In this paper, we are going to address job satisfaction and perceived self-efficacy within the context of residential child-care. A joint report from the European Foundation for the Improvement on Living and Working Conditions and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work revealed that managers in the field of health and education were the most concerned about the psychosocial risk of their employees, although concern is not automatically translated into tools to face the risk and to manage it. (...) So, measuring and improving employees’ job satisfaction and self-efficacy can be an important means for organizations to prevent the outcomes of psychosocial risk, and supporting high quality performance of workers. But profound changes are affecting the nature of work at large, and specifically social educator’s in the field of residential care with minors. Globalization, radical technological and communication developments, as well as the pressure to frame care as a commodity, are quickly changing procedures and praxis at work, and even the meaning of job itself. All these changes are highly demanding for this category of professionals, as much as the fact that the organizational setting is vanishing as a resource to sustain their professional attitudes and behaviours. Under these circumstances, job satisfaction and self-efficacy can be hard to experience, and isolating their precursors is essential to develop healthy and effective work environments. This paper means to highlight the process of supporting self-efficacy and job satisfaction in the educational work in residential youth care that is still underrepresented in research. It presents data emerging from two studies, study 1 involving 268 educators and study 2 involving 472 educators belonging to different Italian residential child-care services. Study 1 consists of a quantitative study including the following measures: attachment style, job satisfaction, work-related self-efficacy, and length of service. Study 2 consist of a qualitative exploration deepening the sources of educators’ work-satisfaction. Quantitative data support the identification of attachment style and length of service as antecedents of work-related self-efficacy. Qualitative data show the importance of relational issues in shaping the educators’ satisfaction at work. (shrink)

In her article the author shows the relevance of the concept of compromise for protestant ethics after 1945. Coming from the current discussion about the significance of compromise in the german society today she asks for the role of compromises for community building and as a guarantee for plurality in the civil society nowadays. The author illustrates the relation between compromise, plurality and democracy in protestant ethics after World War II by presenting an article of the German pastor Eberhard Müller, (...) who was the founder of the Protestant Academy of Bad Boll in Wuerttemberg/west-germany in 1945. In his article compromise, published in the Evangelisches Soziallexikon (Protestant Encyclopedia of social ethics, Kreuz-Verlag Stuttgart) 1954 Müller emphasizes his conviction, that after the ideology of Nazi-Germany only a culture of communication and exchance, a culture, that is based on compromises could anchor an understanding of democracy in the young German society. (shrink)

In recent years, the societal and personal impacts of pain, and the fact that we still lack an effective method of treatment, has motivated researchers from diverse disciplines to try to think in new ways about pain and its management. In this paper, we aim to develop an enactive approach to pain and the transition to chronicity. Two aspects are central to this project. First, the paper conceptualizes differences between acute and chronic pain, as well as the dynamic process of (...) pain chronification, in terms of changes in the field of affordances. This is, in terms of the possibilities for action perceived by subjects in pain. As such, we aim to do justice to the lived experience of patients as well as the dynamic role of behavioral learning, neural reorganization, and socio-cultural practices in the generation and maintenance of pain. Second, we aim to show in which manners such an enactive approach may contribute to a comprehensive understanding of pain that avoids conceptual and methodological issues of reductionist and fragmented approaches. It proves particularly beneficial as a heuristic in pain therapy addressing the heterogenous yet dynamically intertwined aspects that may contribute to pain and its chronification. (shrink)

Sabrina Fortin | : La recherche sur les populations permet d’améliorer nos conditions de vie en identifiant les facteurs de risque attribuables aux liens entre l’environnement et certains déterminants socio-sanitaires. Elle nécessite de vastes échantillons qui proviendront souvent de renseignements personnels ou de matériel biologique déjà recueillis. Pour les utiliser, la règle générale veut qu’un consentement individuel soit obtenu. Cependant, dans la pratique, il est souvent impossible d’obtenir un tel consentement sans affecter la qualité et la capacité de généralisation (...) des résultats de recherche. Cette obligation de consentement est fondée sur la primauté de la personne et la dignité humaine, qui ont été intégrées dans le droit des personnes à la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Ce principe fondamental a également été inséré au coeur de l’encadrement de la recherche scientifique. La philosophie personnaliste en serait à l’origine. Cet article, après avoir établi la provenance philosophique et historique du principe de dignité humaine, tente de rétablir un certain équilibre entre les intérêts individuels et collectifs impliqués dans la recherche populationnelle. | : According to this paper, personalist philosophy could be at the origin of the importance given to consent in an actual research normative framework. The obligation of consent is well established in Canadian law, but when the time comes to apply it to research on populations, which involves large number samples, it causes some impracticabilities. Access to personal data for populational research should be viewed as a common good contributing to improve life conditions. Hence, the collective interests generated by populational research should be better balanced against preferences and personal interests. (shrink)

Niche construction denotes the alteration, destruction, or creation of environmental features through the activities of an organism, modifying the relation between organism and environment. The concept of niche construction found application in various fields of research: evolutionary biology, enculturation, ontogenetic development, and local organism-environment coordination. This is because it provides a useful tool emphasizing different aspects of the dynamic interplay between organisms and their actively constructed environment. Traditionally, niche construction is considered a positive mechanism in the complementarity of organism and (...) environment. In contrast, this paper sheds light on the dark side of niche construction, that is, the different manners in which organisms may modify environmental features that are in some way or another harmful to them. First, the paper introduces a paradigmatic distinction of four kinds of niche construction as commonly addressed in recent literature, using more or less extended spatio-temporal scales as the distinguishing feature. Second, the paper elaborates on the concept of negative niche construction, providing normative criteria of (mal)adaptation that are suitable for the evaluation of environmental alterations, given the chosen spatio-temporal scale. Of particular interest are inter-scale conflicts: those cases of environmental constructions which appear adaptive concerning one spatio-temporal scale but maladaptive concerning another. Third, the paper distinguishes the concept of niche construction as a valuable instrument to better understand central aspects of modern medicine and the entangled contribution of evolutionary, socio-cultural, personal, and situational aspects to different health issues, using chronic pain as an illustrative case study. (shrink)

Winner, 2020 Body and Embodiment Best Publication Award, given by the American Sociological Association Honorable Mention, 2020 Sociology of Sex and Gender Distinguished Book Award, given by the American Sociological Association How the female body has been racialized for over two hundred years There is an obesity epidemic in this country and poor Black women are particularly stigmatized as “diseased” and a burden on the public health care system. This is only the most recent incarnation of the fear of fat (...) Black women, which Sabrina Strings shows took root more than two hundred years ago. Strings weaves together an eye-opening historical narrative ranging from the Renaissance to the current moment, analyzing important works of art, newspaper and magazine articles, and scientific literature and medical journals—where fat bodies were once praised—showing that fat phobia, as it relates to Black women, did not originate with medical findings, but with the Enlightenment era belief that fatness was evidence of “savagery” and racial inferiority. The author argues that the contemporary ideal of slenderness is, at its very core, racialized and racist. Indeed, it was not until the early twentieth century, when racialized attitudes against fatness were already entrenched in the culture, that the medical establishment began its crusade against obesity. An important and original work, Fearing the Black Body argues convincingly that fat phobia isn’t about health at all, but rather a means of using the body to validate race, class, and gender prejudice. (shrink)

This chapter shows how Derrida's deconstruction in Voiceand Phenomenon exposes a double necessity that undergirds Husserl's phenomenological inquiry in the “First Logical Investigation,” especially with respect to expression and indication. It turns to Derrida's reflections on the aporia of blindness in Memoirs of the Blind in order to further develop the logic of double necessity and to examine Derrida's divergence from Merleau‐Ponty's thought. The chapter examines Derrida's critique of the auto‐affective movement of temporalization in Voice and Phenomenon that reveals the (...) impossibility of pure auto‐affection. It explores the limits of Merleau‐Ponty's phenomenology where he has moved beyond Derrida's deconstruction of Husserlian phenomenology. For Derrida, Merleau‐Ponty's emphasis on speech and perception reveals his entrenchment in the phenomenological prioritization of presence; “soaring up to the sun of presence, it is the path of Icarus”. (shrink)

Le 7 novembre 2015, avait lieu à la BNF un colloque confrontant les pensées de René Girard et Michel Henry, intitulé "Le désir de l'Autre". Cette rencontre eut lieu trois jours après le décès de René Girard. Elle fut ainsi pour tous les participants l'occasion de lui rendre hommage. A la suite des confrontations déjà organisées par l'Association Recherches Mimétiques entre René Girard et des penseurs français du XXe siècle (Bourdieu, Levinas, Lévi-Strauss, Derrida, Sartre, etc.), il apparaissait nécessaire de mettre (...) la théorie mimétique en présence, cette fois, de la phénoménologie de Michel Henry, chez qui la question de l'Autre est cruciale. Nos travaux nous ont permis de manifester, peut-être contre toute attente chez des penseurs aux méthodes si différentes, une convergence, voire une complémentarité, dans la définition du désir, dans celle de la nature de la violence qu'il suscite, et aussi dans celle de la possibilité de son dépassement."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

O estudo apresenta o resultado da experiência em mediação familiar desenvolvida em um Núcleo de Práticas Judiciárias numa instituição pública de ensino, através de projeto de extensão. O objetivo deste trabalho é compartilhar as vivências do serviço de psicologia inserido em um espaço eminentemente ..

The corporate social responsibility and industrial relations studies have evolved mostly in parallel. In this paper, we integrate the IR with the CSR perspective, highlighting their similarities and differences. In particular, the study adopts a framework which includes a wide set of CSR-related issues to explore what unions and companies negotiate under the umbrella of CSR. It analyses and compares the national sectoral agreements of two key industries in the Italian economy, i.e. Metal and Chemical. We find that these two (...) sectors exhibit differences because the CSR-related issues covered by the two contracts are formally labelled as CSR in the Chemical contract, and not labelled as CSR in the Metal contract. We also find similarities regarding the CSR-related issues covered and not covered by the national contracts, and the binding processes centrally negotiated for their implementation. We interpret the similarities in light of the specificities of the Italian IR system, and the differences in light of the negotiation traditions of the two sectors under study, which induce the actors in the Metal sector to focus more on what differentiates the CSR and IR perspectives, and the actors in the Chemical sector to focus more on what the CSR and IR perspectives share. (shrink)

In genomic research, cohort and large-scale population studies are proliferating along with accompanying infrastructures (databases and biobanks). Population-based research links samples and data from multiple sources often obtained for other purposes. The normative frameworks of many countries are largely based on 1980 OECD principles which limit the uses of personal data, especially for secondary purposes. These limits, now found in legislation, policies and research guidelines, pose major barriers to population-based research.This text examines similarities and differences between epidemiology, public health research (...) and genomics. It also distinguishes between primary and secondary uses of personal information. In a comparative and critical analysis of the normative landscapes of five countries, Québec (Canada), Germany, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, three barriers are identified: the impracticability of re-consent; the shortcomings of the review process (ethics and privacy) and certain multi-jurisdictional issues. Recommendations are proposed. (shrink)

This book is a conceptualization of the literary aesthetic in relation to ethics, in particular, an ethics for a concern for the Self. Bringing Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's constructivist thinking into a practical domain, Sabrina Achilles rethinks the ways in which literature is understood and taught. Through an interdisciplinary approach, literature is viewed from the position of a problem without any pre-given frame.

In this paper, we argue that the concept of environmental scaffolding can contribute to a better understanding of our affective life and the complex manners in which it is shaped by environmental entities. In particular, the concept of environmental scaffolding offers a more comprehensive and less controversial framework than the notions of embeddedness and extendedness. We contribute to the literature on situated affectivity by embracing and systematizing the diversity of affective scaffolding. In doing so, we introduce several distinctions that provide (...) classifications of different types of environmentally scaffolded affectivity. Furthermore, we differentiate eight dimensions that allow us to evaluate the quality and effectivity of scaffolds in particular applications. On that basis, we develop a taxonomy using paradigmatic examples of affective scaffolding. This taxonomy enriches the current debate by emphasizing distinctions that are often conflated and by identifying fields of application that are commonly overlooked. (shrink)

Barbara Montero considers whether or not we are able to remember what pain feels like. In order to properly answer this question, she introduces a new type of memory called 'qualitative memory', which seems common to exteroceptive sensations. Having concluded that there is arguably no qualitative memory for pain and other bodily sensations, Montero considers possible philosophical implications for areas including rational choice-making and empathy. In addressing the relationship between pain and memory, the paper raises an issue that has not (...) received much attention and indicates various interesting fields of research for which the apparent inability to remember pain might prove relevant. My comment primarily focuses on the core concepts of pain and qualitative memory which are foundational for the paper. I argue that a deeper engagement with some key aspects of these concepts is necessary. A more fine-grained discussion could have made Montero's argument more convincing. (shrink)

Distributed Leadership (DL) is a feature of education in many jurisdictions. Similarly, in Ireland the principles of DL have been adopted as part of a quality framework to underpin a system that provides high quality student care, learning and teaching. This model necessitates an alignment of senior leaders (SLs) and middle leaders (MLs) whose actions are informed by the needs and priorities of their particular school. The traditional notion of the ML position as a management position is changing. The evolution (...) requires a reconceptualisation, a transformation of the role and how we support and develop it to ensure that MLs are an integral part of the leadership structure of the school. This pragmatic research explored the PD needs of MLs in Irish, Education and Training Board (ETB) post-primary schools. It involved a mixed-methods, exploratory sequential study. Stage one involved a set of five semi structured interviews with AP I post holders. These were used as an instrument to develop the online surveys. Stage two involved quantitative research. Online surveys were distributed to all ETB schools in the republic of Ireland. In stage three a summary of the findings of the survey were shared with ten AP Is who were subsequently interviewed to gain further insights. The study illustrated that the development of MLs requires the support of SLs, skills development, a supportive school culture and combined training for senior and middle leaders which should be facilitated by an independent person. (shrink)

The prominence of religion in recent debates around politics, identity formation, and international terrorism has led to an increased demand on those studying religion to help clarify and contextualise religious belief and practice in the public sphere. While many texts focus on the theoretical development of the subject, this book outlines a wider application of these studies by exploring the role of religious studies scholars and theologians as public intellectuals. -/- This collection of essays first seeks to define exactly what (...) makes an intellectual "public". It then goes on to deal with a few questions of concern: How do public intellectuals construct knowledge in religious and theological scholarship? What is the link between public intellectuals of higher education and their role in society? Do higher education institutions have a responsibility to endorse public intellectualism? -/- Looking at the individual and collective role of religious studies scholars and theologians in public life, this book will be of great interest to all scholars and academics involved in religious studies and theology across the academy. (shrink)

This article seeks to reflect on the methodological problem that dealing with political concepts with a particular historical and geographical frame entails. After stating how conceptual history, German in its origins, has given rise to different lines of thought throughout the Western World, especially in Europe, we explore how this conceptual approach can be used to address political concepts in Latin America from a philosophical-political perspective.

Este trabalho pretende desenvolver um breve confronto com Ser e Tempo a partir do conceito de instrumento [Zeug], cuja análise deve contribuir para a articulação de uma leitura quanto ao sentido da Viravolta [die Kehre] heideggeriana dos anos 30. Nossa proposta é a de desvelar o caráter metafísico de Ser e Tempo a partir do diagnóstico de um modo de relacionamento exclusivamente pragmático e instrumental com as coisas de nosso cotidiano, o qual incorre em última análise no problema da objetificação. (...) Para esse diagnóstico, devemos manter como horizonte o próprio projeto heideggeriano de crítica à metafísica: a constatação da objetificação da coisa enquanto instrumento é tornada possível a partir da segunda fase do pensamento heideggeriano, onde a crítica da metafísica é articulada como história do esquecimento do Ser. Neste momento, a análise das bases metafísicas da Modernidade revela uma postura específica a partir da qual o sujeito moderno teria se orientado pela dominação do ente, uma mesma postura a ser identificada na análise do instrumento em Ser e Tempo. Assim, segundo uma leitura imanente ao pensamento heideggeriano, porque orientada pela continuidade de seu projeto crítico, podemos entender a Viravolta como um aprofundamento da tarefa de superação da metafísica, cuja exigência trata de ultrapassar tanto o relacionamento objetificado com as coisas de nossos mundos cotidianos como a postura moderna de dominação. (shrink)

The pattern of ups and downs in a sequence with varying pitch can be heard as a melodic contour. Contrary to single pitch, the neural representation of melodic contour information in the auditory cortex is rarely investigated, and it is not clear whether the processing entails a hemispheric asymmetry. The present magnetoencephalography study assessed the neuromagnetic responses of N = 18 normal-hearing adults to four-note sequences with fixed vs. varying pitch that were presented either monaurally or diotically; data were analyzed (...) using minimum-norm reconstructions. The first note of the sequences elicited prominent transient activity in posterior auditory regions (Planum temporale), especially contralateral to the ear of entry. In contrast, the response to the subsequent notes originated from more anterior areas (Planum polare) and was larger for melodic contours than for fixed pitch sequences, independent from the ear of entry and without hemispheric asymmetry. Together, the results point to a gradient in the early cortical processing of melodic contours, both in spatial and functional terms, where posterior auditory activity reflects the onset of a pitch sequence and anterior activity reflects its subsequent notes, including the difference between sequences with fixed pitch and melodic contours. (shrink)

Pain is often used as the paradigmatic example of a phenomenal kind with a phenomenal quality common and unique to its instantiations. Philosophers have intensely discussed the relation between the subjective feeling, which unites pains and distinguishes them from other experiences, and the phenomenal properties of sensory, affective, and evaluative character along which pains typically vary. At the center of this discussion is the question whether the phenomenal properties prove necessary and/or sufficient for pain. In the empirical literature, sensory, affective, (...) and evaluative properties have played a decisive role in the investigation of psychophysical correspondence and clinical diagnostics. This paper addresses the outlined philosophical and empirical issues from a new perspective by constructing a multidimensional phenomenal space for pain. First, the paper will construe the phenomenal properties of pains in terms of a property space whose structure reflects phenomenal similarities and dissimilarities by means of spatial distance. Second, philosophical debates on necessary and sufficient properties are reconsidered in terms of whether there is a phenomenal space formed of dimensions along which all and only pains vary. It is concluded that there is no space of this kind and, thus, that pain constitutes a primitive phenomenal kind that cannot be analyzed entirely in terms of its varying phenomenal properties. Third, the paper addresses the utility of continued reference to pain and its phenomenal properties in philosophical and scientific discourses. It is argued that numerous insights into the phenomenal structure of pain can be gained that have thus far received insufficient attention. (shrink)

We discuss the implementation of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) within a project for the development of an AI-supported exergame for assisted movement training, outline outcomes and reflect on methodological opportunities and limitations. We adopted the responsibility-by-design (RbD) standard (CEN CWA 17796:2021) supplemented by methods for collaborative, ethical reflection to foster and support a shift towards a culture of trustworthiness inherent to the entire development process. An embedded ethicist organised the procedure to instantiate a collaborative learning effort and implement RRI (...) in a translational context. Within the interdisciplinary setting of the collaboration and with the support of a technoethicist, we successfully identified relevant, project-specific challenges and developed a roadmap with derived actions, thus meaningfully integrating RRI into the development process. We discuss the methodological procedure in terms of its effectiveness and efficiency, the allocation of responsibilities and roles, particularly regarding potential frictions in the interdisciplinary context with embedded ethics, and the challenges of the translational context. We conclude that the responsibility-by-design standard effectively established a productive workflow for collaborative investigation and work on ethical challenges. We reflect on methodological difficulties and propose possible avenues to our approach. (shrink)

This paper summarizes key shifts in judicial decisions relating to public health powers during the pandemic and the implications of those decisions for public health practice. Then, it gives a preview and call for partnership in developing a legal framework for authority that guides public health to better activities, processes, and accountability in service of the public’s health.

Pain continues to be one of the most controversial subjects in neurophilosophy. One focus of current debates is the apparent absence of an ideal brain‐based biomarker that could function as a coherent and distinct indicator for pain. One prominent reaction to this in the philosophical literature is scientific pain eliminativism. In this article, I argue for a non‐eliminative alternative that builds on family resemblances and provides a useful heuristic in the tradeoff between the idiosyncrasy of the neural processes corresponding to (...) different pain cases and the demand for generalizability in pain research. (shrink)

Identifying ethically allowable options for infants with trisomy 18 has become more challenging as medical standards of practice shift, based on emerging scientific data and changing societal perceptions of disability. Lack of a stable professional standard of practice ought not prevent ethicists from facilitating a consensus; rather, these “unsettled cases” require an individualized, narrative approach that allows the values of the family and the particularities of each case to provide the necessary additional moral grounding.

The authors provide a concise analysis of the changing political economy of race, incarceration, political imprisonment, and execution in the U.S. criminal justice system. The article goes on to describe the circumstances surrounding the arrest, conviction, and impending execution of the black militant, Mumia Abu-Jamal. From here the discussion turns to an examination of the political efficacy of various boycott strategies and tactics, and, in closing, begins to outline a specific plan of action aimed at preventing Abu-Jamal’s execution.

The United States is currently the linchpin of global trade, technology, and finance, and a military colossus, extending across the world with a network of bases and alliances. This book anticipates the possible issues raised by a transition between American dominance and the rise of alternative powers. While a 'post-American' world need not be any different than that of today, the risk associated with such a change provides ample reason for attentive study. Divided into four parts, 50 international relations scholars (...) explore and discuss: Power Transitions: addressing issues including the rise of China; the passing of American primacy and the endurance of American leadership. War and Peace: addressing nuclear weapons; the risk of war; security privatization and global insecurity Global Governance: addressing competition, trade, the UN, sovereignty, humanitarian intervention, law and power. Energy and the Environment: addressing resource conflict, petrol, climate change and technology. This unique project offers a compilation of disparate arguments by scholars and policy practitioners, encompassing a plurality of disciplines and theoretical perspectives. By providing clarity and focus to this essential debate on the future of the world in the next several decades, Debating a Post-American World will be of interest to students and scholars of International Relations and global politics, American politics, US Foreign policy and International Security. (shrink)

The idea that sports can be used to shape a person in preparation for citizenship is not a new one. It was first articulated by the ancient Greeks, who employed physical training alongside poetry to form learners in virtue, so that they could contribute meaningfully to the polis. This article explores how, practically speaking, sports leadership today can use physical training toward the same end. It examines the value of sports in the acquisition of civic virtues. It also explores some (...) of the difficulties in using sporting activities for character development, such as how competitive objectives can undermine community and whether values pluralism is an obstacle to coaching for citizenship. (shrink)

This paper examines the International Student Competition on Place Brand­ing and Mediterranean Diet held in Fermo, Italy, in the context of the devel­opment of rural areas. This one-week food-related educational programme was organised by the University of Macerata’s Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism in collaboration with The Piceno Laboratory on the Mediterranean Diet, a local network of public and private stakehold­ers committed to the promotion of Fermo area as a touristic destination based on traditional gastronomy. The aim of (...) this study was to understand how and to what extent such food-related educational events may con­tribute to providing students with the knowledge, expertise and soft skills needed for careers in the food tourism sector. Of interest also was how such events may benefit the development of rural areas. The ISC was founded in 2016 and continued in 2017, 2018 and 2019. In order to assess students’ perceptions about the experience, specifically regarding what they felt they had learned about food tourism, and which soft skills they had acquired or honed, 13 students who participated in the 2017 event were interviewed for a qualitative study. Moreover, the authors drew upon information gleaned from interactions with students and teachers, as well as with several important actors of the local food and tourism sector, in­cluding tourism and hospitality entrepreneurs and representatives of gov­ernment agencies, with whom they collaborated in the context of planning, running and evaluating the events. The findings show that the ISC can provide students with a good general understanding of the territory and practical knowledge about place branding and food tourism. In terms of career preparation, the combination of fieldwork activities with traditional lectures and group activities was particularly fruitful in promoting soft skills such as communication, efficient use of social media, teamwork, problem-solving and decision making. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung Der einleitende Beitrag der Schwerpunktausgabe behandelt die Konjunkturen des Themas Religion und Architektur innerhalb der religionswissenschaftlichen Forschung der vergangenen Jahrzehnte. Ausgangspunkt ist die Beobachtung, dass Architektur in der religionswissenschaftlichen Fachgeschichte zwar immer wieder Gegenstand theoretischer Ansätze und methodischer Überlegungen war, aber bisher keine umfassende religionswissenschaftliche Methodologie zu diesem Gegenstand entwickelt worden ist und Architektur als solche nach wie vor als religionswissenschaftliche Quelle ein Desiderat darstellt. Vielmehr fungierte religiöse Architektur in den jüngsten Debatten zu raum- oder migrationsbezogenen Themen als Blaupause. (...) Religiöser Architektur wird zwar oftmals Bedeutung zugesprochen, z. B. als Kontaktzone oder in ihrer raumbildenden und strukturierenden Funktion, wie sie jedoch Bedeutung erzeugt, stellt nach wie vor eine zentrale Frage dar, die noch nicht hinreichend und religionswissenschaftlich vergleichend untersucht worden ist. An der Schnittstelle zwischen Material Turn und Spatial Turn gerät religiöse Architektur nun wieder zunehmend in den Fokus aktueller religionswissenschaftlicher, soziologischer, kunsthistorischer und architekturtheoretischer Forschungsvorhaben. Die Einleitung führt exemplarisch in ausgewählte Disziplinen ein, die zur Beschäftigung mit religiöser Architektur Anregungen bieten, und versteht sich als Anstoß, die religionswissenschaftliche Debatte zu diesem Gegenstand voran zu treiben. Die Schwerpunktausgabe führt entsprechend religionshistorische wie systematische Beiträge zusammen, die sich auf unterschiedliche Weise diesem breiten Gegenstand nähern. (shrink)

This article describes the results of qualitative research into the moral issues faced by social work professionals working in projects targeted at teenage mothers. The research is part of the tradition of empirical and practice-driven ethics. The main questions were: How does morality become visible in the social services for teenage mothers and how do social workers deal with the moral dimension of their work? (How) can education, training and peer review offer space for moral reflection? Interviews and group meetings (...) ('focus groups') were held to answer these questions. Nineteen professionals (front-line professionals as well as professionals in executive roles) participated in the research. The findings describe the moral issues and the moral actions of professionals and the organizational context respectively. The results reveal that the everyday practice of social work professionals can raise complex issues inherent to their work and that there is often no explicit reflection on the moral dimension of these issues. The authors argue that there needs to be greater focus on the complexity of moral issues and elaborate on three dimensions of this complexity. (shrink)

The most common approach to understanding the semantics of the concept of pain is third-person thought experiments. By contrast, the most frequent and most relevant uses of the folk concept of pain are from a first-person perspective in conversational settings. In this paper, we use a set of linguistic tools to systematically explore the semantics of what people communicate when reporting pain from a first-person perspective. Our results suggest that only a pluralistic view can do justice to the way we (...) talk about pain from a first-person perspective: The semantic content of the folk concept of pain consists of information about both an unpleasant feeling and a disruptive bodily state. Pain linguistics thus provides new insights into ordinary pain language and poses an interesting challenge to the dominant unitary views of pain. (shrink)