Using microdata from the Wage Structure Survey, we analyse the gender wage gap in the private and public sectors, considering the whole wage distribution. The main contribution is to assume that the decision to work in a sector is a prior process determined endogenously in the model. Thus, the usual Ordinary Least Square estimation is inconsistent, and it is necessary to use alternative techniques. We use quantile regression techniques to calculate how much of the gap is due to differences in (...) returns between men and women and sectors, taking into account the sample selection bias. We find that the size of the gap attributed to different returns varies substantially across the wage distribution. Public sector employees are paid higher wages, on average, than their counterparts in the private sector, and the gap is wider for women. Moreover, the proportion of the gender wage gap explained tends to be greater for workers who are at the bottom of the wage distribution in both sectors. A look at the whole wage distribution reveals that discrimination in the gender wage gap is typically higher at its top than at its bottom, suggesting that glass ceilings are more prevalent than sticky floors for both men and women. (shrink)

The goal of this study is analyse the influence of perceived supervisor support (PSS) by employees at a micro level and the role of the cultural values of “power distance” and “masculinity” at a macro level on direct employee participation in decision making (PDM). Furthermore, the influence of the gender of managers and employees is taken into account. The analysis is based upon the Sixth European Working Conditions Survey carried out by Eurofound in 2016. The results of a Hierarchical linear (...) model indicate that all predictors significantly influenced PDM and PSS positively and cultural values negatively. When the gender of managers and employees is considered, the findings suggest that PSS has a larger impact on PDM when male managers address female employees. Regarding the moderating effect of PSS on cultural values, it is shown that masculinity and power distance lose importance when employees have the support of their supervisors. (shrink)

El presente artículo determina cómo una empresa ética, convertida en escuela de virtudes morales, puede contribuir a mejorar la sociedad. La empresa sólo puede mejorar la sociedad y generar un impacto positivo en la misma desde la ejemplaridad de todas y cada una de sus personas. Se entiende la empresa como una comunidad de personas en la que ha de existir un equilibrio esencial entre lo individual y lo colectivo. Se parte de la premisa de que la empresa es, también, (...) un espacio ético que puede llegar a convertirse en una escuela de valores y virtudes en la que los profesionales desarrollen sus capacidades humanas en interrelación con los demás. Se argumenta la relevancia de la virtud empresarial, desde la perspectiva de la transformación del ethos individual, de los hábitos de las personas que forman la organización. Se considera que la empresa puede llegar a convertirse en una “escuela de valores y virtudes”. La forja del ethos ético y virtuoso de los profesionales es, a su vez, la esencia de la construcción del ethos ético de la empresa que tendrá su correspondiente impacto en el ethos de una buena sociedad. A partir de estas aseveraciones nos hacemos las siguientes preguntas en nuestra investigación: ¿De qué manera puede influir el ethos de la empresa en la configuración de los ethos particulares de los profesionales que forman parte de ella? y ¿cómo puede la empresa contribuir al desarrollo de las virtudes morales de sus personas? Asumiendo estas dos cuestiones como base de la investigación, se argumenta que la empresa puede llegar a ser, a través del trabajo, una ‘escuela’ para el desarrollo de las virtudes morales y, desde ahí, contribuir a la construcción de una sociedad más humana. (shrink)

Background: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing [EMDR] is an innovative, evidence-based and effective psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]. As with other psychotherapies, the effectiveness of EMDR contrasts with a limited knowledge of its underlying mechanism of action. In its relatively short life as a therapeutic option, EMDR has not been without controversy, in particular regarding the role of the bilateral stimulation as an active component of the therapy. The high prevalence of EMDR in clinical practice and the dramatic increase (...) in EMDR research in recent years, with more than 26 randomized controlled trials published to date, highlight the need for a better understanding of its mechanism of action. Methods: We conducted a thorough systematic search of studies published until October 2017, using PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Knowledge and Scopus databases that examined the mechanism of action of EMDR or provided conclusions within the framework of current theoretical models of EMDR functioning. Results: Seventy-five studies were selected for review and classified into three overarching models; (i) psychological models (ii) psychophysiological models and (iii) neurobiological models. The evidence available from each study was analysed and discussed. Results demonstrated a reasonable empirical support for the working memory hypothesis and for the physiological changes associated with successful EMDR therapy. Recently, more sophisticated structural and functional neuroimaging studies using high resolution structural and temporal techniques are starting to provide preliminary evidence into the neuronal correlates before, during and after EMDR therapy. Discussion: Despite the increasing number of studies that published in recent years, the research into the mechanisms underlying EDMR therapy are still in its infancy. Studies in well-defined clinical and non-clinical populations, larger sample sizes and tighter methodological control are further needed in order to establish firm conclusions. (shrink)

This paper presents an experience in developing professional ethics by an approach that integrates knowledge, teaching methodologies and assessment coherently. It has been implemented for students in both the Software Engineering and Computer Engineering degree programs of the Technical University of Madrid, in which professional ethics is studied as a part of a required course. Our contribution of this paper is a model for formative assessment that clarifies the learning goals, enhances the results, simplifies the scoring and can be replicated (...) in other contexts. A quasi-experimental study that involves many of the students of the required course has been developed. To test the effectiveness of the teaching process, the analysis of ethical dilemmas and the use of deontological codes have been integrated, and a scoring rubric has been designed. Currently, this model is also being used to develop skills related to social responsibility and sustainability for undergraduate and postgraduate students of diverse academic context. (shrink)

Las estadísticas muestran que la tasa neta de escolarización en los estudios de grado en España aumenta significativamente. En esta investigación se pretende explorar la evolución de la cuenta de resultados y balance de aquellas empresas españolas de educación universitaria privada. Empleando los datos publicados en la base de datos SABI se han analizado las empresas con mayor volumen de facturación y total de activos. Como hallazgos principales se ha observado un incremento de la cifra de negocios y del resultado, (...) del orden del 40% y 20% respectivamente. No así la inversión en activos que se ha mantenido. (shrink)

This article analyzes the reception of Le Deuxième Sexe in Mexico between 1949 and 1980, focusing on published references to the original French text and the first Spanish translation by Pablo Palant, El segundo sexo, published in Argentina in 1954. The authors consider publications by both conventional and feminist presses, centering their discussion on Rosario Castellanos, reader and commentator of the life and work of Beauvoir, and on the periodicals La Revuelta and fem.

Perfectionism is a multidimensional construct with both positive and negative aspects. Recently, the concept of appearance-oriented perfectionism has been introduced, which is associated with body image dissatisfaction and weight and shape control behaviors. The Physical Appearance Perfectionism Scale is a 12-item two-factor instrument developed to assess this new dimension of perfectionism. The aim of the study is to validate the Spanish version of PAPS among a representative sample of 850 male university students in Spain. Exploratory and confirmatory factorial structure, internal (...) consistency, convergent and concurrent validity, and associated predictor variables analyses have been carried out. Results showed that the Spanish version of the PAPS maintains the original factor structure with all items and proves to be a reliable instrument. Physical appearance-oriented perfectionism is associated with general perfectionism, higher body dissatisfaction, Eating Disorders and Muscle Dysmorphia symptomatology, and compulsive exercise, particularly in the Worry about Imperfection subscale. These variables also act as predictors of physical appearance perfectionism. The use of the PAPS-S and the analysis of its subscales is recommended in the context of body image-related pathologies such as Eating Disorders and Muscle Dysmorphia. (shrink)

In this review, we describe some of the central philosophical issues facing origins-of-life research and provide a targeted history of the developments that have led to the multidisciplinary field of origins-of-life studies. We outline these issues and developments to guide researchers and students from all fields. With respect to philosophy, we provide brief summaries of debates with respect to (1) definitions (or theories) of life, what life is and how research should be conducted in the absence of an accepted theory (...) of life, (2) the distinctions between synthetic, historical, and universal projects in origins-of-life studies, issues with strategies for inferring the origins of life, such as (3) the nature of the first living entities (the “bottom up” approach) and (4) how to infer the nature of the last universal common ancestor (the “top down” approach), and (5) the status of origins of life as a science. Each of these debates influences the others. Although there are clusters of researchers that agree on some answers to these issues, each of these debates is still open. With respect to history, we outline several independent paths that have led to some of the approaches now prevalent in origins-of-life studies. These include one path from early views of life through the scientific revolutions brought about by Linnaeus (von Linn.), Wöhler, Miller, and others. In this approach, new theories, tools, and evidence guide new thoughts about the nature of life and its origin.We also describe another family of paths motivated by a” circularity” approach to life, which is guided by such thinkers as Maturana & Varela, Gánti, Rosen, and others. These views echo ideas developed by Kant and Aristotle, though they do so using modern science in ways that produce exciting avenues of investigation. By exploring the history of these ideas, we can see how many of the issues that currently interest us have been guided by the contexts in which the ideas were developed. The disciplinary backgrounds of each of these scholars has influenced the questions they sought to answer, the experiments they envisioned, and the kinds of data they collected. We conclude by encouraging scientists and scholars in the humanities and social sciences to explore ways in which they can interact to provide a deeper understanding of the conceptual assumptions, structure, and history of origins-of-life research. This may be useful to help frame future research agendas and bring awareness to the multifaceted issues facing this challenging scientific question. (shrink)

El objetivo de este proyecto es implementar una metodología de aprendizaje cooperativo en el entorno universitario con una estrategia de gamificación que promueva cambios conductuales en los estudiantes. La herramienta de estímulo es una innovada práctica de doble corrección que incorpora el concepto de diversión. A los datos obtenidos se les aplicó el estadístico Chi-cuadrado. Además, se realizó a los estudiantes un cuestionario, sobre las competencias adquiridas, al que se aplicó el test U de Mann Whitney. Tras el análisis de (...) los datos resultantes se corrobora que la estrategia implementada mejora las habilidades interpersonales y el rendimiento académico. (shrink)

Las Tecnologías de la Comunicación y la Información han cambiado drásticamente la manera en la que accedemos al conocimiento y procesamos datos, cómo aprendemos y trabajamos y nuestra manera de relacionarnos con otros seres humanos. El interés creciente que despiertan las consecuencias del uso de las TCIs se ha manifestado en múltiples estudios aislados que analizan estos fenómenos desde puntos de vista diferentes. Este artículo tiene como objetivo proporcionar una perspectiva unificadora de estos trabajos, reflexionando sobre las consecuencias que el (...) uso de las TCI está teniendo en nuestras habilidades intelectuales y en cómo nos percibimos a nosotros mismos como seres humanos. (shrink)

El Repertorio bibliográfico sobre Martin Heidegger que se presenta a continuación, reúne la información obtenida de las más de 240 revistas de filosofía disponibles en la Hemeroteca de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. El Repertorio incluye referencias bibliográficas completas de los artículos, reseñas, estudios críticos, traducciones y otros documentos que abordan la obra del importante pensador alemán hasta el año 2010.

Higher education, a key driver of women’s empowerment, is still segregated by gender across the world. Agricultural higher education is a field that is male-dominated, even though internationally women play a large role in agricultural production. The purpose of this study was to understand the experience, including challenges and coping strategies, of women from 10 Latin American countries attending an agricultural university in Latin America. The participants were 28 women students with a mean age of 20.9 ± 1.8 years. Following (...) informed consent and assurance of confidentiality, four focus group sessions (one for each year of study with a mean duration of 81 min) were conducted in Spanish. The central question was, “what has been your experience at the university?” Sessions were recorded and transcribed. Thematic coding was performed independently by two teams of researchers (from Latin America and North America), with the resulting schemas combined through mutual discussion. Member checking, auditing, and reflexivity contributed to trustworthiness of the process. Students reported that the personal qualities needed for success included determination, persistence, and self-efficacy. Many described an empowerment process, including increased discipline and self-efficacy from the first to fourth year of study. University life encompassed six themes: university structure and discipline (part of the exosystem), two supportive microsystems (friends and classmates and institutional support) as well as three challenges (academics, peers, and machismo). Cultural influences instantiated in students’ daily experiences included familism, machismo, and religious faith. Students anticipated futures involving further education and contributions to society. We conclude that higher education in agriculture can serve as an effective means of empowering women to feed the world. (shrink)

BackgroundInformation and communication technology solutions have the potential to support active and healthy aging and improve monitoring and treatment outcomes. To make such solutions acceptable, all stakeholders must be involved in the requirements elicitation process. Due to the COVID-19 situation, alternative approaches to commonly used face-to-face methods must often be used. One aim of the current article is to share a unique experience from the Pharaon project where due to the COVID-19 outbreak alternative elicitation methods were used. In addition, an (...) overview of common functional, quality, and emotional goals identified by six pilot sites is presented to complement the knowledge about the needs of older adults.MethodsOriginally planned face-to-face co-creation seminars were impossible to carry out, and all pilot sites chose alternative requirements elicitation methods that were most suitable in their situation. The elicited requirements were presented in the form of goal models. In one summary goal model, we provide an overview of common functional, quality, and emotional goals.ResultsDifferent elicitation methods were combined based on the digital literacy of the target group and their access to digital tools. Methods applied without digital technologies were phone interviews, reviews of literature and previous projects, while by means of digital technologies online interviews, online questionnaires, and virtual co-creation seminars were conducted. The combination of the methods allowed to involve all planned stakeholders. Virtual and semi-virtual co-creation seminars created collaborative environment comparable to face-to-face situations, while online participation helped to save the time of the participants. The most prevalent functional goals elicited were “Monitor health,” “Receive advice,” “Receive information.” “Easy to use/comfortable,” “personalized/tailored,” “automatic/smart” were identified as most prevalent quality goals. Most frequently occurring emotional goals were “involved,” “empowered,” and “informed.”ConclusionThere are alternative methods to face-to-face co-creation seminars, which effectively involve older adults and other stakeholders in the requirements elicitation process. Despite the used elicitation method, the requirements can be easily transformed into goal models to present the results in a uniform way. The common requirements across different pilots provided a strong foundation for representing detailed requirements and input for further software development processes. (shrink)

Child-to-parent violence is a growing public health problem with consequences for perpetrators and families. Most research has focused on individual and family risk factors. However, little is known about its links with individual outcomes. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationships between CPV and psychological distress, suicidal ideation, and self-concept in school-aged adolescents, taking into account the gender perspective. A study was conducted with a sample of 8,115 adolescents, aged between 11 and 16 years from the State (...) of Nuevo León, Mexico. A MANOVA 3 × 2 was performed to analyze the data. The results revealed that adolescents involved in CPV showed higher levels of psychological distress and suicidal ideation and lower levels of family and social self-concept. It was also observed that girls with higher levels of CPV scored the lowest levels of psychological distress and suicidal ideation, as well as the lowest levels of family self-concept. The findings highlight that adolescents and especially girls involved in CPV also report internal maladjustment outcomes. Finally, the results and their implications for research and intervention with adolescents involved in CPV are discussed. (shrink)

Chicanas and Mexican women share a history of colonialism that has (a) sustained oppressive constructions of gender roles and sexuality, (b) produced and reproduced them as racially inferior and as able to be silenced, conquered, and dominated physically and mentally, and (c) contributed to the exploitation of their labor. Given that colonialism has also come to shape the way young women of Mexican heritage learn in mainstream US schools, informal education from everyday women's conviviality and solidarity becomes a pivotal context (...) in which they can learn how to reconstitute colonial legacies. We examine how a group of Mexican working-class immigrant women at home and in a sweatshop fashion a girl named Ana, the main character in the popular film Real Women Have Curves, into a confident young woman who engages in what Pérez (1999, 2003) refers to as empowering and dynamic decolonial ways of seeing, knowing, doing, being, and reconstituting. In spite of its contradictions that, at times, assist in reproducing Ana as an oppressed laborer, it is their doing that helps produce her as a woman who engages in decolonial practices by facilitating her to deftly negotiate an oppressive economic and patriarchal space, a mainstream feminist space, and a space where their embodiments and creative cultural discourse, practices, and beliefs shine. As such, the film provides a powerful counterstory (Delgado 1989) that disrupts the chokehold of the logic of colonialism and how it seeks to classify, stereotype, and control young women like Ana. (shrink)

El artículo establece, principalmente, las consecuencias que el descubrimiento de la fotografía ocasionó en el sistema de las artes y en el ámbito de la reflexión teórica acerca de las manifestaciones artísticas. De este modo, el autor relaciona la expansión de la fotografía con la "muerte del arte", una expansión que patentizó la idea de la "muerte del arte" presente en la tradición romántica, desde Hegel hasta Schiller. Tomando como punto de partida el análisis que de este problema hace Dino (...) Fonnaggio en su texto La muerte del arte y la estética, el autor reflexiona acerca del cuestionamiento que la fotografia hace del concepto de arte, de los límites del sistema de las artes y del establecimiento de las diferencias entre el artista, la obra y el espectador. (shrink)

El Contextualismo ofrece una novedosa forma de acercamiento a la obra arquitectónica, dado que la pone en relación íntima con el "habitar" humano. Ello le exige al intérprete poner de presente no sólo la contingencia e historicidad de la obra, sino también las relaciones que ésta establece con el entorno. Para mostrar la peculiaridad de esta propuesta -que se vale de tipologías visuales y táctiles-, la autora la compara, en primer lugar, con aquellos métodos que se valen solamente de parámetros (...) formales o preestablecidos. En segundo lugar, reconoce como punto de partida de su trabajo el aporte de Henri Bergson, quien al ser un exponente del pensamiento contextual, ofrece, no sólo un análisis de la imagen como elemento que posibilita nuevas aperturas y modificaciones de sentido, sino además, múltiples caminos para la interpretación. Por último, la autora analiza dos obras del arquitecto Osear Niemeyer, en las cuales se percibe de manera más concreta el sentido de esta propuesta. (shrink)

Introduction: If ever attained, adopting native-like accent is achieved late in the learning process. Resemblance between L2 and mother tongue can facilitate L2 learning. In particular, cognates (phonologically and semantically similar words across languages), offer the opportunity to examine the issue of foreign accent in quite a unique manner. Methods: Twelve Spanish speaking (L1) adults learnt French (L2) cognates and practiced their native-like pronunciation by means of a computerized method. After consolidation, they were tested on L1 and L2 oral picture- (...) naming during fMRI scanning. Results and Discussion: The results of the present study show that there is a specific impact of accent on brain activation, even if L2 words are cognates, and belong to a pair of closely related languages. Results point that the insula is a key component of accent processing, which is in line with reports from patients with foreign accent syndrome (FSA) following damage to the insula (e.g. Moreno-Torres et al., 2013; Katz et al., 2012; Tomasino et al., 2013), and healthy L2 learners (Chee et al., 2003). Thus, the left insula has been consistently related to the integration of attentional and working memory abilities, together with fine-tuning of motor programming to achieve optimal articulation. (shrink)

Overview The evolution of multicellularity raises questions regarding genomic and developmental commonalities and discordances, selective advantages and disadvantages, physical determinants of development, and the origins of morphological novelties. It also represents a change in the definition of individuality, because a new organism emerges from interactions among single cells. This volume considers these and other questions, with contributions that explore the origins and consequences of the evolution of multicellularity, addressing a range of topics, organisms, and experimental protocols. Each section focuses on (...) selected topics or particular lineages that present a significant insight or challenge. The contributors consider the fossil record of the paleontological circumstances in which animal multicellularity evolved; cooptation, recurrent patterns, modularity, and plausible pathways for multicellular evolution in plants; theoretical approaches to the amoebozoa and fungi (cellular slime molds having long provided a robust model system for exploring the evolution of multicellularity), plants, and animals; genomic toolkits of metazoan multicellularity; and philosophical aspects of the meaning of individuality in light of multicellular evolution. Contributors Maja Adamska, Argyris Arnellos, Juan A. Arias, Eugenio Azpeitia, Mariana Benítez, Adriano Bonforti, John Tyler Bonner, Peter L. Conlin, A. Keith Dunker, Salva Duran-Nebreda, Ana E. Escalante, Valeria Hernández-Hernández, Kunihiko Kaneko, Andrew H. Knoll, Stephan G. König, Daniel J. G. Lahr, Ottoline Leyser, Alan C. Love, Raul Montañez, Emilio Mora van Cauwelaert, Alvaro Moreno, Vidyanand Nanjundiah, Aurora M. Nedelcu, Stuart A. Newman, Karl J. Niklas, William C. Ratcliff, Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo, Ricard Solé . (shrink)

Margaret Archer plays a leading role in the sociological analysis of the relation between structure and agency, and particularly in the study of reflexivity. The main aim of this article is to discuss her approach, focusing on the main contributions and limitations of Archer’s theory of reflexivity. It is argued that even though her research is a pioneering one, proposing an operationalization of the concept of reflexivity in view of its empirical implementation, it also minimizes crucial social factors and the (...) dimensions necessary for a more complex and multi-dimensional study of the concept, such as social origins, family socialization, processes of internalization of exteriority, the role of other structure–agency mediation mechanisms and the persistence of social reproduction. (shrink)

The role played by witnesses of bullying in nursing settings remains little studied, despite their potential relevance in explaining the onset and development of bullying. The objective of this study was to develop a model to account for witnesses’ intention to help and helping behaviour in response to bullying in a nursing setting. Three hundred and thirty‐seven witnesses completed self‐report measures of variables predicting intention to help and helping behaviour. A full structural model was constructed using structural equation modelling. The (...) intention to help victims was elicited by tension, group identity, support to peers’ initiative to intervene and absence of fear of retaliation. However, engagement in helping behaviour was only predicted by the absence of fear of retaliation. This study shows that witnesses of bullying in nursing settings do not remain impassive, but their experienced discomfort and intention to help victims is not sufficient to predict helping behaviour. Fear of possible retaliation if intervening in favour of victims constitutes a crucial factor explaining witnesses’ hesitation to help victims. Several implications for the implementation of policies directed at eradicating bullying in nursing settings are discussed. (shrink)

The main target of this study is to make a comparative analysis between the presence or absence of historical thinking competencies in the official curricula of Gymnasieskola (Sweden) and Bachillerato (Spain). To reach this goal, a mixed instrument was designed, both qualitative and quantitative, to analyze the offical documents. The results show a great presence of “historical consciousness” in the case of Sweden and the use of historical sources and evidences in the case of Spain.

This paper considers the UN efforts to introduce a legally binding Treaty on corporate accountability for human rights impacts in the context of other proposed legislation at country level, on the one hand, and existing voluntary initiatives like the UN Guiding Principles (2011), on the other. What we are interested in is whether the proposed Treaty signals a transition from voluntary initiatives (based on moral commitments) to law (that is, a focus on compliance), and the extent to which it might (...) stimulate or hinder links between judicial and non-judicial initiatives. The scholars who have explicitly addressed these two divides are – Michael Sandel, on theory v. practice; and Amartya Sen, on law v. morality. We engage with their views, in sections II and III respectively, seeking to build an integrated approach to help us overcome these dualisms. We further consider John Ruggie’s “principled pragmatism”, a strategy that he uses to build the Protect, Respect and Remedy (henceforth, PRR) Framework; and we invoke arguments from casuistry as well as a practice-focused deontology (Thomas Donaldson’s) in favour of an ethics ‘beyond cognition’, which we consider better suited than either utilitarian or principle-based theories to guide the debate on human rights. This is because it allows us to take non-rational factors into account (such as emotions and personal affiliations), when judging the kind of common good we consider worth pursuing. In the last section of the paper, we investigate whether and how might the Treaty illustrate the two divides, trying to (a) distinguish between purely legal elements and those of a wider nature, to do with morality; and (b) understand what might help bridge the gap between theoretical commitments to the universality of human rights and various practical challenges. Our aim is not to evaluate the Treaty, from a legal viewpoint, or suggest improvements to it (lawyers are better placed to do that); rather, we seek to investigate the way in which the proposed Treaty – which is the first attempt to address the challenge of transnational business and human rights in international law – combines moral and legal aspects, and what this tells us about the world we live in. (shrink)

In this study we examined whether parents’ perceptions of students’ anxiety as well as perceived support from both teachers and classmates were predictive of changes in students’ academic motivation during the first wave of COVID-19. To this end, we used a retrospective pretest-posttest design together with a latent change score model to analyze our data. From April to May of 2020, 394 Portuguese parents of students in grades 1–9 participated in this study. Our results showed that students’ anxiety and teachers’ (...) social support, as perceived by parents, were highly significant predictors of academic motivation changes. Specifically, we found a negative effect of anxiety and a positive effect of teachers’ social support on students’ academic motivation. Our results did not show, however, a significant predictive role of classmates’ social support. This study provides an important contribution to further understand the intrapersonal and interpersonal factors that are associated with the decline of students’ academic motivation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pivotal role of teachers in sustaining students’ academic motivation and other relevant educational implications for the ongoing pandemic are discussed. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to view Kant's approach to education in the broader context of Kant's philosophy of culture and history as a process whose direction should be reflectively assumed by human freedom, in the light of man's moral vocation. In this context, some characteristic tensions of his enlightened approach to education appear. Thus, while Kant takes the educational process to be a radically moral enterprise all the way through—and hence, placed in a relational context—he also aspires to (...) constitute education as a science, to be improved through experiments, thereby paving the way for a systemic approach to education; in spite of its moral inspiration, his systemic approach not only could enter into conflict with the moral demand of taking each individual subject as an end, but is also marked by an intrinsic paradox, already involved in the ambiguity of the term ‘humanity’, which might mean a) humanity as a moral disposition present in each individual human being or b) humanity as a whole, as the ‘human species’. (shrink)

After decades of receiving a lot of attention on the epistemological level, the so-called ‘problem of intuitions’ is now in the center of debates on the metaphilosophical level. One of the reasons for this lies in the unfruitfulness of the epistemological discussions that recently subsided without producing any significant or broadly accepted theory of intuitions. Consequently, the metaphilosophical level of discussion of the ‘problem of intuitions’ inherits the same difficulties of the epistemological level. The significance of Max Deutsch’s book The (...) Myth of the Intuitive is his effort to resolve these problems in a clear and persuasive way. He is not only trying to debunk problems behind the vagueness of the ‘intuition-talk’ by drawing important distinctions that usually go under the radar in the contemporary literature, but also develops his own account of philosophical methodology. In this paper I will present some of his arguments against the traditional view of intuitional methodology, as well as his own solutions to the presented problems. Regardless of Deutsch’s insightful account of the ‘problem of intuitions’, I find that some difficulties in his own proposal are inherited from the unresolved issues of intuitions on the epistemological level. (shrink)

This article refers to selected issues elaborated from my interdisciplinary doctoral thesis accomplished at the University of South Africa in 2019. I investigated the ethical-theoretical frameworks as well as practices of Christian humanitarian non-governmental organisations in Germany by combining a theoretical part and an empirical part. The empirical part was accomplished by interviewing 11 NGOs from the humanitarian field. The findings of theory and practice showed that many Christian NGOs typically conform to the secular mindset and regulations in order to (...) be able to function as organisations. The results also revealed that Christian NGOs have difficulties in defining their identity in order to be attractive and convincing to their current and prospective employees and donors. In addition, organisational and hierarchical structures are mostly taken from business companies but do not necessarily always fit to the individual organisations. The research is significant because it shows to what extent these NGOs experience tensions and insecurities having to work in a secular environment, and it helps to identify some typical challenges that Christian organisations face in Western countries. The purpose of the thesis was to impact on the reflection and practice of leaders of NGOs in their quest to understand developments and paradigm shifts, and ensure that they will act in a recognisably Christian way.Contribution: This article has been held as a presentation at the Leadership Conference in Pretoria, South Africa, in 2019. It contributes to the research of specific Christian leadership, and particularly of leadership in Christian non-governmental organisations. This article aims to describe the challenges these organisations face, having to work in the midst of a secular environment. (shrink)

This book joins the contemporary recovery of Kant’s empirical works to highlight the relevance of his concept of culture for understanding the sources of various characteristic modern dilemmas, such as the tension between culture and happiness, the morally ambivalent nature of cultural progress, or the existing conflicts between a factual plurality of cultures and the historical forces pressing toward a universal civilization. The book will be of special interest for Kantian scholars, moral and political philosophers, as well as philosophers of (...) culture. (shrink)