactic approaches. For example, trying to be interactive by simply asking questions may end up with uncomfortable silence as students may not be actively engaging with the course material. To create the atmosphere and aura of the dialectic debate both authors undertake team teaching with the specific aim of giving students thesis and antithesis. Students on the CHIP module are very familiar with two tutors presenting a lecture based on its thesis and antithesis.This approach builds on to include at least one dialectic debate given by the whole module teaching team. This is used as an example which is then followed in subsequent weeks by student’s own dialectic debates. So far this has been the most successful and enjoyable learning experience as stated by students themselves. This paper will briefly look at the monitoring role of HEFCE in relation to innovative teaching and learning. Attention will then turn to the nature and use of dialectic debate as part of the innovative approach to teaching CHIP at the University of Derby. An example of the typical CHIP module as it is run at the University of Derby will be offered including some of the essential guides shared by students and teaching staff.

The Grand Strategy of Washington and Eisenhower: Recovering the American Consensus

Scholars have sought to shoehorn American foreign policy into the distinctly European theories of liberalism, realism, or nationalism that are taught in International Relations courses. But America's first grand strategy, as articulated in Washington's Farewell Address in 1796, blended such views in a distinctly American way. The widespread belief that this address counsels isolationism is wrong. Washington instead argues on behalf of an America that stands for moderation and independence in our international engagements. His legacy is evident nearly two centuries later in Eisenhower's Farewell Address in 1961. These statesmen embody the distinctive quality of American strategy that balances and blends seemingly rival principles to avoid extremes of injustice and imprudence. Tocqueville's praise of Washington's grand strategy affirms its deeper philosophical roots, as distinct from mere pragmatism. In his address, Eisenhower adapted the Washingtonian approach, blending interests and justice, prudence and principles, and power and pacific benevolence—to advocate our global leadership as America's enlightened self-interest.

The Reintroduction of Jewish Covenantal Theory as a Form of Corporate Governance

Stewardship theory is offered as an alternative to principal-agent based control systems of governance. A foundation for this stewardship system of governance is to establish covenantal relationships (Davis, et al., 1997; Hernandez, 2012). In this paper, we further expand upon the notion of a covenantal community by examining the religious and philosophical roots of covenantal relationships. We focus on the history of the Jewish community and the teachings within the Torah as it provides an institutional context of covenantal relationships, how they are modeled in Jewish history, and how they may be manifested in today’s organizations.

Li Zehou and Moritz Schlick on the Roots of Beauty

Beginning from the Enlightenment view that beauty or art is “useless,” the attempts to explain how aesthetic experience and judgment are possible presented by Moritz Schlick and Li Zehou are examined, compared and contrasted. The paper treats three main subjects, the anthropological origins of beauty, the origins of aesthetic judgments and the problem of the purpose or function of beauty or aesthetic experience. In the first—the historical-causal roots of beauty—the problem discussed is how to account for aesthetics in light of the practical needs and pursuits of human beings. For Schlick, the problem is couched in terms of how aesthetic experience can be made consistent with natural selection. The second main subject—the philosophical roots of beauty—is a discussion of the origin in the sense of justification of aesthetic judgments. And the third examines the problem of assigning some purpose to aesthetic feelings and attitudes. An apparent contrast is made, and perhaps resolved, between the respective views of Schlick and Li.

A Short Journey Through the Unknown Life of Leadership Studies

THIS ISSUE OF RIVISTA INTERNAZIONALE DI FILOSOFIA E PSICOLOGIA will offer a section on Leadership Studies which presents a selection of studies by some of the most authoritative scholars in the field. Its aim is to offer material for a reflection in a discipline that has been often restricted into the field of Organization Studies but on the contrary provides challenging interdisciplinary connections. I first provide a very short and incomeplete survey of the discipline by highlighting the most important contributions in the field. The aim of this introduction is to provide a sort of compass for the reader who is not familiar with leadership studies before introducing in detail the contributions to this special section. Leadership Studies is a relatively new discipline that is growing at a fast rate around the world. It stems from disciplines revolving around Organization Sciences despite its philosophical roots; Plato’s Republic, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Sun Tzu’s Art of War, and Machiavelli’s The Prince are usually recognized as the bedrocks of this discipline. Leadership set to become central academic field in the future for a variety of reasons. The increasing impact of private organizations in the economicl and cultural fabric of the world; organizations are indeed playing a leading role in the process of globalization. Organizations need leaders able to guide them through diverse challenges, such as cross-cultural management, crisis management, and so on. Moreover, as will be better explained in this

Humanistic Psychology's Chief Task: To Reset Psychology on its Rightful Existential-Humanistic Base

SYNOPSISThis article examines professional psychology's shifting paradigms throughout the last 100 years, beginning with its roots in philosophy and concluding with its recent embrace of neuroscience. The main contention of this article is that the evolution of psychology is a philosophical as much as, if not more than, a scientific issue, and that the philosophical fashions of the given times tend to influence the focus of the profession. The author concludes that given this philosophical basis for psychological engagements, existential-humanistic philosophy can and should be the leading candidate for the emerging psychology of the future. In light of its holistic aims, it is argued that the existential-humanistic point of view provides the optimal opportunity to transform professional psychology from the narrow to the broad, and from the mechanical to the awe-based.

Philosophical Roots of Classical Grounded Theory: Its Foundations in Symbolic Interactionism

Although many researchers have discussed the historical relationship between the Grounded Theory methodology and Symbolic Interactionism, they have not clearly articulated the congruency of their salient concepts and assumptions. The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough discussion of this congruency. A hypothetical example about smoking among college students is included in this paper to illustrate this relationship. This paper will be useful for qualitative researchers who seek a fuller understanding of how the assumptions and concepts provided by Symbolic Interactionism can inform the researcher who adopts a Grounded Theory methodology to investigate human behaviour. The relevance of this congruency for nursing researchers is discussed.

Between Flexibility and Reliability. Changing Planning Culture in China

Between Flexibility and Reliability. Changing Planning Culture in China

The Problem of Sovereignty in the Liberal Conservatism of Frannois Guizot

The problem of sovereignty is one of the key issues of political philosophy as it prompts a key political question: “Who has the supreme state power?” Who is sovereign: the people, the representation, the monarch or God? The research of this topic was one of the most popular and fruitful areas in political philosophy of the 19 th century. In his meditations on sovereignty Francois Guizot was seeking answers to specific questions, such as the causes of decline of the Revolution and the fall of the Napoleonic Empire, the fate of the Bourbon dynasty and vitality of the 1814 Charter. An examination of Guizot’s sovereignty conception would help to reconstruct an important part of political theory of this thinker, shed light on the philosophical roots of French liberalism, demonstrate the ideology’s relation to democratic tradition and reveal complex thinking concerning the status of the sovereignty problem in political practice.

The Philosophical Roots of Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Imagery: Descartes and Heidegger Through Latour, Derrida, and Agamben

The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of the main philosophical roots of Donna Haraway’s thinking, an issue she rarely discusses and which is frequently ignored in the literature, but which will allow us to not only better understand her thinking, but also locate it within the philosophical tradition. In particular, it suggests that Haraway’s thinking emanates from a Cartesian and Heideggerian heritage whereby it, implicitly, emanates from Heidegger’s destruction of metaphysical anthropocentrism to critique the divisions between human, animal, and machine that Descartes insists upon in his Discourse on Method. While suggesting that Haraway is, implicitly, influenced by Heidegger’s critique of the binary logic constitutive of Descartes’ anthropocentrism, I first argue that her support for Jacques Derrida’s, Bruno Latour’s, and Giorgio Agamben’s critical readings of Heidegger lead her to jettison Heidegger’s suggestion that overcoming this logic requires a re-questioning of the meaning of being to, instead, develop an immersed, entwined ontology that aims to call into question the fundamental divisions underpinning Cartesian-inspired anthropocentrism, before, second, concluding by offering a Heideggerian critique of Haraway’s thinking.

Institution and dislocation: philosophical roots of Laclau's discourse theory of space and antagonism

Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's theory is remarkable for bringing in a balance empirical analysis and philosophical considerations. The way this balance is reached is illustrated by discussing the main philosophical sources of Laclau's theory of space and antagonism. It is shown that Laclau's theory of social space relies on Husserl's phenomenology and critique of objectivism. Furthermore, it is shown in what way Laclau's differentiation between time and space corresponds to his differentiation between the two notions of the political and the social. This philosophical as well as political approach to the question of social space is contrasted with conceptions of space that are dominant in critical geography. The discussion provides the basis for a more general plea to take account of the philosophical implications of Laclau's differentiation between space and time, or the social and the political, as both are different aspects of one and the same phenomenon: antagonism.

The Image of the Male Body in Lithuanian Ultra-Orthodox Thought in Israel and Corresponding Strategies for Forging an A-feminine Public Sphere

This article deals with the increasingly severe attitude in Jewish Ultra-Orthodox society in the State of Israel regarding the relationship between the sexes. I seek to trace the philosophical roots of this attitude, as a product of existential thinking within the male contingent of the Ultra-Orthodox (Lithuanian) world itself, and I propose that the growing separation between the sexes is a direct result of rabbinic efforts to re-structure this world from within. The image of the Ultra-Orthodox public sphere is considered to be an exact reflection of the male individual and the way of life that is required of him. Ultra-Orthodox thought requires men to stop the flow of life, causing a ‘disconnect’ between the reflective self and the world in which the self exists as an object without reflexivity. According to Ultra-Orthodox thought, inability and failure to live all of life as reflective are linked to the human person as an ‘embodied being’. I explain the Ultra-Orthodox solution to the ‘problem of the body’ and how it influences the structure of the yeshiva as a ‘safe haven’. This mode of dealing with the body entails the exclusion of femininity from male life in the yeshiva context and is also increasingly reflected in the public domain. In recent years, Ultra-Orthodox rabbis have designed the public sphere using the model of the yeshiva as a space that is a-feminine. This is supported by readings from new Ultra-Orthodox Musar writings, directed to men, which deal with women’s sexuality and create a new definition of modesty.

Ideology, identity, and law in the production of Islamophobia

This essay suggests three avenues of exploration in the study of Islamophobia to augment the arguments in Deepa Kumar’s Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire. First, it is important to examine both the Liberal philosophical roots of Islamophobia and the use of Orientalism and history in the production of the discourse -- as well as in its resistance -- to show how liberal and right wing Islamophobia are intimately connected. Second, law as a marker of identity domestically and the international legal changes that have eroded the rights of Muslims in the War on Terror are critical to understanding the ways in which Muslims are regulated. And, finally, the essay raises once again the problem of secularism and solidarity with anti-imperialist activists and social movements in the post-9/11 and post-Arab Spring world. The essay argues that in order to fully comprehend and combat Islamophobia in both its local and global forms, left secularists must engage the roots of the phenomenon in Liberal philosophy, the legal dimensions of imperialism and racism, and practices of the War on Terror/Islamophobia. Further they must reconsider and rearticulate their commitments to secularism with particular attention to how calls for secularism has advanced imperialism and how it can be reasserted in order to promote progressive aims of equality and justice.

Copyright law and translation: crossing epistemologies

The aim of this article is to propose the application of a translational paradigm to copyright law for a critical reading of its philosophical and historical roots. This is done by crossing epistemologies of copyright law and translation theory. Notions of translation theory, as well as realities of the digital age, destabilise the colonial history and theoretical foundations of copyright law. Furthermore, the network model of information societies clashes with the hierarchical models still prevalent in copyright, while also highlighting the power and wealth disparities between the nations of the world. The act of translating implies a rationality aiming to democratise the world and harmonise its fragmented elements, which can contribute to reforming copyright law by providing an ethical (i.e. translational), global and multidisciplinary perspective. Many legal scholars are attempting to reform copyright law from within, based on a minimalist approach. This contribution questions the validity of the copyright model in the present context of globalisation and interactive digital technologies.

Activación Conductual: Revisión Histórica, Conceptual y Empírica

La Activación Conductual (AC) ha mostrado su efectividad como uno de los tratamientos más importantes para la depresión. Esta revisión de la literatura aborda aspectos históricos, variaciones y evidencia relacionada con la efectividad de la AC en diferentes problemáticas y poblaciones. Inicialmente se retoman sus alcances y uso, lo que le ha permitido constituirse como una de las terapias que cuenta con apoyo empírico para el manejo de la depresión. La revisión histórica permite ver su establecimiento como una Terapia de Tercera Generación y sus bases filosóficas en una perspectiva contextualista funcional. Posteriormente, se mencionan los diferentes tipos de activación conductual y algunos estudios relacionados con su efectividad tanto en depresión como en condiciones co-mórbidas. Finalmente, se realizaron recomendaciones para futuras investigaciones, entrenamiento, modalidades y problemas que pueden llegar a ser intervenidos a través de la activación conductual.

Tópicos neoplatónicos en la poesía de Michelangelo Buanorroti

Reconocidas tanto por su fuerza verbal como por su valor testimonial, las Rime de Michelangelo Buonarroti constituyen la más íntima expresión de su pensamiento. En este artículo se ofrece un análisis general de algunos contenidos e imágenes con la contextura de tópicos que provienen de la larga tradición neoplatónica, tanto en su raíz filosófica como en sus derivaciones líricas; en particular, se indagan ejemplos que atañen a dos vertientes fundamentales de la obra poética miguelangelesca: la amorosa y la de temática artística. A través del estudio de la recurrencia de conceptos y metáforas se intenta mostrar el nivel de pertinencia en el análisis de esta poesía en términos del neoplatonismo, para también, dentro de ese marco teórico, destacar su valor como manifestación cimera de la estética idealista del alto Renacimiento y la singularidad del pensamiento de Michelangelo como «idealismo demiúrgico».

Ambicultural blending between Eastern and Western paradigms: Fresh perspectives for international management research

East and Southeast Asian worldviews are distinctly different from those of the West. Westerners and Asians construct their environments differently, not least because they construct the notion of ‘self’ very differently. This paper describes and exemplifies distinctions in cognitive and linguistic styles between the East and the West and outlines the implications of these styles for environmental perspectives and research paradigms. Examples from Thailand illustrate the philosophical roots and practical implications of an indigenous Eastern perspective for local business interactions. We explore the privilege afforded in Western, Cartesian paradigms in (Asian) management research and stimulate debate on the benefits of promoting alternative Asian indigenous perspectives for both management research and management practice. We support the idea that Asian management discourse needs more self-confidence and deserves a more prominent place in international research, not least because international management research will greatly benefit from freshly ‘blended’ perspectives that incorporate Eastern and Western perspectives.

Florence Nightingale and Irish nursing

To challenge statements made about 'Careful Nursing' as a 'distinctive system' of nursing established by the Irish Sisters of Mercy, prior to Florence Nightingale, and which is said to have influenced her. Numerous publications have appeared claiming the emergence of a 'distinctive system' of nursing as 'Ireland's legacy to nursing', which, it is claimed, influenced Nightingale's system. One paper argues that the Irish system has its philosophical roots in Thomist philosophy. Several papers argue the ongoing relevance of the Irish system, not Nightingale's, for contemporary nursing theory and practice. Nightingale's influence on and legacy to Irish nursing are not acknowledged. A Discursive paper. Archival and published sources were used to compare the nursing systems of Florence Nightingale and the Irish Sisters of Mercy, with particular attention to nursing during the Crimean War. Claims were challenged of a 'distinctive system' of nursing established by the Irish Sisters of Mercy in the early nineteenth century, and of its stated influence on the nursing system of Florence Nightingale. The contention of great medical satisfaction with the 'distinctive' system is refuted with data showing that the death rate at the Koulali Hospital, where the Irish sisters nursed, was the highest of all the British war hospitals during the Crimean War. Profound differences between the two systems are outlined. Claims for a 'distinctive' Irish system of nursing fail for lack of evidence. Nightingale's principles and methods, as they evolved over the first decade of her school's work, remain central to nursing theory and practice. Nightingale's insistence on respect for patients and high ethical standards remains relevant to practice no less so as specific practices change with advances in medical knowledge and practice.

“The Most Belligerent Non-resistant”

Lucretia Mott is widely recognized as a moral and spiritual leader in the abolitionist and early women’s rights movements. She has been characterized as a disciple of William Lloyd Garrison, a proliferator of Mary Wollstonecraft’s ideas, and a religious promoter of human rights whose efforts were surpassed by the theoretically sophisticated and politically astute Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These portrayals paradoxically elevate Mott’s status while understating the originality of her views. This analysis examines Mott’s speeches and writings in detail and finds that her unique theoretical contributions are shaped by a combination of elements: a radically anti-dogmatic worldview rooted in her progressive religious faith, an unwavering commitment to autonomy for all people, and an egalitarian conception of power. Careful study of Mott’s work reveals a compelling alternative viewpoint in the early women’s rights and abolitionist movements and provides important insight into the philosophical roots of contemporary feminism and pacifism.