THE ONTOLOGY OF EDUCATION (HERMENEUTIC, EXISTENTIAL, SYNERGETIC BASE

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I. I. Sulima

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The article identifies the importance of research in the field of philosophy of education. The literature review presents a wide range of researchers in the field of humanistic philosophy of education. The system analysis of the current trends in the philosophy of education is given.Materials and methods:  The methodological basis is represented by the triad of hermeneutics existentialism-synergy. The study is carried out mainly on the basis of hermeneutic positions. The prospects of existential and synergistic positions are demonstrated.Results: The results of the study: the essence of existential (understanding of education is determined by the leading role of language. The dominance of pragmatism is not in line with the goals of human existence; therefore, it is not the basis of existential education. Education as a form of social existence of a man should not aim at superficial social problems, but at understanding the human being. The analysis of the relationship of human being and nature education allow us to conclude that existential education is focused on the act of understanding as an anthropological event. Education directs attention to the underlying meanings, based on the main events of human life: Birth, Love, Osamenost, Speech, Creativity, Freedom, Delight, Doubt, Suffering, and Death. These achievements should be represented in education. Human intentionality is considered as the human desire for openness, incompleteness. The definition of openness of human existence and the conformity of this metaphysical characteristic of its existence, the openness of education, the purpose of which is to build an understanding of the view of the world, allows to justify the conclusion about the incompleteness as a General trait of human existence and hermeneutically, existential, synergetic oriented education. Existential education is intentional. Festivity (celebration, fun, game, fixing the achievements, celebrate success and

[An existential-phenomenological approach to consciousness].

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Langle, A

2014-01-01

The human beings are characterized as subjects. Their essence is understood as Person. A treatment which does not consider the subjective and the Person would not correspond their essence. For a feeling and autonomous being, consciousness plays a role but cannot fully correspond the being a person. This has a therapeutic impact on the treatment of unconscious patients and gives the treatment a specific access. Some instructions for the therapeutic application of the phenomenological-existential concept and the phenomenological attitude towards unconscious or brain traumatized patients are given. The role of consciousness for being human is briefly reflected from an existential perspective.

Existential vulnerability: toward a psychopathology of limit situations.

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Fuchs, Thomas

2013-01-01

Jaspers' concept of limit situations seems particularly appropriate not only to elucidate outstanding existential situations in general, but also basic preconditions for the occurrence of mental disorders. For this purpose, the concept is first explained in Jaspers' sense and then related to an 'existential vulnerability' of mentally ill persons that makes them experience even inconspicuous events as distressing limit situations. In such situations, an otherwise hidden fundamental condition of existence becomes manifest for them, e.g. the fragility of one's own body, the inevitability of freedom, or the finiteness of life. This fundamental condition is found unbearable and, as a reaction, gives rise to mental illness. This concept of existential vulnerability is illustrated by some psychopathological examples. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The kingdom of God: Utopian or existential?

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Gert J. Malan

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The kingdom of God was a central theme in Jesus’ vision. Was it meant to be understood as utopian as Mary Ann Beavis views it, or existential? In 1st century CE Palestine, kingdom of God was a political term meaning theocracy suggesting God’s patronage. Jesus used the term metaphorically to construct a new symbolic universe to legitimate a radical new way of living with God in opposition to the temple ideology of exclusivist covenantal nomism. The analogies of father and king served as the root metaphors for this symbolic universe. They are existential root metaphors underpinning the contextual symbolic universe of God’s patronage in reaction to the collapse of the patronage system which left peasants destitute. Jesus’ paradoxical use of the metaphor kingdom of God had a therapeutic value and gave the concept new meaning. The initial motivation for proclaiming God’s patronage originated in Jesus’ primary identity formation by Mary as single parent and was reinforced in his secondary identity formation by John the Baptist. From these results can be concluded that kingdom of God was not meant to be understood as utopian, but existential. In order to clarify the meaning of kingdom of God and God’s patronage for the 21st century, emythologisation and deconstruction can be helpful especially by highlighting the existential meaning of the kingdom of God.

A Primer of Existentialism.

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Bigelow, Gordon E.

1961-01-01

Although no set of principles can apply uniformly to all existentialists, certain basic characteristics of existentialism are central to both the nonreligious writers like Sartre and Camus and the theistic existentialists like Kierkegaard, Maritain, Marcel, Tillich, Berdyaev, and Buber. These characteristics are (1) an insistence that human life…

Existential Meaning Among First-Time Full-Term and Preterm Mothers

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Prinds, Christina; Hvidtjørn, Dorte; Mogensen, Ole

2014-01-01

Research indicates that childbirth is a time when a woman might experience existential disruptions and gain new perspectives on life. The 2-fold aim of this study was to investigate whether attitudes related to existential meaning among first-time mothers intensify and whether they differ between...... mothers who gave birth at full term and those who gave birth preterm. All first-time mothers who gave birth in Denmark in 2010 before the 32nd week of pregnancy and twice that number of full-term mothers (randomly sampled) were invited to participate in a national cross-sectional survey. Five core items...... concerning meaning in life, vulnerability of life, responsibility, thoughts about life and death, and "something bigger than oneself" were analyzed to compare mothers' attitudes on existential meaning. The overall response rate was 57% (517/913). Contrary to the hypothesis, attitudes related to existential...

Existentialism and organization behaviour : How existentialism can have a contribution to complexity theory and sense-making

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Blomme, R.J.; Bornebroek te Lintelo, K.

2012-01-01

This article aims to develop a conception consisting of insights from complexity theory and additional notions from Weick’s sense-making theory and existentialism for examining organization behaviour.

An existential theoiy of truth

African Journals Online (AJOL)

of the theory of truth expressed in the writings of certain existentialist writers ... gical) indeterminateness of meaning and truth, apart from one's .... dual human perspective and the unavoidable existential tasks of deciphering for oneself what is ...

Feelings of Existential Fulfilment and Burnout Among Secondary School Teachers

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Loonstra, B.; Brouwers, A.; Tomic, W.

2010-01-01

Abstract Teacher burnout is recognized as a serious problem. In research it has been related to many person-specific variables; one of these, the variable of existential fulfilment, has received very little attention thus far. The present study focuses on the relationship between existential

Logotheoretical Understanding of Existential Sources of Bullying Behavior

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Mária Dědová

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The approach of logotheory is one of many approaches to understanding of man. Logotheory sees a human being in his complexity, as a three-dimensional unity of somatic, psychic, and noetic dimensions. Through logotheory, man discovers the possible sources for not loving himself and others. The logotheoretical approach points out that individuals involved in bullying presentun developed noetic dimension. This becomes a source of existential frustration or existential vacuum leading to the occurrence of various forms of pathological behaviour including bullying. It emphasises that aggressors present insufficient development of two fundamental capacities of the noetic dimension allowing the contact with other people: self-detachment and self-transcendence. The uniqueness of this approach lies in the search for answers to one’s existence that bring more than just a temporary satisfaction. Uncovering existential sources of bullying behaviour could be instrumental in finding solutions to prevention and intervention of bullying.

Virtuous aging and existential vulnerability.

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Laceulle, Hanne

2017-12-01

In its efforts to overcome problematic views that associate aging with inevitable decline, contemporary gerontology shows a tendency to focus predominantly on age-related vulnerabilities that science may try to remedy and control. However, gerontology should also offer languages to address vulnerabilities that cannot be remedied because they intrinsically belong to the human condition. After all, these are increasingly radically encountered in later life and should therefore be reflected upon in the study of aging. Humanistic gerontology seems to be the most promising field to look for languages capable of contemplating such existential vulnerabilities. The potential contribution of philosophy in this field remains underdeveloped so far, however. This article therefore aims to introduce insights from the philosophical tradition to (humanistic) gerontology. More specifically, it focuses on the tradition of virtue ethics, arguing that virtue is a particularly relevant notion to explore in dealing with existential vulnerability in later life. The notion of virtue is clarified by discussing a selection of philosophical perspectives on this topic, by Aristotle, MacIntyre and Swanton. Next a brief overview will be given of some of the ways the notion of virtue has found its way into gerontological discourse so far. The article ends with an analysis of the merits of virtue-ethical discourse for the study of aging and later life, and pleads for more inclusion of philosophical ideas such as virtue in gerontology, as these can enrich our conceptual frameworks and help us relate to deep existential questions regarding the experience of aging. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Existential Social Work

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Donald F. Krill

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The existential impact upon social work began in the 1960’s with the emphasis upon freedom, responsibility and a sense of the absurd. It affirmed human potential while faulting the deterministic thinking that was popular with psychological theorists at that time. It was open to the prospects of spirituality, but was less than optimistic concerning great progress among social institutions. It was a forerunner to the strengths-based social work programs of our present day.

The Lurking Wolf: Qualitative research of existential experiences with lupus in female patients

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Larsen, Janni Lisander; Jacobsen, Søren; Hall, Elisabeth

of existential experiences over time in female patients suffering from Lupus. Method: Three 3 qualitative indept interviews with 15 women is planned during 1½ year. First and second round is performed, and third is planned during spring 2015. Interviews are guided by Van Manens life world existentials (time...... to withdraw their consent, and to choose time and place for the interviewing. Results: Interpretation on the existential meaning is in progress. Preliminary results document that the chaotic time of the diagnosis gradually changes over the years, leaving a mark on their existential life. Experiencing......THE LURKING OF THE WOLF- QUALITATIVE RESARCH OF EXISTENTIAL EXPERIENCES WITH LUPUS IN FEMALE PATIENTS. J. Lisander Larsen (1, 2), S. Jacobsen (2), E.O. C. Hall (1), R. Birkelund(3) (1) Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Section for Nursing, Denmark. (2) University Hospital...

Examination of the Relationship among Death Anxiety, Spirituality, Religious Orientation and Existential Anxiety

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Merve Halıcı Kurtulan

2016-08-01

Full Text Available In this study, the associations among death anxiety, spiritual tendencies, existential anxiety, and religious tendencies were examined. In addition, this study investigated whether these variables changed with respect to demographic characteristics. The study group was composed of 404 university students. Data was collected by administering the personal demographic form, Death Anxiety Scale, Existential Scale, Religious Tendency Scale, and Spirituality Scale. In line with the purpose of the study, the relational screening model and descriptive methods have been used and participants are identified as study groups. Male participants scored significantly higher than female participants. Gender was not found to have an effect on the other variables. Existential anxiety did not differ within groups with respect to having a religious education. Participants who had received a religious education had higher death anxiety and less spiritual tendencies. Motivation for religious tendencies was found to be external. According to the results, death anxiety and existential anxiety are negatively correlated; existential anxiety and spiritual tendencies are positively correlated; and religious tendencies, which have externally motivations, and spiritual tendencies are negatively correlated. Death anxiety, spiritual tendencies, and religious tendencies predict existential anxiety. As suggestions, the number of studies that examine the associations among existential anxiety, religious tendencies, and spiritual tendencies should be increased, and the quality of religious education should be discussed in detail.

The Lurking Wolf: Qualitative Research of Existential Experiences with Lupus in Female Patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Janni Lisander; Jacobsen, Søren; Hall, Elisabeth

THE LURKING OF THE WOLF- QUALITATIVE RESARCH OF EXISTENTIAL EXPERIENCES WITH LUPUS IN FEMALE PATIENTS. J. Lisander Larsen (1, 2), S. Jacobsen (2), E.O. C. Hall (1), R. Birkelund(3) (1) Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Section for Nursing, Denmark. (2) University Hospital of Copenha......THE LURKING OF THE WOLF- QUALITATIVE RESARCH OF EXISTENTIAL EXPERIENCES WITH LUPUS IN FEMALE PATIENTS. J. Lisander Larsen (1, 2), S. Jacobsen (2), E.O. C. Hall (1), R. Birkelund(3) (1) Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Section for Nursing, Denmark. (2) University Hospital...... for existential uncertainty. Patient experiences are scarcely researched, and studies do not emphasize existential themes at stake during the illness trajectory and this leaves a knowledge gap important for evidence-based nursing support. Purpose: The purpose of this PhD study is to explore the meaning...... of existential experiences over time in female patients suffering from Lupus. Method: Three 3 qualitative indept interviews with 15 women is planned during 1½ year. First and second round is performed, and third is planned during spring 2015. Interviews are guided by Van Manens life world existentials (time...

Existential anxiety and growth: an exploration of computerized drawings and perspectives of children and adolescents with cancer.

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Woodgate, Roberta L; West, Christina H; Tailor, Ketan

2014-01-01

Until now, most existentially focused cancer research has been conducted within adult populations. Only a handful of qualitative investigations have captured the experiences of children with cancer relative to themes such as existential fear and finitude, meaning/meaninglessness, uncertainty, authenticity, and inauthenticity. This article aimed to provide a deeper understanding of the existential challenges faced by children living with cancer. An interpretive, descriptive qualitative research approach was used. Thirteen children (8-17 years) undergoing treatment for cancer participated. Children participated in individual open-ended interviews and also had the opportunity to journal their experiences in a computerized drawing tool. The 4 main themes that emerged in relation to the existential challenges experienced by children with cancer included (1) existential worry, (2) existential vacuum, (3) existential longing, and (4) existential growth. The drawing tool within the computer diary was found to be particularly beneficial in assisting children to express the existential challenges that they had previously been unable to articulate in words. Children moved between existential anxiety and existential growth within the cancer world. The expressive means of drawing pictures gave children a therapeutic space to explore and work at understanding the existential challenges experienced. This research provides evidence that the active engagement of children's imaginations through the use of a computer-drawing tool may have significant therapeutic value for children with cancer. As well, the findings support the importance of nurses "being there" for young patients with cancer in their time of despair.

Relieving existential suffering through palliative sedation: discussion of an uneasy practice.

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Bruce, Anne; Boston, Patricia

2011-12-01

This article presents a discussion of the use of palliative sedation in response to intractable (not responsive to treatment) existential suffering. Patients suffering from a terminal illness are often faced with severe symptoms at the end of life. Although palliative sedation is sometimes used when no other options are effective in relieving unbearable pain or suffering, its use in response to intractable existential suffering in terminal illness remains controversial. A literature search was conducted for published articles addressing the use of palliative sedation between 1996 and 2009 using established databases. Palliative sedation remains an uneasy practice. The debates have centred on ethical issues surrounding decisions to use sedation and on separating the intent of palliative sedation (relief of intolerable symptoms) from the intent of euthanasia (hastening death). There is lack of consensus in defining existential suffering. Consequently, there is limited understanding of how decisions are being made when using palliative sedation to treat intractable existential suffering. Given the confusion and uncertainty about ethical and clinical justifications for palliative sedation in treating existential suffering, we argue that a better understanding of the controversies and decision-making process is needed. Greater understanding is required to prevent palliative sedation from becoming a substitute for intensive treatment of this kind of suffering. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Motherhood transition through an existential lens

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Prinds, Christina Lange

2015-01-01

Motherhood transition is a significant life event. Research from various disciplines outlines pregnancy, birth and the initial period of motherhood as a period of life in which a woman might experience disruption and gain new perspectives in a bodily, psychological, social and existential way....... This may be even more relevant for women giving birth preterm, since research suggests that mothers of premature babies undergo an experience of loss, crisis and unpredictability. This PhD project aimed to identify whether motherhood transition actualises considerations on how to make meaning of life...... existentially among Danish first-time mothers, and whether they differ among mothers of full-term children (FT) and mothers of preterm children (PT). The thesis consists of three individual, still interrelated papers, first a scoping review among mothers having given birth at full term, identifying existing...

The existential experience of everyday life with systemic lupus erythematosus.

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Larsen, Janni Lisander; Hall, Elisabeth O C; Jacobsen, Søren; Birkelund, Regner

2018-05-01

To explore from the perspective of women the nature of basic existential conditions while living with systemic lupus erythematosus. Systemic lupus erythematosus has an unpredictable disease course and is documented to cause an existential rearrangement of life. The significance of changes in existential conditions and related experiences are unclear in the context of nursing and women with systemic lupus erythematosus. A qualitative design guided by Van Manen's hermeneutic-phenomenological methodology. Individual in-depth interviews with 15 women diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus and of various ages, disease durations and severities were undertaken from September 2013 - October 2015. Data were analysed following van Manen's phenomenological approach and using drawing as an interpretive tool. The main existential experience was interpreted as a person "moving with the waves of systemic lupus erythematosus" constituted by the themes "oscillating between presence and absence of systemic lupus erythematosus," "recognizing space and bodily possibilities and limitations" and "being enriched through relationships and activities." When systemic lupus erythematosus was flaring, well-being was threatened and a laborious time to escape the feeling of a setback-in-life persisted long after the disease was medically under control. Daily life with systemic lupus erythematosus is conditioned by a prominent need to be in existential motion, related to the absence and presence of systemic lupus erythematosus. The experience of a setback-in-life by illness might challenge well-being and indicates that periods of disease flares or disturbing symptoms are critical time points to provide support. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Systematic review of existential anxiety instruments

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van Bruggen, Vincent; Vos, J.; Westerhof, Gerben Johan; Bohlmeijer, Ernst Thomas; Glas, G.

2015-01-01

Existential anxiety (EA) is an expression of being occupied with ultimate concerns such as death, meaninglessness, and fundamental loneliness. Philosophers and psychologists have claimed its importance for the study of human thinking, emotion, decision making, and psychopathology. Until now research

Continuous Palliative Sedation for Existential Distress? A Survey of Canadian Palliative Care Physicians' Views.

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Voeuk, Anna; Nekolaichuk, Cheryl; Fainsinger, Robin; Huot, Ann

2017-01-01

Palliative sedation can be used for refractory symptoms during end-of-life care. However, continuous palliative sedation (CPS) for existential distress remains controversial due to difficulty determining when this distress is refractory. The aim was to determine the opinions and practices of Canadian palliative care physicians regarding CPS for existential distress. A survey focusing on experience and views regarding CPS for existential distress was sent to 322 members of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians. Eighty-one surveys returned (accessible target, 314), resulting in a response rate of 26%. One third (31%) of the respondents reported providing CPS for existential distress. On a 5-point Likert-type scale, 40% of participants disagreed, while 43% agreed that CPS could be used for existential distress alone. Differing opinions exist regarding this complex and potentially controversial issue, necessitating the education of health-care professionals and increased awareness within the general public.

Kierkegaard, Seduction, and Existential Education

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Saeverot, Herner

2011-01-01

This article aims at making a case for the role of seduction in existential education, that is, education that focuses on the pupil's life choices. First, the article attempts to show that the relationship between the teacher and the pupil can be understood as a form of seduction. Secondly, the article examines how such a relationship functions in…

A Comparison of Learning Outcomes in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Existential Therapy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Anders Dræby

of the outcome of psychotherapy through qualitative research. The precise aim is to draw attention to the special characteristics of this outcome in terms of learning outcome. This regards both existential therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy and to clarify the possible differences and similarities between...... the lived experience of the learning outcomes of these approaches. The study also clarifies the differences between existential psychotherapy as an art of learning directed at existential learning of authenticity and cognitive- behavioural therapy as a learning-based medical treatment technology directed...... at behavioural and cognitive learning of adaptive and functional responses that alleviates pathological symptoms....

Supporting existential care with protected mealtimes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beck, Malene; Birkelund, Regner; Poulsen, Ingrid

2017-01-01

by the bell; (2) being embraced by calmness and aesthetics and (3) being in a trust-bearing agreement. CONCLUSIONS: Patients experienced mealtimes as meaningful events that nourished them in an existential manner because the calming and aesthetically pleasing environment made them feel embraced and allowed...

The Practices of Existential Psychotherapists: Development and Application of an Observational Grid

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Correia, Edgar A.; Sartóris, Vítor; Fernandes, Tiago; Cooper, Mick; Berdondini, Lucia; Sousa, Daniel; Pires, Branca Sá; da Fonseca, João

2018-01-01

Within the major therapeutic paradigms, observational instruments have been developed to assess orientation-specific interventions or processes. However, to date, no such instrument exists to assess existential practices. Recent research indicates the key practices of existential therapists, and forms an empirical basis on which to develop an…

Beyond the metaphysical: health-promoting existential mechanisms and their impact on the health status of clients.

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Whitehead, Dean

2003-09-01

This paper aims to conceptualize the issues that surround the notion of existential health. It also seeks to establish the impact that existential issues have upon the health of the individual client and how these might explicitly be applied in clinical practice settings. The ability of clients to draw upon their own existential resources as a fundamental part of their health care experience often goes unrecognized in nursing. Whilst existential mechanisms may be theoretically recognized, as a valid aspect of an individual's unique and personal identity, they are not an established part of the health care activity of nurses. Entrenched biomedical frameworks of care delivery and the interchangeable use of metaphysical health states with existential health states in the established literature present particular dilemmas for the acknowledgement of existential health in clients. A review of the literature has been conducted. This account argues that the failure to recognize and assess a client's existential health status represents a major omission on the part of the clinical nurse. These nurses are, in effect, denying their clients the right to exercise and mobilize an important and valuable health resource.

Clinical Holistic Medicine: The Existential Crisis—Life Crisis, Stress, and Burnout

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Søren Ventegodt

2005-01-01

Full Text Available The triple and parallel loss of quality of life, health, and ability without an organic reason is what we normally recognize as a life crisis, stress, or a burnout. Not being in control is often a terrible and unexpected experience. Failure on the large existential scale is not a part of our expectations, but most people will experience it. The key to getting well again is to get resources and help, which most people experience with shame and guilt. Stress and burnout might seem to be temporary problems that are easily handled, but often the problems stay. It is very important for the physician to identify this pattern and help the patient to realize the difficulties and seriousness of the situation, thus helping the patient to assume responsibility and prevent existential disaster, suicide, or severe depression. As soon as the patient is an ally in fighting the dark side of life and works with him/herself, the first step has been reached. Existential pain is really a message to us indicating that we are about to grow and heal. In our view, existential problems are gifts that are painful to receive, but wise to accept. Existential problems require skill on the part of the holistic physician or therapist in order to help people return to life—to their self-esteem, self-confidence, and trust in others. In this paper, we describe how we have met the patients soul to soul and guided them through the old pains and losses in order to get back on the track to life.

Pragmatism and Existential Philosophy

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Hans Lipps

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Hans Lipps compares pragmatism (William James and John Dewey existentialism (Friedrich Nietzsche, Soren Kierkegaard, and Martin Heidegger in this 1936 article translated from French.  He claims that they aim at the same goals, e.g., a return to lived experience and a rejection of the Cartesian legacy in philosophy.  While summarizing the commonalities of each, he engages in a polemic against philosophy then that remains relevant now into the next century.

Death and science: the existential underpinnings of belief in intelligent design and discomfort with evolution.

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Jessica L Tracy

Full Text Available The present research examined the psychological motives underlying widespread support for intelligent design theory (IDT, a purportedly scientific theory that lacks any scientific evidence; and antagonism toward evolutionary theory (ET, a theory supported by a large body of scientific evidence. We tested whether these attitudes are influenced by IDT's provision of an explanation of life's origins that better addresses existential concerns than ET. In four studies, existential threat (induced via reminders of participants' own mortality increased acceptance of IDT and/or rejection of ET, regardless of participants' religion, religiosity, educational background, or preexisting attitude toward evolution. Effects were reversed by teaching participants that naturalism can be a source of existential meaning (Study 4, and among natural-science students for whom ET may already provide existential meaning (Study 5. These reversals suggest that the effect of heightened mortality awareness on attitudes toward ET and IDT is due to a desire to find greater meaning and purpose in science when existential threats are activated.

Health-related Quality of Life and Existential Concerns Among Patients with End-stage Renal Disease.

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Bele, Samir; Bodhare, Trupti N; Mudgalkar, Nikhil; Saraf, Abhay; Valsangkar, Sameer

2012-05-01

Health-Related Quality Of Life (HRQOL) among patients with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) is significantly impacted by virtue of varied disease or treatment-related factors, and its evaluation along with existential concerns is required for providing comprehensive care to the patient. The aim of this study was to describe the various dimensions of HRQOL and existential concerns and to examine the relationship between the two among patients with ESRD. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 54 patients with ESRD undergoing maintenance hemodialysis in a teaching hospital. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to assess socio-demographic characteristics and existential concerns of the respondents. The HRQOL was evaluated using a standardized scale of Kidney Disease Quality of Life-Short Form (KDQOL-SF™) questionnaire. Data were presented as frequencies, mean ± Standard Deviation (SD) for baseline characteristics and scores. Pearson correlation was used to study the association between various domains of quality of life and existential concerns. Among HRQOL, the worst results obtained were in the domain of burden of kidney disease (33.45 ± 13.53), work status (49.07 ± 24.75), quality of social interaction (62.22 ±11.80), general health (43.06 ± 13.01), and physical functioning (47.50 ± 18.88). Disrupted personal integrity (12.80 ± 2.81) and loss of continuity (5.37 ± 1.17) were most bothersome existential concerns. A co-relational model behaves distinctly eliciting weak to strong association among various domains of HRQOL and existential concerns. Patients with ESRD reported impaired HRQOL in most of the domains. Existential concerns are distinguished as important dimensions of HRQOL. Association between HRQOL and existential concerns showed that these dimensions are distinct, and there is a need for assessing and attending these entities through a multidisciplinary approach to alleviate the suffering and achieving a sense of overall

Systematic Review of Existential Anxiety Instruments. [article

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Bruggen, V.; Vos, J.; Westerhof, G.; Bohlmeijer, E.; Glas, G.

2014-01-01

Existential anxiety (EA) is an expression of being occupied with ultimate concerns such as death, meaninglessness, and fundamental loneliness. Philosophers and psychologists have claimed its importance for the study of human thinking, emotion, decision making, and psychopathology. Until now research

Existential Well-Being Spirituality or Well-Being?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visser, Anja; Garssen, Bert; Vingerhoets, Ad J. J. M.

Measures of spirituality often contain the dimension existential well-being (EWB). However, EWB has been found to overlap with emotional and psychological well-being. Using the Spiritual Attitude and Involvement List (SAIL), we have further investigated the overlap between aspects of spirituality

Making existential meaning in transition to motherhood-A scoping review

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Prinds, Christina; Hvidt, Niels Christian; Mogensen, Ole

2014-01-01

the approach of a scoping review. Systematic searches in the electronic databases PubMed, CINAHL and PsycINFO were combined with manual and electronic searches for related references. Studies published between 1990 and 2010 examining dimensions of existential meaning-making in transition to motherhood were......, and to some women also being interpreted as a spiritual experience. However, in present maternity services there is a predominant focus on biomedical issues, which sets the arena for motherhood transition, and the issues related to potentially existentially changing experiences, are not considered important...

An Existentialist in Iqaluit: Existentialism and Reflexivity Informing Pedagogy in the Canadian North

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Yue, Anthony R.

2011-01-01

Reflecting on the personal experience of teaching human resource management in the Canadian Arctic, the author explores the utility of an existentialist approach to pedagogy. The author outlines select aspects of existentialism that are pertinent to the teaching and discusses the implications of using reflexive existential thought as guidance in a…

Health-related quality of life and existential concerns among patients with end-stage renal disease

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Samir Bele

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Background : Health-Related Quality Of Life (HRQOL among patients with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD is significantly impacted by virtue of varied disease or treatment-related factors, and its evaluation along with existential concerns is required for providing comprehensive care to the patient. Aim : The aim of this study was to describe the various dimensions of HRQOL and existential concerns and to examine the relationship between the two among patients with ESRD. Materials and Methods : A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 54 patients with ESRD undergoing maintenance hemodialysis in a teaching hospital. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to assess socio-demographic characteristics and existential concerns of the respondents. The HRQOL was evaluated using a standardized scale of Kidney Disease Quality of Life-Short Form (KDQOL-SF™ questionnaire. Data were presented as frequencies, mean ± Standard Deviation (SD for baseline characteristics and scores. Pearson correlation was used to study the association between various domains of quality of life and existential concerns. Results : Among HRQOL, the worst results obtained were in the domain of burden of kidney disease (33.45 ± 13.53, work status (49.07 ± 24.75, quality of social interaction (62.22 ±11.80, general health (43.06 ± 13.01, and physical functioning (47.50 ± 18.88. Disrupted personal integrity (12.80 ± 2.81 and loss of continuity (5.37 ± 1.17 were most bothersome existential concerns. A co-relational model behaves distinctly eliciting weak to strong association among various domains of HRQOL and existential concerns. Conclusion : Patients with ESRD reported impaired HRQOL in most of the domains. Existential concerns are distinguished as important dimensions of HRQOL. Association between HRQOL and existential concerns showed that these dimensions are distinct, and there is a need for assessing and attending these entities through a multidisciplinary

Existential psychotherapy of students as learning strategy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dræby, Anders

According to parts of the existential psychology and psychotherapy the individual's exploration and compliance of his or her life project is central to the experience of living a meaningful life. In many ways, becoming a fully adult individual is about identifying and taking responsibility for th...

The Existential Dimensions of Afro-American Literature.

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Evans, Elliott

The existential implications in Bontemps'"Black Thunder," Richard Wright's "Native Son," and Ellison's "Invisible Man" are explored in this paper. Each of these novels exhibits a concern about man structuring his existence through the choices he makes in an absurd world. Gabriel, the protagonist of "Black…

Embodied terror management: interpersonal touch alleviates existential concerns among individuals with low self-esteem.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koole, S.L.; Tjew-a-Sin, Mandy; Schneider, I.K.

2014-01-01

Individuals with low (rather than high) self-esteem often struggle with existential concerns. In the present research, we examined whether these existential concerns may be alleviated by seemingly trivial experiences of both real and simulated interpersonal touch. A brief touch on the shoulder by a

Reflections on the Existential Philosophy of T.S. Eliot's Poetry

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Prajna Pani

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The paper examines a ground that the chosen philosophers share. It will address man’s existential crisis - his confusion and despair over his existence. T. S Eliot believed that his insight could pull humanity out of the despair and hopelessness of modern era. The paper emphasizes the self transcending character of human existence. The eternal human situation offers liberation of mankind which starts with a total knowledge of man by himself. Through philosophical and existential exploration we can enter into, in effect, another state of consciousness, where we reconnect with each of our will at a deeper and satisfying level.

An existential perspective on meaning, spirituality and authenticity in athletic careers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ronkainen, Noora; Tikkanen, Olli; Littlewood, Martin

2015-01-01

This research examines athletes’ career paths and reflections of meaning in their sporting practices through an existential psychological lens. Through notions of spirituality and authenticity, we examined how competitive sport practices and bodily movement gain meaning, and often fundamentally...... shift meaning, in athletes’ lives. Reflective writings with a follow-up from 10 athletes were interpreted through an existential-narrative analysis. The results suggest that while the early years of sport practice are most often characterised as highly enjoyable experiences, for some, the later career...

Do it yourself: existentialism as punk philosophy

OpenAIRE

Hanscomb, S.

2010-01-01

Existentialism is a notoriously difficult philosophy to explain. The thesis here is that comparing it with Punk Rock is a useful way in. They share a number of features: nihilistic, extreme, passionate, liberating, inclusive, amateur and violent, and each of these serves as a heading under which similarities are explored.

Using Cinema and Literature to Explore Existentialism

Science.gov (United States)

Whipple, Jennifer; Tucker, Catherine

2012-01-01

This article describes how the book "When Nietzsche Wept: A Novel of Obsession" and the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" can be used to help counseling graduate students understand existential theory and its application to clients. Yalom's Four Givens of Existence, which consists of freedom and responsibility, meaninglessness,…

Towards an Existential Types Model for Java with Wildcards

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cameron, Nicholas; Drossopoulou, Sophia; Ernst, Erik

2007-01-01

Wildcards extend Java generics by softening the mismatch between subtype and parametric polymorphism. Although they are a key part of the Java 5.0 programming language, a type system including wildcards has never been proven type sound. Wildcards have previously been formalised as existential types....... In this paper we extend FGJ, a featherweight formalisation of Java with generics, with existential types. We prove that this calculus, ExistsJ, is type sound, and illustrate how it models wildcards in the Java Programming Language. ExistsJ is not a full model for Java wildcards, because it does not support...... lower bounds for wildcards. We discuss why ExistsJ can not be easily extended with lower bounds, and how full Java wildcards could be modelled in a type sound way....

Sitting with the Demons – Mindfulness, Suffering, and Existential Transformation

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Sebastjan VÖRÖS

2016-08-01

Full Text Available In the article, I critically evaluate some common objections against contemporary approaches to mindfulness meditation, with a special focus on two aspects. First, I consider the claim that de-contextualized contemporary approaches may have serious ethical consequences (the so-called problem of “mindful sniper/zombie”; second, I investigate the suggestion that it may be misleading to construe mindfulness meditation as (simply a relaxation and/or attention-enhancing technique, as it is sometimes accompanied by unpleasant, even terrifying phenomena (the so-called “dark night of the soul”. In the last two sections, I weave the two narratives together by putting forward the following claim: traditionally-minded criticisms of contemporary approaches are ultimately correct, but for the wrong reasons––the historical context is not important in itself, but because of the role it plays in confronting the practitioner with the fundamental existential questions. In this sense, mindfulness meditation can be conceived as an important, but not the only element of a broader process of overcoming existential angst, whose ultimate goal is not relaxation or enhanced attention, but rather a radical existential transformation.

An existential-phenomenological investigation of the experience of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study represents an existential-phenomenological investigation of the experience of being accepted in individuals who have undergone psychiatric institutionalization. Written protocols of narrative accounts were collected from nine individuals drawn from a partial hospitalization programme, with the analysis of these ...

Bearing witness: an existential position in caring.

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Arman, Maria

2007-12-01

A basic assumption for the study is that perceiving a person's deepest needs and desires to be on hand for another person, and their attempt to do so, have, in an ontological sense, the power to bear witness of goodness and eternity. The study was based on a theoretical basis of a caring science view of suffering, as well as the ethics of the philosopher Lévinas. The aim was to explore and clinically validate nuances of witnessing as a caring act.A Socratic dialogue was performed and an interpretive (hermeneutic) method was employed in this study. The Socratic dialogue with four nurses in palliative care focused on and analysed one clinical example of witnessing in palliative care. As basis for the findings are the participating nurses jointly formulated assumptions on the subject: To be a witness you have to be with the patient and refer back to him or her what you have seen; but also to act in accordance with what you have perceived. In the moment you witness, a window is opened onto the unknown; you become vulnerable as a caregiver and require courage. Being a witness encompasses existential and spiritual aspects; being a fellow human being, having a heart to heart relationship is a wilful act on the part of the nurse. Our theoretical discussion focuses on the language of the body, courage as a bridge to an existential encounter and the alleviation of patients' suffering through caregivers' witnessing. A conclusive aspect is that being a witness may bring a new understanding of life in the face of death and suffering. The existential position of being a witness requires the caregiver to be courageous because of its transformative prospect, but may utterly enrich both parties' inner life of shared meaning.

EXISTENTIALISM AND ITS UNDERPINNINGS FOR ANDRAGOGY

OpenAIRE

CARUTH, Gail

2015-01-01

Instructional practices are rooted in the philosophies of education. Educators, those in the practice of education, must turn to educational philosophers for guidance to questions relating to educating society. Educators must make the connection between learning practices and the philosophies of education that underlies the methods of learning. The purpose of this paper was to examine specifically the literature to determine if there is a relationship between the philosophy of existentialism ...

"Not Pure Harmony, but Less of a Power Struggle": What Do Teachers and Pedagogues Think about Using Existential Pedagogy?

Science.gov (United States)

Siller, Heidi; Waibel, Eva Maria

2018-01-01

Existential Pedagogy (EP) derives from existential analysis and logotherapy developed by Viktor Frankl and Alfried Längle in the tradition of existential philosophy and phenomenology. This study investigated how EP influences pedagogues' and teachers' attitudes and teaching. Four focus groups with a total of 12 persons each were conducted in an…

Existential and spiritual needs in mental health care: an ethical and holistic perspective.

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Koslander, Tiburtius; da Silva, António Barbosa; Roxberg, Asa

2009-03-01

This study illuminates how existential needs and spiritual needs are connected with health care ethics and individuals' mental health and well-being. The term existential needs is defined as the necessity of experiencing life as meaningful, whereas the term spiritual needs is defined as the need of deliverance from despair, guilt and/or sin, and of pastoral care. It discusses whether or not patients' needs are holistically addressed in Western health care systems that neglect patients' existential and spiritual needs, because of their biomedical view of Man which recognizes only patients' physical needs. It excludes a holistic health care which considers all needs, expressed by patients in treatment of mental illness. Addressing all needs is important for patients' improvement and recovery. For some patients, this is the only way to regain their mental health and well-being.

THE MYTH OF THE RUSSIAN EXISTENTIAL THREAT

Science.gov (United States)

2016-04-01

Putin’s intent. What we can do is learn from his actions, and what we see suggests growing Russian capabilities, significant military modernization...AU/ACSC/POWELL, N/AY16 AIR COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE AIR UNIVERSITY THE MYTH OF THE RUSSIAN EXISTENTIAL THREAT...The methodology focuses on Russian capability, capacity, and intention to threaten NATO members’ existence. While Russia does possess nuclear weapons

Unintended consequences of existential quantifications in biomedical ontologies

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Boeker Martin

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The Open Biomedical Ontologies (OBO Foundry is a collection of freely available ontologically structured controlled vocabularies in the biomedical domain. Most of them are disseminated via both the OBO Flatfile Format and the semantic web format Web Ontology Language (OWL, which draws upon formal logic. Based on the interpretations underlying OWL description logics (OWL-DL semantics, we scrutinize the OWL-DL releases of OBO ontologies to assess whether their logical axioms correspond to the meaning intended by their authors. Results We analyzed ontologies and ontology cross products available via the OBO Foundry site http://www.obofoundry.org for existential restrictions (someValuesFrom, from which we examined a random sample of 2,836 clauses. According to a rating done by four experts, 23% of all existential restrictions in OBO Foundry candidate ontologies are suspicious (Cohens' κ = 0.78. We found a smaller proportion of existential restrictions in OBO Foundry cross products are suspicious, but in this case an accurate quantitative judgment is not possible due to a low inter-rater agreement (κ = 0.07. We identified several typical modeling problems, for which satisfactory ontology design patterns based on OWL-DL were proposed. We further describe several usability issues with OBO ontologies, including the lack of ontological commitment for several common terms, and the proliferation of domain-specific relations. Conclusions The current OWL releases of OBO Foundry (and Foundry candidate ontologies contain numerous assertions which do not properly describe the underlying biological reality, or are ambiguous and difficult to interpret. The solution is a better anchoring in upper ontologies and a restriction to relatively few, well defined relation types with given domain and range constraints.

Existential Choice as Repressed Theism: Jean-Paul Sartre and Giorgio Agamben in Conversation

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Marcos Antonio Norris

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This article brings Sartre’s notion of existential authenticity, or sovereign decisionism, into conversation with the work of contemporary political theorist Giorgio Agamben, who argues that sovereign decisionism is the repressed theological foundation of authoritarian governments. As such, the article seeks to accomplish two goals. The first is to show that Sartre’s depiction of sovereign decisionism directly parallels how modern democratic governments conduct themselves during a state of emergency. The second is to show that Sartre’s notion of existential authenticity models, what Agamben calls, secularized theism. Through an ontotheological critique of Sartre’s professed atheism, the article concludes that an existential belief in sovereign decision represses, rather than profanes, the divine origins of authoritarian law. I frame the argument with a reading of Sartre’s 1943 play The Flies, which models the repressed theological underpinnings of Sartre’s theory.

COURAGE AND FEAR IN THE CONTEXT OF OPPOSITION OF HUMAN ACTIVITY AND INACTIVITY: EXISTENTIAL ASPECT

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Dmytro Yu. Snitko

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the article is to analyse fear and courage in the history of philosophy in the context of opposi-tion of human activity and inactivity that may lead to a profound understanding of the essence, causes and existen-tial aspects of human activity and inactivity. The implementation of the objective assumes the solution of the follow-ing tasks: analysis of philosophical interpretation of fear and courage; investigation of the relationship of fear and courage with active and passive forms of human being; revelation of existential dialectic of human activity and inac-tivity through the opposition of fear and courage. Methodology. The application of phenomenological approach and other methods of existential philosophy enabled to discover the importance of fear and courage for human existence. Significant contribution to the importance of the investigation of the fear-courage opposition in the context of hu-man activity and inactivity was made by M. Heidegger who pointed to the main modes of human being - «authen-tic» and «inauthentic» in the context of human activity and passivity. The application of hermeneutic method made possible the reconstruction of the reflection of fear-courage opposition in the history of philosophy. Scientific nov-elty. For the first time the analysis of the fear-courage opposition in the context of human activity and inactivity was carried out. Due to the analysis the fundamental existential character of the fear and courage opposition and its es-sential relationship with active and passive forms of human being were justified. Conclusions. In the course of this research it was found out that fear is closely connected with passive modes of human being. If classical philosophy placed emphasis on courage and associated fear with human mind and conscious decision, non-classical philosophy of the XIX century and existentialism focused on existential and ontological character of fear, its fundamental mean

COURAGE AND FEAR IN THE CONTEXT OF OPPOSITION OF HUMAN ACTIVITY AND INACTIVITY: EXISTENTIAL ASPECT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dmytro Yu. Snitko

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the article is to analyse fear and courage in the history of philosophy in the context of opposition of human activity and inactivity that may lead to a profound understanding of the essence, causes and existential aspects of human activity and inactivity. The implementation of the objective assumes the solution of the following tasks: analysis of philosophical interpretation of  fear and courage; investigation of the relationship of fear and courage with active and passive forms of human being; revelation of existential dialectic of human activity and inactivity through the opposition of  fear and courage. Methodology. The application of phenomenological approach and other methods of existential philosophy enabled to discover the importance of fear and courage for human existence. Significant contribution to the importance of the investigation of the fear-courage opposition in the context of human activity and inactivity was made by M. Heidegger who pointed to the main modes of human being - «authentic» and «inauthentic» in the context of human activity and passivity. The application of hermeneutic method made possible the reconstruction of the reflection of fear-courage opposition in the history of philosophy. Scientific novelty. For the first time the analysis of the  fear-courage opposition in the context of human activity and inactivity was carried out. Due to the analysis the  fundamental existential character of the fear and courage opposition and its essential relationship with active and passive forms of human being were justified. Conclusions. In the course of this research it was found out that fear is closely connected with passive modes of human being.  If classical philosophy placed emphasis on courage and associated fear with  human mind and conscious decision,  non-classical philosophy of the XIX century and existentialism focused on existential and ontological character of fear, its fundamental meaning

Moral Dilemmas and Existential Issues Encountered Both in Psychotherapy and Philosophical Counseling Practices

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Beatrice A. Popescu

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This paper stems from clinical observations and empirical data collected in the therapy room over six years. It investigates the relationship between psychotherapy and philosophical counseling, proposing an integrative model of counseling. During cognitive behavior therapy sessions with clients who turn to therapy in order to solve their clinical issues, the author noticed that behind most of the invalidating symptoms classified by the DSM-5 as depression, anxiety, hypochondriac and phobic complaints, usually lies a lack of existential meaning or existential scope and clients are also tormented by moral dilemmas. Following the anamnestic interview and the psychological evaluation, rarely the depression or anxiety diagnosed on Axis I is purely just a sum of invalidating symptoms, which may disappear if treated symptomatically. When applying the Sentence Completion Test, an 80 items test of psychodynamic origin and high-face validity, most of the clients report an entire plethora of conscious or unconscious motivations, distorted cognitions or irrational thinking but also grave existential themes such as scope or meaning of life, professional identity, fear of death, solitude and loneliness, freedom of choice and liberty. Same issues are approached in the philosophical counseling practice, but no systematic research has been done yet in the field. Future research and investigation is needed in order to assess the importance of moral dilemmas and existential issues in both practices.

Moral Dilemmas and Existential Issues Encountered Both in Psychotherapy and Philosophical Counseling Practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Popescu, Beatrice A

2015-08-01

This paper stems from clinical observations and empirical data collected in the therapy room over six years. It investigates the relationship between psychotherapy and philosophical counseling, proposing an integrative model of counseling. During cognitive behavior therapy sessions with clients who turn to therapy in order to solve their clinical issues, the author noticed that behind most of the invalidating symptoms classified by the DSM-5 as depression, anxiety, hypochondriac and phobic complaints, usually lies a lack of existential meaning or existential scope and clients are also tormented by moral dilemmas. Following the anamnestic interview and the psychological evaluation, rarely the depression or anxiety diagnosed on Axis I is purely just a sum of invalidating symptoms, which may disappear if treated symptomatically. When applying the Sentence Completion Test, an 80 items test of psychodynamic origin and high-face validity, most of the clients report an entire plethora of conscious or unconscious motivations, distorted cognitions or irrational thinking but also grave existential themes such as scope or meaning of life, professional identity, fear of death, solitude and loneliness, freedom of choice and liberty. Same issues are approached in the philosophical counseling practice, but no systematic research has been done yet in the field. Future research and investigation is needed in order to assess the importance of moral dilemmas and existential issues in both practices.

An existential criterion for normal and abnormal personality in the works of Erich Fromm.

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Kapustin S.A.

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This is the first of four articles scheduled for publication in this journal on the position people with normal and abnormal personalities take in regard to so-called existential dichotomies. The main objective of this article is to propose a new, existential criterion for normal and abnormal personality implicitly present in the works of Erich Fromm. According to this criterion, normal and abnormal personalities are determined, first, by special features of the content of their position regarding existential dichotomies, and, second, by particular aspects of the formation of this position. Such dichotomies, entitatively existent in all human life, are inherent, two-alternative contradictions. The position of a normal personality in its content orients one toward a contradictious predetermination of life in the form of existential dichotomies and the necessity of searching for compromise in resolving these dichotomies. This position is created on a rational basis with the person’s active participation. The position of an abnormal personality in its content subjectively denies a contradictious predetermination of life in the form of existential dichotomies and orients one toward a consistent, noncompetitive, and, as a consequence, one-sided way of life that doesn’t include self-determination. This position is imposed by other people on an irrational basis. Abnormal personality interpreted like this is one of the most important factors influencing the development of various kinds of psychological problems and mental disorders — primarily, neurosis. In the following three articles it will be shown that this criterion is also implicitly present in the theories of personality devised by Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, Carl Rogers, and Viktor Frankl.

Walking the line. Palliative sedation for existential distress: still a controversial issue?

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Schur, Sophie; Radbruch, Lukas; Masel, Eva K; Weixler, Dietmar; Watzke, Herbert H

2015-12-01

Adequate symptom relief is a central aspect of medical care of all patients especially in those with an incurable disease. However, as an illness progresses and the end of life approaches, physical or psychoexistential symptoms may remain uncontrollable requiring palliative sedation. Although palliative sedation has become an increasingly implemented practice in the care of terminally ill patients, sedation in the management of refractory psychological symptoms and existential distress is still a controversial issue and much debated. This case report presents a patient who received palliative sedation for the treatment of existential distress and discusses considerations that may arise from such a therapeutic approach.

Effectiveness of cognitive Existential Group therapy on quality of life of elderly people

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S Jalili Nikoo

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background and aim: With an aging population, considering the factors affecting the quality of life more than ever is necessary. The aim of current research was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive existential therapy on quality of life of elderly people. Methods: The current research is semi experimental with pre and post test with control group. Statistical population of research consists of all elderly people in Kahrizak nursing homes. In the first phase, the participants were selected through purposive sampling method and after responding to the quality of life questionnaire and obtaining score for enter to research they were divided in two groups of experimental and control (N = 12 per group using random sampling method.  The experimental group participated in 10 sessions of group counseling based on cognitive- existential approach and control group received no intervention. The gathered data were analyzed using covariance analysis. Results: There was no difference between pre-test and control groups, but the mean scores of post-test experimental and control groups were statistically significant. and cognitive group therapy improves quality of life is (p=0.001. Therefore it seems that cognitive-existential group therapy increase quality of life of elderly people. Conclusion: Cognitive Existential Group therapy utilizes concepts such as death, meaning, cognitive distortions and responsibility could increase the level ofquality of life of elderly people. Thus interventions based on this approach could be useful in improving the quality of life.

An existential analysis of genetic engineering and human rights ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Genetic engineering for purposes of human enhancement poses risks that justify regulation. However, this paper argues philosophically that it is inappropriate to use human rights treaties to prohibit germ-line genetic engineering whether therapeutic or for purposes of enhancement. When also looked at existentially, the ...

Astronomy and Existentialism in Albert Camus' ``The Adulterous Woman''

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Garwood, D.

2013-04-01

Camus' short story “An Adulterous Woman” from his collection Exile and the Kingdom narrates the experience of Janine, wife of a French Algerian cloth-trader, who accompanies her husband on a business trip to the Saharan interior at mid-20th century. The desert landscape and its weather play an integral role in the plot. Blending realism and fantasy that borders on science fiction, the narrator characterizes the sky as an animate cosmological energy whose virility is masked by sunlight during the day. Released after sundown and portrayed as a liberator at the climax of the story, the shaman-like night sky descends upon Janine as a shower of stars that leaves her with an existential sense of self. This paper explores themes of astronomy and existentialism that Camus develops through Janine's “adultery” with a cosmological force, supplemented by visual imagery related to the aesthetic and scientific cultural contexts of the story and Camus' era.

EXISTENTIAL CHOICE. AN ESSAY ABOUT THREE AFRICANS (REFLECTION ON AUGUSTINE’S CONFESSIONS

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S. V. Sannіkov

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose. Via the life example of a great Christian hermit Augustine of Hippo and his «Confessions», the author of the essay considers the existential choice problem, which changes man’s course of life and displays its essence. Analyzing and deconstructing Augustine's self-reflection against the background of the texts by two other great Africans (A. Camou and J. Darrida, the article traces the foundations and main stages of the process of self-seeking in people who want to find themselves in a lost world. The purpose of the article is to analyze the intellectual, emotional and spiritual components of the process of taking epochal-making decisions versus the approaches of A. Camus and J. Derrida, prominent Augustine’s fellow countrymen, born in Algeria as well. Methodology. The research is based on the comparative historical analysis, allowing to identify and summarize some principles for the decision-making of the most important existential solutions. The use of comparative procedures made possible to show the ineffectiveness of self-contained Camus' and Darrida’s existential searches, and at the same time, demonstrate the success of finding selfhood and self-knowledge by Augustine, who was open for the gift descending from Above. The use of other general scientific methods, such as analysis, reduction, generalization, and retrospective method allowed the researcher to highlight some epistemological problems manifested in understanding and searching the Truth, as the most important and often unconscious human need. Augustine's openness to accepting Truth from Above and at the same time understanding the inability to seize it independently distinguishes him from similar searches of Jacques Darrida. Originality. The research has shown that the existential choice, which in contrast to ordinary choices, changes a man’s life and renders meaning to his existence, is made not with a volitional decision, but with a hardly explicable encounter

Existential struggle and self-reported needs of patients in rehabilitation.

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Sigurgeirsdottir, Jonina; Halldorsdottir, Sigridur

2008-02-01

This paper is a report of a study to increase understanding of patients' experience of rehabilitation and their self-reported needs in that context. Nurses need to be able to recognize patient needs to plan effective and individualized care. Needs-led nursing care is emphasized in the nursing literature, but few studies in rehabilitation have explored needs from the patient's perspective. The sample of this phenomenological study was purposively selected and the data consisted of 16 in-depth interviews with 12 people aged between 26 and 85 years. The data were collected in 2005. The findings showed that being a patient in rehabilitation involves existential struggling, as the reason behind patients' rehabilitation, accident or illness usually leads to trying to cope with existential changes while needing to adapt to new characteristics of life and self. This makes patients vulnerable and their self-reported needs include individualized caring and emotional support from family, peers and staff. Participants also reported a need for a sense of security in a stable and homelike environment, with assistance, help and presence. Finally, they reported needing goal-oriented and progressive care in which realistic and achievable goals were established. Individualized patient education enhanced their independence and empowered them towards a new and progressive lifestyle. A new emphasis is needed in rehabilitation nursing, involving assessment of existential well-being of patients by means of skilful interpersonal relationship based on individualized caring and emotional support and recognition of each patient's own hierarchy of needs.

Dating Violence: Counseling Adolescent Females from an Existential Perspective

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Klem, John; Owens, Andrea; Ross, Angela; Edwards, Lawanda; Cobia, Debra C.

2009-01-01

The authors present an existential framework for conceptualizing and intervening with adolescent females who are in violent relationships. Interventions involve addressing the adolescent female's anxiety associated with I. D. Yalom's (1980) constructs of meaning, death, isolation, and freedom. The goal of therapy is to assist the abused adolescent…

A prospective study of existential issues in therapeutic horticulture for clinical depression.

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Gonzalez, Marianne Thorsen; Hartig, Terry; Patil, Grete Grindal; Martinsen, Egil Wilhelm; Kirkevold, Marit

2011-01-01

Two studies with single-group design (Study 1 N = 18, Study 2 N = 28) addressed whether horticultural activities ameliorate depression severity and existential issues. Measures were obtained before and after a 12-week therapeutic horticulture program and at 3-month follow-up. In both studies, depression severity declined significantly during the intervention and remained low at the follow-up. In both studies the existential outcomes did not change significantly; however, the change that did occur during the intervention correlated (rho > .43) with change in depression severity. Participants' open-ended accounts described the therapeutic horticulture experience as meaningful and influential for their view of life.

An Existential Perspective on Death Anxiety, Retirement, and Related Research Problems.

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Osborne, John W

2017-06-01

Aspects of existentialism relevant to existence and death anxiety (DA) are discussed. Included are the "thrownness" of existence, being-with-others, the motivational influence of inevitable death, the search for meaning, making the most of existence by taking responsibility for one's own life, and coping with existential isolation. The attempted separation of DA from object anxiety is a significant difficulty. The correlations among age, gender, and DA are variable. Personality and role-oriented problems in the transition to retirement are discussed along with Erikson's notion of "generativity" as an expression of the energy and purpose of mid-life. Furthermore, methodological and linguistic problems in DA research are considered. The article suggests qualitative methodologies as an interpersonal means of exploring DA within the contexts of psychotherapy and counselling.

Longing for existential recognition: a qualitative study of everyday concerns for people with somatoform disorders.

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Lind, Annemette Bondo; Risoer, Mette Bech; Nielsen, Klaus; Delmar, Charlotte; Christensen, Morten Bondo; Lomborg, Kirsten

2014-02-01

Patients with somatoform disorders could be vulnerable to stressors and have difficulties coping with stress. The aim was to explore what the patients experience as stressful and how they resolve stress in everyday life. A cross-sectional retrospective design using 24 semi-structured individual life history interviews. Data-analysis was based on grounded theory. A major concern in patients was a longing for existential recognition. This influenced the patients' self-confidence, stress appraisals, symptom perceptions, and coping attitudes. Generally, patients had difficulties with self-confidence and self-recognition of bodily sensations, feelings, vulnerability, and needs, which negatively framed their attempts to obtain recognition in social interactions. Experiences of recognition appeared in three different modalities: 1) "existential misrecognition" covered the experience of being met with distrust and disrespect, 2) "uncertain existential recognition" covered experiences of unclear communication and a perception of not being totally recognized, and 3) "successful existential recognition" covered experiences of total respect and understanding. "Misrecognition" and "uncertain recognition" related to decreased self-confidence, avoidant coping behaviours, increased stress, and symptom appraisal; whereas "successful recognition" related to higher self-confidence, active coping behaviours, decreased stress, and symptom appraisal. Different modalities of existential recognition influenced self-identity and social identity affecting patients' daily stress and symptom appraisals, self-confidence, self-recognition, and coping attitudes. Clinically it seems crucial to improve the patients' ability to communicate concerns, feelings, and needs in social interactions. Better communicative skills and more active coping could reduce the harm the patients experienced by not being recognized and increase the healing potential of successful recognition. Copyright © 2013

Embodied terror management: interpersonal touch alleviates existential concerns among individuals with low self-esteem.

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Koole, Sander L; Tjew A Sin, Mandy; Schneider, Iris K

2014-01-01

Individuals with low (rather than high) self-esteem often struggle with existential concerns. In the present research, we examined whether these existential concerns may be alleviated by seemingly trivial experiences of both real and simulated interpersonal touch. A brief touch on the shoulder by a female experimenter led individuals with low self-esteem to experience less death anxiety (Study 1) and more social connectedness after a death reminder (Study 2). Reminding individuals with low self-esteem of death increased their desire for touch, as indicated by higher value estimates of a teddy bear, a toy animal that simulates interpersonal touch (Study 3). Finally, holding a teddy bear (vs. a cardboard box) led individuals with low self-esteem to respond to a death reminder with less defensive ethnocentrism (Study 4). Individuals with high self-esteem were unaffected by touch (Studies 1-4). These findings highlight the existential significance of embodied touch experiences, particularly for individuals with low self-esteem.

THE EXISTENTIAL FACTORS IN THE DECISION MAKING

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Andrei Sergeevich Emelyanov

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This article is devoted to an extensive and modern area of scientific knowledge – Decision theory. The author comprehends and analyzes critically the methodological bases of the Decision theory, he thinks, it rejects the most important thing – a human. In the article the reconstruction of historical development in the Decision theory is considered and also existential factors and feelings are discussed, which appear in human being and operate the situation of decision-making.

Wonder-driven Entrepreneurship Teaching; when working with the ethical and existential dimension in professional bachelor education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Finn Thorbjørn; Herholdt-Lomholdt, Sine Maria

2016-01-01

This paper will in an overall and outlining way describe why the phenomenology of wonder and wonder-based approaches can become doorways for understanding the existential and ontological dimensions of entrepreneurship teaching.......This paper will in an overall and outlining way describe why the phenomenology of wonder and wonder-based approaches can become doorways for understanding the existential and ontological dimensions of entrepreneurship teaching....

The past makes the present meaningful: nostalgia as an existential resource.

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Routledge, Clay; Arndt, Jamie; Wildschut, Tim; Sedikides, Constantine; Hart, Claire M; Juhl, Jacob; Vingerhoets, Ad J J M; Schlotz, Wolff

2011-09-01

The present research tested the proposition that nostalgia serves an existential function by bolstering a sense of meaning in life. Study 1 found that nostalgia was positively associated with a sense of meaning in life. Study 2 experimentally demonstrated that nostalgia increases a sense of meaning in life. In both studies, the link between nostalgia and increased meaning in life was mediated by feelings of social connectedness. Study 3 evidenced that threatened meaning increases nostalgia. Study 4 illustrated that nostalgia, in turn, reduces defensiveness following a meaning threat. Finally, Studies 5 and 6 showed that nostalgia disrupts the link between meaning deficits and compromised psychological well-being. Collectively, these findings indicate that the provision of existential meaning is a pivotal function of nostalgia. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.

Existential Damage: The Specificity of the Institute Unveiled from the Violation To The Right Of Labor Disconnection

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Angela Barbosa Franco

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The right of labor disconnection underlies on a constitutional and fundamental prerogative of the entire working class. Rest periods from the laboring environment are protected by law and have the objective to provide workers with recovery of their physical and mental energies. They also assure moments of delight, of family, communitarian and political insertion, for the fulfillment of personal plans. The violation of these disconnection periods can jeopardize projects or life habits, as well as social relations, resulting in existential damage. From these premises, this article aims to analyze the characterizing elements of existential damage in order to evince its peculiarities in relation to moral damage and to defend the accumulation of damages to provide just atonement to the victims and to their dignity as human beings. Thus, this research supports itself on legal dogmatic principles, since it considers that the internal elements of legal order are sufficient to establish a distinction between moral and existential injuries. The main problem relies on the typifying elements of existential damage. Due to their extra-patrimonial nature and relationship to personal rights, they are mistakenly considered by labor courts as moral damages, and, therefore, given limited possibilities of indemnification to the victim. Under this perspective, the contextual complexity above presented is overcome through deductive reasoning, as it indicates in the open norms of the national legal system the possibility of an interdisciplinary and comparative investigation which attests the specificities of moral and existential damages.

POSTCOLONIAL ARABIC FICTION REVISITED: NATURALISM AND EXISTENTIALISM IN GHASSAN KANAFANI’S MEN IN THE SUN

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Shadi Saleh Neimneh

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This article looks into the postcolonial Arabic narrative of Ghassan Kanafani to examine its underplayed existential and naturalistic aspects. Postcolonial texts (and their exegeses deal with the effects of colonization/imperialism. They are expected to be political and are judged accordingly. Drawing on Kanafani’s Men in the Sun (1963, I argue that the intersection among existentialism and naturalism, on the one hand, and postcolonialism, on the other, intensifies the political relevance of the latter theory and better establishes the politically committed nature of Kanafani’s fiction of resistance. In the novella, the sun and the desert are a pivotal existential symbol juxtaposed against the despicable life led by three Palestinian refugees. The gruesome death we encounter testifies to the absurdity of life after attempts at self-definition through making choices. The gritty existence characteristic of Kanafani's work makes his representation of the lives of alienated characters more accurate and more visceral. Kanafani uses philosophical and sociological theories to augment the political nature of his protest fiction, one acting within postcolonial parameters of dispossession to object to different forms of imperialism and diaspora. Therefore, this article explores how global critical frameworks (naturalism and existentialism enrich the localized contexts essential to any study of postcolonial literature and equally move the traditional national allegory of Kanafani to a more realist/unidealistic level of political indictment against oppression.

The kingdom of God: Utopian or existential? | Malan | HTS ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Was it meant to be understood as utopian as Mary Ann Beavis views it, or existential? In 1st century CE Palestine, kingdom of God was a political term meaning theocracy suggesting God's patronage. Jesus used the term metaphorically to construct a new symbolic universe to legitimate a radical new way of living with God ...

Effectiveness of Cognitive Existential Approach on Decreasing Demoralization in Women with Multiple Sclerosis

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Nasim Pakniya

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Objectives: Multiple Sclerosis is the most prevalent central nervous system diseases thatdue to being chronic, frequent recurrence, uncertainty about its progress, and disability, can lead to various distresses as well as demoralization . Rehabilitation method based on Cognitive-Existential therapy is an integratedapproach which can help to decrease demoralization syndrome in these patients. This study aimed to exploring effectiveness of rehabilitation method based on Cognitive-Existential approach on decreasing demoralization syndrome in patients with MS. Methods: Single subject design is used in this study. Among women who had referred to Tehran MS Association, 3 women (aged between 20-40 were selected through purposeful sampling and separately participated in 10 sessions (90 minutes. Participants were assessed during 7 phases of intervention (2 baselines, 3 measurement during intervention, 2 follow-up through Demoralization Syndrome Scale (2004 and Cognitive Distortion scale (2010. Data were analyzed by calculating process variation index and visual analysis. Results: Comparing patients with MS scores on the diagram during 7 time measurement and calculating recovery percentage, represent decreasing in demoralization syndrome score scale. Discussions: Findings showed that rehabilitation method based on Cognitive Existential approach can decrease demoralization syndrome in patients with MS.

The Discovery of the Existence of the Absolute in Existential Metaphysics

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Andrzej Maryniarczyk

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article shows the way in which the discovery of the existence of the Absolute is made in existential metaphysics. This existential metaphysics provides us with knowledge about reality. It shows the content of the experience of being, the content given to us in the transcendentals. It also unveils the foundation of the rational order, which is given to us in the discovery of the first principles of the existence of being and of cognition. Metaphysics provides us also with knowledge concerning the structure of being. It shows us being as composite and plural; being which is “insufficient” in its structure and calls for an explanation. That being—that is problematized in existence, given to us in experience, and incompletely intelligible in itself—lifts us toward its ultimate “complement” and understanding, to the Absolute.

Aliens and existential elevators: absurdity and its shadows in Douglas Adams’s Hitch hiker series

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M.A. van der Colff

2008-07-01

Full Text Available According to twentieth-century existentialist philosophy, the universe as we know it is steeped in senselessness, and the only possible means of survival is the construction of subjective meaning. Douglas Adams’s fictional universe portrayed in his “Hitch hiker” series reflects the arbitrary nature of existence, and the characters dwelling in this narrative space are faced with two existential choices: the one is defiance in the face of senselessness, the other is bleak despair. This article explores the existential choices made by prominent characters in the “Hitch hiker” series. The article distinguishes between and analyses the Sisyphus characters and their polar opposites (or nihilist shadows in Douglas Adams’s “Hitch hiker” series. Adams’s characters, be they human, alien or sentient machine, all face the same existential choice: actuate individual meaning, or resort to despondency. Characters who choose the first option are regarded as Sisyphus figures, whereas characters who choose the latter are referred to as shadows or nihilist nemeses.

Testing the predictions of the existential constructivist theory of suicide in a college student sample.

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Lockman, Jennifer D; Servaty-Seib, Heather L

2018-04-01

There is a lack of empirically supported theories explaining suicidal ideation and few theories describe how suicidal ideation can be prevented in the context of normative human development. Rogers (2001) proposed an existential constructivist theory of suicide (ECTS) wherein existential distress and the inability to reconstruct meaning from adverse life events contribute to suicidal ideation. The ECTS includes a distinct focus on meaning reconstruction from adverse life events, which is congruent with existing research on college students and developmental frameworks used by counseling psychologists. Thus, in the present study, we tested the predictions of the ECTS in a college student sample. We collected data online from 195 college students (i.e., ages 18-25) attending a large, Midwestern university and analyzed the data using structural equation modeling. Findings provided partial support for the original ECTS. Post hoc analyses of an alternate ECTS model indicated that existential distress mediated the negative association between meaning reconstruction and suicidal ideation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Changing Pre-Service Teachers' Purposes of Education through Existential Crises

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Webster, R. Scott

2004-01-01

This article considers changing the purposes of education held by pre-service teachers. It argues that purposes of education are inextricably linked to life meanings and purposes. Employing an existential perspective, mainly through Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre and Morris, the fundamental beliefs that one has regarding the meaning and…

Ter/Haver-Existential Clauses in Brazilian Portuguese: Variation and Change.

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Callou, Dinah

This paper discusses the details of existential sentences constructed with the Portuguese verbs "ter" and "haver" in the interpersonal form. The uses of these verbs are discussed and analyzed in detail. The history and evolution of linguistic changes in Brazilian Portuguese are discussed in an attempt to detect historical…

Existential risks: exploring a robust risk reduction strategy.

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Jebari, Karim

2015-06-01

A small but growing number of studies have aimed to understand, assess and reduce existential risks, or risks that threaten the continued existence of mankind. However, most attention has been focused on known and tangible risks. This paper proposes a heuristic for reducing the risk of black swan extinction events. These events are, as the name suggests, stochastic and unforeseen when they happen. Decision theory based on a fixed model of possible outcomes cannot properly deal with this kind of event. Neither can probabilistic risk analysis. This paper will argue that the approach that is referred to as engineering safety could be applied to reducing the risk from black swan extinction events. It will also propose a conceptual sketch of how such a strategy may be implemented: isolated, self-sufficient, and continuously manned underground refuges. Some characteristics of such refuges are also described, in particular the psychosocial aspects. Furthermore, it is argued that this implementation of the engineering safety strategy safety barriers would be effective and plausible and could reduce the risk of an extinction event in a wide range of possible (known and unknown) scenarios. Considering the staggering opportunity cost of an existential catastrophe, such strategies ought to be explored more vigorously.

An existential theory of truth

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Dale Cannon

1993-01-01

Full Text Available This article is an attempt to present a simplified account of the theory of truth expressed in the writings of certain existentialist writers - namely, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Jaspers, and Marcel. It is designed to serve as a supplement to conventional textbook treatments of the nature of truth, which typically ignore the contributions that existentialists have made to the topic. An existential theory of truth stresses the epistemological (not ontological indeterminateness of meaning and truth, apart from one’s personal participation in determining them. Contrary to superficial interpretations, this theory does not do away either with a transcendent reality or with objectivity. What is rejected is anything that would circumvent the necessary task of participating, oneself, in the epistemological determination of truth.

Cipient Predication : Unifying Double Object, Dative Experiencer and Existential/Presentational Constructions

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Brandt, P.M.

2003-01-01

The principal claim of this dissertation is that there is a unique structural core shared by Double Object, Dative Experiencer and Existential/Presentational constructions. This core is argued to take the form of a Cipient Predication structure, `cipient covering traditional notions like (affected)

Feeling and time: the phenomenology of mood disorders, depressive realism, and existential psychotherapy.

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Ghaemi, S Nassir

2007-01-01

Phenomenological research suggests that pure manic and depressive states are less common than mixtures of the two and that the two poles of mood are characterized by opposite ways of experiencing time. In mania, the subjective experience of time is sped up and in depression it is slowed down, perhaps reflecting differences in circadian pathophysiology. The two classic mood states are also quite different in their effect on subjective awareness: manic patients lack insight into their excitation, while depressed patients are quite insightful into their unhappiness. Consequently, insight plays a major role in overdiagnosis of unipolar depression and misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder. The phenomenology of depression also is relevant to types of psychotherapies used to treat it. The depressive realism (DR) model, in contrast to the cognitive distortion model, appears to better apply to many persons with mild to moderate depressive syndromes. I suggest that existential psychotherapy is the necessary corollary of the DR model in those cases. Further, some depressive morbidities may in fact prove, after phenomenological study, to involve other mental states instead of depression. The chronic sub-syndromal depression that is often the long-term consequence of treated bipolar disorder may in fact represent existential despair, rather than depression proper, again suggesting intervention with existential psychotherapeutic methods.

Feeling and Time: The Phenomenology of Mood Disorders, Depressive Realism, and Existential Psychotherapy

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Ghaemi, S. Nassir

2007-01-01

Phenomenological research suggests that pure manic and depressive states are less common than mixtures of the two and that the two poles of mood are characterized by opposite ways of experiencing time. In mania, the subjective experience of time is sped up and in depression it is slowed down, perhaps reflecting differences in circadian pathophysiology. The two classic mood states are also quite different in their effect on subjective awareness: manic patients lack insight into their excitation, while depressed patients are quite insightful into their unhappiness. Consequently, insight plays a major role in overdiagnosis of unipolar depression and misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder. The phenomenology of depression also is relevant to types of psychotherapies used to treat it. The depressive realism (DR) model, in contrast to the cognitive distortion model, appears to better apply to many persons with mild to moderate depressive syndromes. I suggest that existential psychotherapy is the necessary corollary of the DR model in those cases. Further, some depressive morbidities may in fact prove, after phenomenological study, to involve other mental states instead of depression. The chronic subsyndromal depression that is often the long-term consequence of treated bipolar disorder may in fact represent existential despair, rather than depression proper, again suggesting intervention with existential psychotherapeutic methods. PMID:17122410

Using Existential-Humanistic Approaches in Counseling Adolescents with Inappropriate Sexual Behaviors

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Parrish, Mark S.; Stanard, Rebecca P.; Cobia, Debra C.

2008-01-01

Adolescent sexual acting out behaviors frequently occur in the context of comorbid issues, such as depression, trauma, behavioral disorders, and developmental deficits, thus rendering any single treatment modality less effective. Augmenting traditional treatment with an existential-humanistic (E-H) perspective enables counselors to more…

The Courage To Be Anxious. Paul Tillich's Existential Interpretation of Anxiety

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Ştefan Bolea

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The similitude between anxiety and death is the starting point of Paul Tillich's analysis from The Courage To Be, his famous theological and philosophical reply to Martin Heidegger's Being And Time. Not only Tillich and Heidegger are concerned with the connection between anxiety and death but also other proponents of both existentialism and nihilism like Friedrich Nietzsche, Emil Cioran and Lev Shestov. Tillich observes that "anxiety puts frightening masks" over things and perhaps this definition is its finest contribution to the spectacular phenomenology of anxiety. Moreover, Tillich has some illuminating insights about the anxiety of emptiness and meaninglessness, which are important for the history of the existential philosophy. It is interesting how the protestant theologian tries to answer to Heidegger: while the German philosopher asserted that we must avoid fear and we have to embrace anxiety as a route to personal authenticity, Tillich notes that we should transform anxiety into fear, because courage is more likely to "abolish" fear.

Shared decision-making as an existential journey: Aiming for restored autonomous capacity

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Gulbrandsen, P.; Clayman, M.L.; Beach, M.C.; Han, P.K.; Boss, E.F.; Ofstad, E.H.; Elwyn, G.

2016-01-01

OBJECTIVE: We describe the different ways in which illness represents an existential problem, and its implications for shared decision-making. METHODS: We explore core concepts of shared decision-making in medical encounters (uncertainty, vulnerability, dependency, autonomy, power, trust,

Dealing with multivoicedness, art products and existential matters within phenomenology of practice

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Sørensen, Mariann B.

In the years to come, a global challenge is to reorganize the health care systems to engaging people in health promotion and make individuals and groups co-constructors of health and well-being. In Denmark in 2012, a local challenge has come up as the National Health Board published a new program......-patient indicates that a cancer diagnosis often incites questions of an existential nature. This means new challenges for health care practice as well as for qualitative health research. In order to facilitate reflexive processes concerning existential and spiritual topics, one of the cornerstones of phenomenology...... a variety of tools such as from novels, films, dialogues, narratives, poetry and autobiographies written by patients and relatives. How to use these tools as learning spaces for health care providers, meeting these challenges in practice? Some suggestions are: ´empowerment by discussing dilemmas´ (Jacobsen...

The existential realities of grief and bereavement

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Køster, Allan; Winther-Lindqvist, Ditte

Our poster outlines the basic analytical and methodological strategy of a pending 3-year investigation into the existential dimensions of grief. The project is divided into two main foci: 1) a retrospective investigation into how bereavement of a parent in childhood/adolescence shapes the various....... Methodologically our design stands out by including a strong focus on the embodied and prereflective dimension of personal existences and connecting this with narrative accounts. The theoretical basis for this approach has been presented in recent publications by the authors (Køster & Winther-Lindqvist 2017...... and Køster 2016, 2017) and will be explicated in the poster session....

A Descriptive Enquiry into Subject-Verb Concord in English Existential Constructions

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Tsuchida, Takehiro

2011-01-01

Subject-verb concord in English existential constructions is often viewed as problematic from both prescriptive and descriptive approaches to grammar and causes considerable confusion among teachers and learners of English as a second language (ESL). This paper aims to disentangle debates over the curious usage of the "there" + plural noun phrase…

Existential Dimensions in the Socio-Legal Sphere: Introduction

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Ronnie Lippens

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This introduction addresses the relevance of existentialist philosophy for understanding the indeterminacies and instabilities of late-modern society. Whilst existentialist thought is often misunderstood and subsequently unexplored, all the contributors to this special edition accept the basic premise that human existence is inescapably contingent and indeterminate. This introduction provides a short overview of the articles and reflects on themes such as destabilization and reintegration. All the articles are based on contributions to the workshop 'Law, Jurisprudence, Governance and Existential Indeterminacy', held at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Onati, Spain, 23-24 May 2013. Esta introducción aborda la relevancia de la filosofía existencialista para comprender las indeterminaciones e inestabilidades de la sociedad tardía. Aunque a menudo el pensamiento existencialista se ha malentendido y por consiguiente, no se ha explorado, todos los participantes de este número especial aceptan la premisa básica de que la existencia humana es ineludiblemente contingente e indeterminada. Esta introducción ofrece un breve resumen de los artículos y reflexiona sobre temas como la desestabilización y reintegración. Todos los artículos se basan en las presentaciones del workshop 'Law, Jurisprudence, Governance and Existential Indeterminacy', celebrado en el Instituto Internacional de Sociología Jurídica, Onati, España, los días 23-24 de mayo de 2013. DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2619387

"To Thine Own Self Be True": Existentialism in Hamlet and The Blind Owl

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Masoud Farahmandfar

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This article aims at exploring the key concepts of Existential thought in two masterpieces of the world literature, namely, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sadeq Hedayat’s The Blind Owl (Buf-e Kur. Freedom, free will, authenticity, self-realization, self-becoming, and awareness of death are among the main concerns of both writers. Shakespeare depicts authenticity in the character of Hamlet, and it is in contrast to him that the reader finds many instances of inauthenticity. The Danish prince has no tolerance whatsoever for inauthentic or self-deceiving. The same thing is visible in The Blind Owl in which the narrator-protagonist feels himself above all the low, petty desires of mankind. All in all, both characters’ main challenge is to live authentically. Keywords: Existential philosophy, authenticity, angst, death, being, existence, self-realization

How do Australian palliative care nurses address existential and spiritual concerns? Facilitators, barriers and strategies.

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Keall, Robyn; Clayton, Josephine M; Butow, Phyllis

2014-11-01

To investigate the facilitators, barriers and strategies that Australian palliative care nurses identify in providing existential and spiritual care for patients with life-limiting illnesses. Palliative care aims to be holistic, incorporating all domains of personhood, but spiritual/existential domain issues are often undertreated. Lack of time and skills and concerns for what you may uncover hamper care provision. A qualitative study through semistructured interviews. We interviewed 20 palliative care nurses from a cross section of area of work, place of work, years of experience, spiritual beliefs and importance of those beliefs within their lives. Questions focused on their current practices of existential and spiritual care, identification of facilitators of, barriers to and strategies for provision of that care. Their responses were transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis. The nurses' interviews yielded several themes including development of the nurse-patient relationship (14/20 nurses), good communication skills and examples of questions they use to 'create openings' to facilitate care. Barriers were identified as follows: lack of time (11/20 nurses), skills, privacy and fear of what you may uncover, unresolved symptoms and differences in culture or belief. Novel to our study, the nurses offered strategies that included the following: undertaking further education in this area, being self-aware and ensuring the setting is conducive to in-depth conversations and interactions and documentation and/or interdisciplinary sharing for continuity of care. Palliative care nurses are well placed to provide existential and spiritual care to patients with the primary facilitator being the nurse-patient relationship, the primary barrier being lack of time and the primary strategy being undertaking further education in this area. These findings could be used for nurse-support programmes, undergraduate or graduate studies or communication workshop for nurses.

Entheogens and Existential Intelligence: The Use of Plant Teachers as Cognitive Tools

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Tupper, Kenneth W.

2002-01-01

In light of recent specific liberalizations in drug laws in some countries, I have investigated the potential of entheogens (i.e., psychoactive plants used as spiritual sacraments) as tools to facilitate existential intelligence. "Plant teachers" from the Americas such as ayahuasca, psilocybin mushrooms, and peyote, and the Indo-Aryan…

Existentialism as a theoretical basis for counselling in psychiatric nursing.

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Burnard, P

1989-06-01

Counselling is increasingly described in the literature as an important part of the psychiatric nurse's role. Often, the type of counselling described in that literature is of the client-centered type developed by Carl Rogers. This report outlines the philsophical position known as existentialism and offers suggestions as to how that philosophy may be used to develop a more vigorous and more egalitarian approach to counselling in nursing.

Traversing the interior landscape: five dialogues in existential space

OpenAIRE

Roes, Remco

2016-01-01

“Traversing the interior landscape: five dialogues in existential space” examines how existing spaces can be used as a basis for their rearrangement into meaningful, exitential (‘wezenlijke’) places. The research consists of a textual part and an artistic part (a series of works and exhibitions, including a retrospective on show in CIAP (Hasselt) from december 2015 – march 2016). One of the innovative aspects of this research is the unique methodology that was used. Through the point of vi...

Development of the EMAP tool facilitating existential communication between general practitioners and cancer patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Assing Hvidt, Elisabeth; Hansen, Dorte Gilså; Ammentorp, Jette

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: General practice recognizes the existential dimension as an integral part of multidimensional patient care alongside the physical, psychological and social dimensions. However, general practitioners (GPs) report substantial barriers related to communication with patients about existen...

Violence Survivors with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Treatment by Integrating Existential and Narrative Therapies

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Day, Kristen W.

2009-01-01

In this article, the author proposes an integration of existential and narrative therapies with current evidence-supported approaches to treating the aforementioned population. First, she briefly defines interpersonal violence, then provides a history and review of the diagnostic criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which frequently…

LOGICAL-MATHEMATICAL ANALYTICS THE EXISTENTIAL NATURE OF DECISION-MAKING

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Andrei Sergeevich Emelyanov

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This article is devoted to an extensive and rather modern scientific area – Decision-making theory. The author uses logical-mathematical bases of Decision-making theory to make an explication of the existential features of the choice, which is based on four main martingales: trend, time, men and phobia. The last four constituents “have power” above human-being and impress the situation of decision-making. The impression on such situation allow to minimize a risk, to predict results and to create a strategy with positive result.

Existential contextuality and the models of Meyer, Kent, and Clifton

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Appleby, D.M.

2002-01-01

It is shown that the models recently proposed by Meyer, Kent, and Clifton (MKC) exhibit a novel kind of contextuality, which we term existential contextuality. In this phenomenon it is not simply the pre-existing value but the actual existence of an observable which is context dependent. This result confirms the point made elsewhere, that the MKC models do not, as the authors claim, 'nullify' the Kochen-Specker theorem. It may also be of some independent interest

Leading with "Emotional" Intelligence--Existential and Motivational Analysis in Leadership and Leadership Development

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Mengel, Thomas

2012-01-01

This conceptual and practical paper is integrating the work of Viktor Frankl (1985) and Steven Reiss (2000, 2008) into a model of Existential and Motivational Analysis (EMotiAn). This integrated model and approach may provide scholars, educators, consultants and practitioners alike with an innovative and meaningful framework for leadership and…

The health is existential society system of ancient and modern

OpenAIRE

Нерубасская, А. А.

2014-01-01

Today a critical necessity has appeared in the reconsideration of modern people lifestyle and society on the whole so as to raise strong and happy generation in a context of life quality increasing, creation of decent living conditions. The given article provides a systematic analysis of the development of the medical methods in the world nations‘ social systems, and a systematic investigation of the ―health‖ existential as a part of the development of the ancient medicine. Nowadays the deman...

Blame and guilt - a mixed methods study of obstetricians' and midwives' experiences and existential considerations after involvement in traumatic childbirth.

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Schrøder, Katja; Jørgensen, Jan S; Lamont, Ronald F; Hvidt, Niels C

2016-07-01

When complications arise in the delivery room, midwives and obstetricians operate at the interface of life and death, and in rare cases the infant or the mother suffers severe and possibly fatal injuries related to the birth. This descriptive study investigated the numbers and proportions of obstetricians and midwives involved in such traumatic childbirth and explored their experiences with guilt, blame, shame and existential concerns. A mixed methods study comprising a national survey of Danish obstetricians and midwives and a qualitative interview study with selected survey participants. The response rate was 59% (1237/2098), of which 85% stated that they had been involved in a traumatic childbirth. We formed five categories during the comparative mixed methods analysis: the patient, clinical peers, official complaints, guilt, and existential considerations. Although blame from patients, peers or official authorities was feared (and sometimes experienced), the inner struggles with guilt and existential considerations were dominant. Feelings of guilt were reported by 36-49%, and 50% agreed that the traumatic childbirth had made them think more about the meaning of life. Sixty-five percent felt that they had become a better midwife or doctor due to the traumatic incident. The results of this large, exploratory study suggest that obstetricians and midwives struggle with issues of blame, guilt and existential concerns in the aftermath of a traumatic childbirth. © 2016 Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Existential neuroscience: self-esteem moderates neuronal responses to mortality-related stimuli.

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Klackl, Johannes; Jonas, Eva; Kronbichler, Martin

2014-11-01

According to terror management theory, self-esteem serves as a buffer against existential anxiety. This proposition is well supported empirically, but its neuronal underpinnings are poorly understood. Therefore, in the present neuroimaging study, our aim was to test how self-esteem affects our neural circuitry activation when death-related material is processed. Consistent with previous findings, the bilateral insula responded less to death-related stimuli relative to similarly unpleasant, but death-unrelated sentences, an effect that might reflect a decrease in the sense of oneself in the face of existential threat. In anterior parts of the insula, this 'deactivation' effect was more pronounced for high self-esteem individuals, suggesting that the insula might be of core importance to understanding the anxiety-buffering effect of self-esteem. In addition, low self-esteem participants responded with enhanced activation to death-related over unpleasant stimuli in bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal and medial orbitofrontal cortex, suggesting that regulating death-related thoughts might be more effortful to these individuals. Together, this suggests that the anxiety-buffering effect of self-esteem might be implemented in the brain in the form of both insula-dependent awareness mechanisms and prefrontal cortex-dependent regulation mechanisms. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

An existential criterion for normal and abnormal personality in the works of Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler.

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Kapustin S.A.

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This is the second in a series of four articles scheduled for publication in this journal. In the previous article I proposed a description of a new so-called existential criterion of normal and abnormal personality that is implicitly present in the works of Erich Fromm. According to this criterion, normal and abnormal personalities are determined, first, by special features of the content of their position regarding existential dichotomies that are natural to human beings and, second, by particular aspects of the formation of this position. Such dichotomies, entitatively existent in all human life, are inherent, two-alternative contradictions. The position of a normal personality in its content orients one toward a contradictious predetermination of life in the form of existential dichotomies and the necessity of searching for compromise in resolving these dichotomies. This position is created on a rational basis with the person’s active participation. The position of an abnormal personality in its content subjectively denies a contradictious predetermination of life in the form of existential dichotomies and orients one toward a consistent, noncompetitive, and, as a consequence, one-sided way of life that doesn’t include self-determination. This position is imposed by other people on an irrational basis. Abnormality of personality interpreted like that is one of the most important factors influencing the development of various kinds of psychological problems and mental disorders — primarily, neurosis. In this article I show that this criterion is implicitly present in the personality theories of Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler, although in more special cases. In the following articles I will show that this criterion is also implicitly present in the personality theories of Carl Jung, Carl Rogers, and Viktor Frankl.

Existential analysis and psychoanalysis: specific differences and personal relationship between Ludwig Binswanger and Sigmund Freud.

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Bühler, Karl-Ernst

2004-01-01

The concise curriculum vitae of the founder of existential analysis is followed by an exact comparison of the polarity (homo natura versus homo cultura) between Binswanger and Freud. Then the five stages in the development of (Existential Daseinsanalysis Analysis) are described: the stage of learning, of practice, of criticism, of the alternative to psychoanalysis, and of reconciliation. The criticism is aimed especially at Freud's naturalism and at the concept of drive. These concepts are opposed by ontoanalytic doctrines derived from Heidegger's ontoanalysis. The differences are further exemplified by the comparison of the existentialanalytical and the psychoanalytical view of the unconscious. A presentation of the treatment of a "hysterical phobia," which is first explained in psychoanalytic terms and later in existentialanalytic terminology (mainly concerning the world-projects) makes the difference between the two schools of thought explicit.

Mind's response to the body's betrayal: Gestalt/Existential therapy for clients with chronic or life-threatening illnesses.

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Imes, Suzanne A; Clance, Pauline Rose; Gailis, Andra T; Atkeson, Ellen

2002-11-01

In the literature on chronic or life-threatening illness, there is an overriding emphasis on clients' psychological coping styles and how they relate to psychological functioning. By contrast, in our approach, we look at the subjective mind/body experiences that clients have of their illness and how their lives are impacted by their illness. As psychotherapists, we address their existential distress, pain, body experience, thoughts, and feelings, as well as their efforts to cope or find meaning in their illness. We summarize Gestalt/Existential therapy for chronic illness, illustrate the approach with three case-vignettes, and stress the importance of attending to each client's unique responses to illness. Copyright 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Palliative Sedation for Existential Suffering: A Systematic Review of Argument-Based Ethics Literature.

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Rodrigues, Paulo; Crokaert, Jasper; Gastmans, Chris

2018-06-01

Although unanimity exists on using palliative sedation (PS) for controlling refractory physical suffering in end-of-life situations, using it for controlling refractory existential suffering (PS-ES) is controversial. Complicating the debate is that definitions and terminology for existential suffering are unclear, ambiguous, and imprecise, leading to a lack of consensus for clinical practice. To systematically identify, describe, analyze, and discuss ethical arguments and concepts underpinning the argument-based bioethics literature on PS-ES. We conducted a systematic search of the argument-based bioethics literature in PubMed, CINAHL, Embase ® , The Philosopher's Index, PsycINFO ® , PsycARTICLES ® , Scopus, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Pascal-Francis, and Cairn. We included articles published in peer-reviewed journals till December 31, 2016, written in English or French, which focused on ethical arguments related to PS-ES. We used Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies protocol, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, and The Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven for data extraction and synthesis of themes. We identified 18 articles that met the inclusion criteria. Our analysis revealed mind-body dualism, existential suffering, refractoriness, terminal condition, and imminent death as relevant concepts in the ethical debate on PS-ES. The ethical principles of double effect, proportionality, and the four principles of biomedical ethics were used in argumentations in the PS-ES debate. There is a clear need to better define the terminology used in discussions of PS-ES and to ground ethical arguments in a more effective way. Anthropological presuppositions such as mind-body dualism underpin the debate and need to be more clearly elucidated using an interdisciplinary approach. Copyright © 2018 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Existential space understanding through digital image

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Susana Iñarra Abad

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The logical way to learn from the architectural space and then be able to design and represent it is, undoubtedly, that of experiencing it through all the sensitive channels that the space wakes up us.  But since the last 30 years, much of our learning about space comes from images of architecture and not from the space itself. The art of architecture is drifting towards a visual art and moving away from its existential side. In digital images that have flooded the architectural media, digital photographs of existing spaces intermingle with non-existent space renderings (photographs with a virtual camera. The first ones represent existing places but can be altered to change the perception that  the observer of the image will have, the second ones speak to us about places that do not exist yet but they present reality portions through extracts from digital photography (textures, trees, people... that compose the image.

Research on meaning-making and health in secular society: Secular, spiritual and religious existential orientations

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Hvidt, Niels Christian; La Cour, Peter

2010-01-01

cultural basis for research in secular society. Reviewing the literature, three main domains of existential meaning-making emerge: Secular, spiritual, and religious. In reconfirming these three domains, we propose to couple them with the three dimensions of cognition (knowing), practice (doing...

"If you cannot tolerate that risk, you should never become a physician": a qualitative study about existential experiences among physicians.

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Aase, M; Nordrehaug, J E; Malterud, K

2008-11-01

Physicians are exposed to matters of existential character at work, but little is known about the personal impact of such issues. To explore how physicians experience and cope with existential aspects of their clinical work and how such experiences affect their professional identities, a qualitative study using individual semistructured interviews has analysed accounts of their experiences related to coping with such challenges. Analysis was by systematic text condensation. The purposeful sample comprised 10 physicians (including three women), aged 33-66 years, residents or specialists in cardiology or cardiothoracic surgery, working in a university hospital with 24-hour emergency service and one general practitioner. Participants described a process by which they were able to develop a capacity for coping with the existential challenges at work. After episodes perceived as shocking or horrible earlier in their career, they at present said that they could deal with death and mostly keep it at a distance. Vulnerability was closely linked to professional responsibility and identity, perceived as a burden to be handled. These demands were balanced by an experience of meaning related to their job, connected to making a difference in their patients' lives. Belonging to a community of their fellows was a presupposition for coping with the loneliness and powerlessness related to their vulnerable professional position. Physicians' vulnerability facing life and death has been underestimated. Belonging to caring communities may assist growth and coping on exposure to existential aspects of clinical work and developing a professional identity.

Associations of prognostic awareness/acceptance with psychological distress, existential suffering, and quality of life in terminally ill cancer patients' last year of life.

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Tang, Siew Tzuh; Chang, Wen-Cheng; Chen, Jen-Shi; Chou, Wen-Chi; Hsieh, Chia-Hsun; Chen, Chen H

2016-04-01

Whether prognostic awareness benefits terminally ill cancer patients' psychological-existential well-being and quality of life (QOL) is unclear because of lack of well-controlled longitudinal studies. This study longitudinally evaluated the associations of accurate prognostic awareness and prognostic acceptance with psychological distress, existential suffering, and QOL while comprehensively controlling for confounders in Taiwanese terminally ill cancer patients' last year of life. A convenience sample of 325 cancer patients was followed until death. Psychological distress and existential suffering were assessed by severe anxiety and depressive symptoms and high self-perceived sense of burden to others, respectively. Dichotomized and continuous (QOL) outcome variables were evaluated by multivariate logistic and linear regression modeling with the generalized estimating equation, respectively. Accurate prognostic awareness was not associated with the likelihood of severe anxiety or depressive symptoms but significantly increased the likelihood of high self-perceived sense of burden to others and was associated with poorer QOL in participants' last year of life. Participants who knew and highly accepted their prognosis were significantly less likely to experience severe anxiety symptoms than those who were unaware of or knew their prognosis but had difficulty accepting it. Knowing one's poor prognosis and confronting one's impending death without full acceptance and adequate professional psycho-spiritual support may harm more than benefit terminally ill cancer patients' psychological state, existential well-being, and QOL. These findings highlight the importance of tailoring psycho-spiritual support to cancer patients' psychological and existential needs when prognostic information is disclosed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Holistic Medicine IV: Principles of Existential Holistic Group Therapy and the Holistic Process of Healing in a Group Setting

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Soren Ventegodt

2003-01-01

Full Text Available In existential holistic group therapy, the whole person heals in accordance with the holistic process theory and the life mission theory. Existential group psychotherapy addresses the emotional aspect of the human mind related to death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness, while existential holistic group therapy addresses the state of the person�s wholeness. This includes the body, the person�s philosophy of life, and often also love, purpose of life, and the spiritual dimension, to the same extent as it addresses the emotional psyche and sexuality, and it is thus much broader than traditional psychotherapy.Where existential psychotherapy is rather depressing concerning the fundamental human condition, existential holistic therapy conceives life to be basically good. The fundamentals in existential holistic therapy are that everybody has the potential for healing themselves to become loving, joyful, sexually attractive, strong, and gifted, which is a message that most patients welcome. While the patient is suffering and fighting to get through life, the most important job for the holistic therapist is to keep a positive perspective of life. In accordance with these fundamentals, many participants in holistic group therapy will have positive emotional experiences, often of an unknown intensity, and these experiences appear to transform their lives within only a few days or weeks of therapy.An important idea of the course is Bohm�s concept of �holo-movement� in the group, resulting from intense coherence between the group members. When the group comes together, the individual will be linked to the totality and the great movement forward towards love, consciousness, and happiness will happen collectively � if it happens at all. This gives the individual the feeling that everything that happens is right, important, and valuable for all the participants at the same time. Native Americans and other premodern people refer to this

Holistic medicine IV: principles of existential holistic group therapy and the holistic process of healing in a group setting.

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Ventegodt, Søren; Andersen, Niels Jørgen; Merrick, Joav

2003-12-23

In existential holistic group therapy, the whole person heals in accordance with the holistic process theory and the life mission theory. Existential group psychotherapy addresses the emotional aspect of the human mind related to death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness, while existential holistic group therapy addresses the state of the person"s wholeness. This includes the body, the person's philosophy of life, and often also love, purpose of life, and the spiritual dimension, to the same extent as it addresses the emotional psyche and sexuality, and it is thus much broader than traditional psychotherapy. Where existential psychotherapy is rather depressing concerning the fundamental human condition, existential holistic therapy conceives life to be basically good. The fundamentals in existential holistic therapy are that everybody has the potential for healing themselves to become loving, joyful, sexually attractive, strong, and gifted, which is a message that most patients welcome. While the patient is suffering and fighting to get through life, the most important job for the holistic therapist is to keep a positive perspective of life. In accordance with these fundamentals, many participants in holistic group therapy will have positive emotional experiences, often of an unknown intensity, and these experiences appear to transform their lives within only a few days or weeks of therapy. An important idea of the course is Bohm's concept of "holo-movement" in the group, resulting from intense coherence between the group members. When the group comes together, the individual will be linked to the totality and the great movement forward towards love, consciousness, and happiness will happen collectively--if it happens at all. This gives the individual the feeling that everything that happens is right, important, and valuable for all the participants at the same time. Native Americans and other premodern people refer to this experience as "the spiritual design

A Snowslide of Entities : Does Sosa’s Existential Relativism Provide a Barrier Against Being Buried?

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Seidel, M.; Thinius, A.; Bahr, A.; Seidel, M.

2016-01-01

This paper discusses Sosa’s via media between existential relativism and absolutism. We discuss three implications of Sosa’s account which require some further clarification. First, we distinguish three alternative readings of Sosa’s account – the indexicalist, the homonymist and the (proper)

Between altruism and narcissism: An action theoretical approach of personal homepages devoted to existential meaning

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Hijmans, E.J.S.; Selm, M. van

2002-01-01

This article aims to examine existential meaning constructions from an action theoretical perspective in a specific Internet environment: the personal homepage. Personal homepages are on-line multi-media documents addressing the question Who am I? Authors of personal homepages provide information on

The Existential Concern of the Humanities R. S. Peters' Justification of Liberal Education

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Cuypers, Stefaan E.

2018-01-01

Richard Stanley Peters was one of the founding fathers of analytic philosophy of education in the twentieth century. After reviewing Peters' disentanglement of the ambiguities of liberal education, I reconstruct his view on the status and the existential foundations of the humanities. What emerges from my reconstruction is an original…

Freedom to Connect: Insight Into the Existential Dimension of Transformative Learning in a Graduate Seminar

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Sohn, Brian K.; Plaas, Kristina; Franklin, Karen; Dellard, Tiffany; Murphy, Brenda; Greenberg, Katherine H.; Greenberg, Neil B.; Pollio, Howard R.; Thomas, Sandra P.

2016-01-01

Previous analyses of transformational learning (TL) focused on rational or nonrational processes such as critical reflection on an uncomfortable personal situation or emotional learning. In this phenomenological study, researchers examined existential dimensions of TL. Individual interviews were analyzed to identify the lived experiences of eight…

The Effect of Rehabilitation Method Based on Existential Approach and Olson\\'s Model on Marital Satisfaction

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Maedeh Naghiyaee

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Objectives: Mastectomy as a treatment for breast cancer can disturb marital satisfaction of many couples. In this way, existential anxieties stemming from this potentially deleterious event, and inefficient responses to them, could be mediating. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a rehabilitation method based on existential approach and Olson's marital enrichment model on marital satisfaction of women who had undergone mastectomy and their husbands . Methods: In this study, a single subject research design is used. The study population comprised couples who had referred to Radiotherapy department of Imam Hussein hospital in Tehran, that among them three couples whose average age was 20 to 50 years old, wife's had undergone mastectomy, tumor has not spread to other parts of the body, and had no prior history of psychiatric disorders before cancer, were selected through purposeful sampling and Intervention in 12 sessions of 90 minutes once a week, has been designed to suit their specific needs. The level of couple's marital satisfaction was evaluated using Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Results: Comparing couple's scores on the diagram during 9 time measurement (3 times baseline, 4 times during intervention, and 2 times follow up assessment and calculating recovery percentage, represent increasing in score of marital adjustment scale. Discussion: So it seems that, this kind of an eclectic couple therapy, by considering couples existential anxiety, has been promoted their marital satisfaction. Explanations are given in discussion part .

An existential criterion of normal and abnormal personality in the works of Carl Jung and Carl Rogers

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Kapustin, Sergey A.

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This article is the third in a series of four articles scheduled for publication in this journal. In the first article (Kapustin, 2015a I proposed a description of a new so-called existential criterion of normal and abnormal personality that is implicitly present in the works of Erich Fromm. According to this criterion, normal and abnormal personalities are determined, first, by special features of the content of their position regarding existential dichotomies that are natural to human beings and, second, by particular aspects of the formation of this position. Such dichotomies, entitatively existent in all human life, are inherent, two-alternative contradictions. The position of a normal personality in its content orients a person toward a contradictious predetermination of life in the form of existential dichotomies and necessitates a search for compromise in resolving these dichotomies. This position is created on a rational basis with the person’s active participation. The position of an abnormal personality in its content subjectively denies a contradictious predetermination of life in the form of existential dichotomies and orients a person toward a consistent, noncompetitive, and, as a consequence, onesided way of life that doesn’t include self-determination. This position is imposed by other people on an irrational basis. Abnormality of personality interpreted like that is one of the most important factors influencing the development of various kinds of psychological problems and mental disorders — primarily, neurosis. In the second article (Kapustin, 2015b I showed that this criterion is also implicitly present in the personality theories of Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler, although in more specific cases. In the current work I prove that this criterion is also present in the personality theories of Carl Jung and Carl Rogers, where it is implicitly stated in a more specific way. In the final article I will show that this criterion

World, Time And Anxiety. Heidegger’s Existential Analytic And Psychiatry

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Brencio Francesca

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Martin Heidegger was one of the most influential but also criticized philosophers of the XX century. With Being and Time 1927 he sets apart his existential analytic from psychology as well as from anthropology and from the other human sciences that deny the ontological foundation, overcoming the Cartesian dualism in search of the ontological unit of an articulated multiplicity, as human being is. Heidegger’s Dasein Analytic defines the fundamental structures of human being such as being-in-the-world, a unitary structure that discloses the worldhood of the world; the modes of being (Seinsweisen, such as fear (Furcht and anxiety (Angst; and the relationship between existence and time. In his existential analytic, anxiety is one of the fundamental moods (Grundbefindlichkeit and it plays a pivotal role in the relationship of Dasein with time and world. The paper firstly focuses on the modes of being, underlining the importance of anxiety for the constitution of human being; secondly, it shows the relationship between anxiety and the world, and anxiety and time: rejecting both the Aristotelian description of time, as a sequence of moments that informs our common understanding of time, and the Augustine’s mental account of inner time, Heidegger considers temporality under a transcendental point of view. Temporality is ek-static, it is a process through which human being comes toward and back to itself, letting itself encounter the world and the entities. The transcendental interpretation of time provided by Heidegger may give its important contribution to psychopathology.

Defensive or Existential Religious Orientations and Mortality Salience Hypothesis: Using Conservatism as a Dependent Measure

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Koca-Atabey, Mujde; Oner-Ozkan, Bengi

2011-01-01

The study examined the relationship between the defensive versus existential religious orientation and mortality salience hypothesis in a country where the predominant type of religion is Islam. It was predicted that the mortality reactions of participants would not differ in accordance with their religious orientations within a Muslim sample. The…

Training intervention for health care staff in the provision of existential support to patients with cancer: a randomized, controlled study.

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Henoch, Ingela; Danielson, Ella; Strang, Susann; Browall, Maria; Melin-Johansson, Christina

2013-12-01

When a patient receives a cancer diagnosis, existential issues become more compelling. Throughout the illness trajectory, patients with cancer are cared for in oncology wards, by home care teams or in hospices. Nurses working with these patients are sometimes aware of the patients' existential needs but do not feel confident when discussing these issues. To determine the effects of a training intervention, where the focus is on existential issues and nurses' perceived confidence in communication and their attitude toward caring for dying patients. This was a randomized, controlled trial with a training intervention comprising theoretical training in existential issues combined with individual and group reflection. In total, 102 nurses in oncology and hospice wards and in palliative home care teams were randomized to a training or non-training group. Primary outcomes, confidence in communication, and attitude toward the care of dying patients were measured at baseline, immediately after the training, and five to six months later. Confidence in communication improved significantly in the training group from baseline (before the training) to both the first and second follow-up, that is, immediately after the training and five months later. The attitude toward caring for the dying did not improve in the training group. This study shows that short-term training with reflection improves the confidence of health care staff when communicating, which is important for health care managers with limited resources. Further studies are needed to explore how patients experience the communication skills of health care staff after such training. Copyright © 2013 U.S. Cancer Pain Relief Committee. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Existential Threat or Dissociative Response? Examining Defensive Avoidance of Point-of-Care Testing Devices Through a Terror Management Theory Framework.

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Dunne, Simon; Gallagher, Pamela; Matthews, Anne

2015-01-01

Using a terror management theory framework, this study investigated if providing mortality reminders or self-esteem threats would lead participants to exhibit avoidant responses toward a point-of-care testing device for cardiovascular disease risk and if the nature of the device served to diminish the existential threat of cardiovascular disease. One hundred and twelve participants aged 40-55 years completed an experimental questionnaire. Findings indicated that participants were not existentially threatened by established terror management methodologies, potentially because of cross-cultural variability toward such methodologies. Highly positive appraisals of the device also suggest that similar technologies may beneficially affect the uptake of screening behaviors.

Living through a volcanic eruption: Understanding the experience of survivors as a phenomenological existential phenomenon.

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Warsini, Sri; Mills, Jane; West, Caryn; Usher, Kim

2016-06-01

Mount Merapi in Indonesia is the most active volcano in the world with its 4-6-year eruption cycle. The mountain and surrounding areas are populated by hundreds of thousands of people who live near the volcano despite the danger posed to their wellbeing. The aim of this study was to explore the lived experience of people who survived the most recent eruption of Mount Merapi, which took place in 2010. Investigators conducted interviews with 20 participants to generate textual data that were coded and themed. Three themes linked to the phenomenological existential experience (temporality and relationality) of living through a volcanic eruption emerged from the data. These themes were: connectivity, disconnection and reconnection. Results indicate that the close relationship individuals have with Mount Merapi and others in their neighbourhood outweighs the risk of living in the shadow of an active volcano. This is the first study to analyze the phenomenological existential elements of living through a volcanic eruption. © 2016 Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc.

Courteous but not curious: how doctors' politeness masks their existential neglect. A qualitative study of video-recorded patient consultations.

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Agledahl, Kari Milch; Gulbrandsen, Pål; Førde, Reidun; Wifstad, Åge

2011-11-01

To study how doctors care for their patients, both medically and as fellow humans, through observing their conduct in patient-doctor encounters. Qualitative study in which 101 videotaped consultations were observed and analysed using a Grounded Theory approach, generating explanatory categories through a hermeneutical analysis of the taped consultations. A 500-bed general teaching hospital in Norway. 71 doctors working in clinical non-psychiatric departments and their patients. The doctors were concerned about their patients' health and how their medical knowledge could be of service. This medical focus often over-rode other important aspects of the consultations, especially existential elements. The doctors actively directed the focus away from their patients' existential concerns onto medical facts and rarely addressed the personal aspects of a patient's condition, treating them in a biomechanical manner. At the same time, however, the doctors attended to their patients with courteousness, displaying a polite and friendly attitude and emphasising the relationship between them. The study suggests that the main failing of patient-doctor encounters is not a lack of courteous manners, but the moral offence patients experience when existential concerns are ignored. Improving doctors' social and communication skills cannot resolve this moral problem, which appears to be intrinsically bound to modern medical practice. Acknowledging this moral offence would, however, be the first step towards minimising the effects thereof.

Older persons' existential loneliness, as interpreted by their significant others - an interview study.

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Larsson, Helena; Rämgård, Margareta; Bolmsjö, Ingrid

2017-07-10

In order to better understand people in demanding medical situations, an awareness of existential concerns is important. Studies performed over the last twenty years conclude that when dying and death come closer, as in the case with older people who are stricken by infirmity and diseases, existential concerns will come to the fore. However, studies concerning experiences of existential loneliness (EL) are sparse and, in addition, there is no clear definition of EL. EL is described as a complex phenomenon and referred to as a condition of life, an experience, and a process of inner growth. Listening to someone who knows the older person well, as significant others often do, may be one way of learning more about EL. This study is part of a larger research project on EL, the LONE study, where EL is explored through interviews with frail older people, their significant others and health care professionals. The aim of this study was to explore frail older (>75) persons' EL, as interpreted by their significant others. The study is qualitative and based on eighteen narrative interviews with nineteen significant others of older persons. The data was analysed using Hsieh and Shannon's conventional content analysis. According to the interpretation of significant others, the older persons experience EL (1) when they are increasingly limited in body and space, (2) when they are in a process of disconnecting, and (3) when they are disconnected from the outside world. The result can be understood as if the frail older person is in a process of letting go of life. This process involves the body, in that the older person is increasingly limited in his/her physical abilities. The older person's long-term relationships are gradually lost, and finally the process entails the older person's increasingly withdrawing into him- or herself and turning off the outside world. The result of this study is consistent with previous research that has shown that EL is a complex phenomenon, but

Exploring Learning Outcomes in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Existential Therapy in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Anders Dræby

This is a presentation of a research project, which explores lived experience of psychotherapy in terms of learning outcomes. This includes both Existential therapy (ET) and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and their possible differences and similarities. I can describe learning as any...... experiential change that occurs in the participants understanding as result of the therapy in which they participate. Learning outcomes are concerned with the achievements of the learner rather than the intentions of the educator, as expressed in the objectives of an educational effort. This research points...

Existential field of J. Huizinga’s games

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T. V. Lysokolenko

2014-09-01

A comparative analysis of understanding of the game by J. Huizinga, H. Hesse, E. Berne and L. Wittgenstein is being held. The result of this analysis is the assumption that H. Hesse and J. Huizinga are united by the fact that they both seek to ensure that the games remained appolonian element as a harmonious start in their understanding of the game - is a cultural universal. The position of the L.Wittgenstein differs significantly from the above indicated. For him the game - this is a language game that does not always harmonious, is not always clearly constructed composition typical for the games by H. Hesse. Playing field for L.Wittgenstein are «forms of life», which may indicate that his game as well as J. Huizinga, existential, the difference is only in the position of the interpreter, in a shift of emphasis from meaning to the action. J. Huizinga focuses on the classification of games that are played by the representatives of different cultures and L.Wittgenstein focuses on communication, without which it is impossible to play as such.

The impact of a religious opera on a secular audience : The existential and religious importance of art

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Zock, T.H.; Alma, H.

2005-01-01

What role does art play in the life of contemporary, secularized people who are looking for existential and spiritual meaning? This was the leading question in our empirical research on the opera ‘‘Dialogues of the Carmelites’’ by the French composer, Francis Poulenc. First, we will sketch the

Fear as 'Disclosure of Truths': The Educational Significance of An Existential-Phenomenological Insight

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Jani Kukkola

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The article illustrates a particular existential-phenomenological view of the emotion of fear and its connection to self-educative process of grasping the world and gaining self-knowledge. According to this view, originally promoted by Martin Heidegger (1889-1976 and in educational philosophy Otto Friedrich Bollnow (1907-1991, fear is closely connected to a specific understanding of 'unconcealment', or 'disclosure' of truths. In the article it is shown, that this understanding sheds special educational insights on the connection between fear and gaining knowledge.

Explaining Global Secularity: Existential Security or Education?

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Claude M. J. Braun

2012-11-01

Full Text Available At the time of data analysis for this report there were 193 countries in the world. Various institutions – the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the CIA, the World Values Survey, Gallup, and many others – have performed sophisticated statistical analyses on cross-national data. The present investigation demonstrates that valid and reliable data concerning religiosity and secularity exist for most countries and that these data are comparable. Cross-national data relating to social, political, economic and cultural aspects of life were tested for correlation with religiosity/secularity. In contrast to the most widely accepted general account of secularity, the Existential Security Framework (ESF; Norris & Inglehart, 2004, secularity was not most highly related to material security, though these were highly related. Rather, secularity was most strongly related to the degree of formal education attained. Material security explained no significant variance beyond education. Thus, religion’s primary function in the world today is being replaced, not so much by the pseudo-materialistic supplication for better living conditions as posited by the ESF, but by contemporary education – extensive knowledge of contemporary cultures, philosophy, modes of thought or processes of reasoning.

The Life Mission Theory VII. Theory of Existential (Antonovsky Coherence: A Theory of Quality of Life, Health, and Ability for Use in Holistic Medicine

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Søren Ventegodt

2005-01-01

Full Text Available A theoretical framework of existential coherence is presented, explaining how health, quality of life (QOL, and the ability to function were originally created and developed to rehabilitate human life from an existential perspective. The theory is inspired by the work of Aaron Antonovsky and explains our surprising recent empirical findings—that QOL, health, and ability primarily are determined by our consciousness. The theory is a matrix of nine key elements in five layers: (1 coherence; (2 purpose and talent; (3 consciousness, love, and physicality/sexuality; (4 light and joy; and (5 QOL/meaning of life. The layer above causes the layer below, with the layer of QOL again feeding the fundamental layer of coherence. The model holds the person responsible for his or her own degree of reality, happiness, and being present. The model implies that when a person takes responsibility in all nine “dimensions” of life, he or she can improve and develop health, the ability to function, all aspects of QOL, and the meaning of life. The theory of existential coherence integrates a wide range of QOL theories from Jung and Maslow to Frankl and Wilber. It is a nine-ray theory in accordance with Gurjieff's enneagram and the old Indian chakra system. It can be used in the holistic medical clinic and in existential coaching. Love is in the center of the model and rehabilitation of love in its broadest sense is, accordingly, the essence of holistic medicine. To know yourself, your purpose of life (life mission and talents, and taking these into full use and becoming coherent with life inside and reality outside is what human life is essentially about. The new model has been developed to integrate the existing knowledge in the complex field of holistic medicine. Its strength is that it empowers the holistic physician to treat the patient with even severe diseases and can also be used for existential rehabilitation, holistic psychiatry, and sexology. Its major

General Conversion for Obtaining Strongly Existentially Unforgeable Signatures

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Teranishi, Isamu; Oyama, Takuro; Ogata, Wakaha

We say that a signature scheme is strongly existentially unforgeable (SEU) if no adversary, given message/signature pairs adaptively, can generate a signature on a new message or a new signature on a previously signed message. We propose a general and efficient conversion in the standard model that transforms a secure signature scheme to SEU signature scheme. In order to construct that conversion, we use a chameleon commitment scheme. Here a chameleon commitment scheme is a variant of commitment scheme such that one can change the committed value after publishing the commitment if one knows the secret key. We define the chosen message security notion for the chameleon commitment scheme, and show that the signature scheme transformed by our proposed conversion satisfies the SEU property if the chameleon commitment scheme is chosen message secure. By modifying the proposed conversion, we also give a general and efficient conversion in the random oracle model, that transforms a secure signature scheme into a SEU signature scheme. This second conversion also uses a chameleon commitment scheme but only requires the key only attack security for it.

Content Analysis of Suicide Notes as a Test of the Motivational Component of the Existential-Constructivist Model of Suicide

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Rogers, James R.; Bromley, Jamie L.; McNally, Christopher J.; Lester, David

2007-01-01

A sample of 40 suicide notes were analyzed for motivational content in relation to an existential-constructivist theory of suicide. Results generally supported the 4 theoretical categories of somatic, relational, spiritual, and psychological motivations, with 39 notes having content that could be classified according to the aforementioned…

Existential participation in Reality and the Ontodialogical focus - exemplified with Heidegger's, Takeuchi's and Corbin's interpretation of existence and death

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Garsdal, Jesper

2010-01-01

it means to be human. I will try to illustrate this by presenting three different "gnostic" existential interpretations of death, namely Heidegger's idea of existence (or Dasein) as being-to-death, Tanabe/Takeuchi's Buddhist-inspired idea of existence as being neither-dead-nor-alive, and Henry Corbin...

[The triad configuration, humanist-existential-personal: a theoretical and methodological approach to psychiatric and mental health nursing].

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Vietta, E P

1995-01-01

The author establishes a research line based on a theoretical-methodological referential for the qualitative investigation of psychiatric nursing and mental health. Aspects of humanist and existential philosophies and personalism were evaluated integrating them in a unique perspective. In order to maintain the scientific method of research in this referential the categorization process which will be adopted in this kind of investigation was explained.

A person-centred approach in medicine to reduce the psychosocial and existential burden of chronic and life-threatening medical illness.

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Grassi, Luigi; Mezzich, Juan E; Nanni, Maria Giulia; Riba, Michelle B; Sabato, Silvana; Caruso, Rosangela

2017-10-01

The psychiatric, psychosocial, and existential/spiritual pain determined by chronic medical disorders, especially if in advanced stages, have been repeatedly underlined. The right to approach patients as persons, rather than symptoms of organs to be repaired, has also been reported, from Paul Tournier to Karl Jaspers, in opposition and contrast with the technically-enhanced evidence-based domain of sciences that have reduced the patients to 'objects' and weakened the physician's identity deprived of its ethical value of meeting, listening, and treating subjects. The paper will discuss the main psychosocial and existential burden related to chronic and advanced medical illnesses, and the diagnostic and therapeutic implications for a dignity preserving care within a person-centred approach in medicine, examined in terms of care of the person (of the person's whole health), for the person (for the fulfilment of the person's health aspirations), by the person (with physicians extending themselves as total human beings), and with the person (working respectfully with the medically ill person).

Destined to die but not to wage war: how existential threat can contribute to escalation or de-escalation of violent intergroup conflict.

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Jonas, Eva; Fritsche, Immo

2013-10-01

War means threat to people's lives. Research derived from terror management theory (TMT) illustrates that the awareness of death leads people to defend cultural ingroups and their worldviews to attain a sense of symbolic immortality and thereby buffer existential anxiety. This can result in hostile effects of mortality salience (MS), such as derogation of outgroup members, prejudice, stereotyping, aggression, and racism, which, in turn, can lead to the escalation of violent intergroup conflict and, thus, the escalation of war. Yet, escalation of destructive conflict following MS is not automatic. Instead, research on TMT suggests that MS does not necessarily result in conflict and intolerance but can also foster positive tendencies, such as intergroup fairness or approval of pacifism, depending on how existential threat is perceived, whether the need for symbolic self-transcendence is satisfied, which social norms are salient, and how social situations are interpreted. In the present article, we review current TMT research with the aim of reconciling the seemingly contradictory findings of hostile and peaceful reactions to reminders of death. We present a terror management model of escalation and de-escalation of violent intergroup conflicts, which takes into account the interaction between threat salience and features of the social situation. We also discuss possible intervention strategies to override detrimental consequences of existential threat and argue that war is not the inevitable consequence of threat. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved

The Potentiality of a Healthy Self: Evaluating Progressively Empowered Internalisation and Diagnosis through the Lens of Existential Epistemology.

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Westin, Anna

2016-11-01

In this article I will examine how the language of diagnosis can engage with existential epistemology to develop a concept of Progressively Empowered Internalisation (PEI). This, I will argue, challenges conceptualisations of diagnosis as articulating and maintaining a static self-concept. It enables the individual to synthesise the language of a particular mental experience within the wider engagement of their own active process of self-becoming. I will suggest that this construction of PEI addresses the limitations of stigmatisation and static self-concepts. In seeing the language of diagnosis as a helpful tool for understanding a part of one's self-experience, it presents an alternative to the illness-based model of mental health. This conceptualisation engages with Kierkegaard's existential epistemology, as a means of using language to understand the task of becoming oneself and relating to others. Furthermore, it explores how mental health diagnosis requires communal engagement to enable the wellbeing of its members. Diagnosis is thereby seen as a process of further empowering the individual with the language to explain a particular part of their experience within the overall movement of developing an integrated self-concept.

Trio of terror (pregnancy, menstruation, and breastfeeding): an existential function of literal self-objectification among women.

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Morris, Kasey Lynn; Goldenberg, Jamie L; Heflick, Nathan A

2014-07-01

Research and theorizing suggest that objectification entails perceiving a person not as a human being but, quite literally, as an object. However, the motive to regard the self as an object is not well understood. The current research tested the hypothesis that literal self-objectification can serve a terror management function. From this perspective, the female body poses a unique existential threat on account of its role in reproduction, and regarding the self as an object is posited to shield women from this threat because objects, in contrast to humans, are not mortal. Across 5 studies, 3 operationalizations of literal self-objectification were employed (a denial of essentially human traits to the self, overlap in the explicit assignment of traits to the self and objects, and implicit associations between self and objects using an implicit association test) in response to 3 aspects of women's bodies involved in reproduction (pregnancy, menstruation, and breastfeeding). In each study, priming mortality led women (but not men, included in Studies 1, 3, 4, and 5) to literally self-objectify in conditions where women's reproductive features were salient. In addition, literal self-objectification was found to mediate subsequent responsiveness to death-related stimuli (Study 4). Together, these findings are the first to demonstrate a direct link between mortality salience, women's role in reproduction, and their self-objectification, supporting an existential function of self-objectification in women.

Blame and guilt - a mixed methods study of obstetricians' and midwives' experiences and existential considerations after involvement in traumatic childbirth

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schrøder, Katja; Jørgensen, Jan S; Lamont, Ronald F

2016-01-01

INTRODUCTION: When complications arise in the delivery room, midwives and obstetricians operate at the interface of life and death, and in rare cases the infant or the mother suffers severe and possibly fatal injuries related to the birth. This descriptive study investigated the numbers and propo......INTRODUCTION: When complications arise in the delivery room, midwives and obstetricians operate at the interface of life and death, and in rare cases the infant or the mother suffers severe and possibly fatal injuries related to the birth. This descriptive study investigated the numbers...... and proportions of obstetricians and midwives involved in such traumatic childbirth and explored their experiences with guilt, blame, shame and existential concerns. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A mixed methods study comprising a national survey of Danish obstetricians and midwives and a qualitative interview study...... the meaning of life. Sixty-five percent felt that they had become a better midwife or doctor due to the traumatic incident. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this large, exploratory study suggest that obstetricians and midwives struggle with issues of blame, guilt and existential concerns in the aftermath...

Does 'existential unease' predict adult multimorbidity? Analytical cohort study on embodiment based on the Norwegian HUNT population.

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Tomasdottir, Margret Olafia; Sigurdsson, Johann Agust; Petursson, Halfdan; Kirkengen, Anna Luise; Ivar Lund Nilsen, Tom; Hetlevik, Irene; Getz, Linn

2016-11-16

Multimorbidity is prevalent, and knowledge regarding its aetiology is limited. The general pathogenic impact of adverse life experiences, comprising a wide-ranging typology, is well documented and coherent with the concept allostatic overload (the long-term impact of stress on human physiology) and the notion embodiment (the conversion of sociocultural and environmental influences into physiological characteristics). Less is known about the medical relevance of subtle distress or unease. The study aim was to prospectively explore the associations between existential unease (coined as a meta-term for the included items) and multimorbidity. Our data are derived from an unselected Norwegian population, the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study, phases 2 (1995-1997) and 3 (2006-2008), with a mean of 11 years follow-up. The analysis includes 20 365 individuals aged 20-59 years who participated in both phases and was classified without multimorbidity (with 0-1 disease) at baseline. From HUNT2, we selected 11 items indicating 'unease' in the realms of self-esteem, well-being, sense of coherence and social relationships. Poisson regressions were used to generate relative risk (RR) of developing multimorbidity, according to the respondents' ease/unease profile. A total of 6277 (30.8%) participants developed multimorbidity. They were older, more likely to be women, smokers and with lower education. 10 of the 11 'unease' items were significantly related to the development of multimorbidity. The items 'poor self-rated health' and 'feeling dissatisfied with life' exhibited the highest RR, 1.55 and 1.44, respectively (95% CI 1.44 to 1.66 and 1.21 to 1.71). The prevalence of multimorbidity increased with the number of 'unease' factors, from 26.7% for no factor to 49.2% for 6 or more. In this prospective study, 'existential unease' was associated with the development of multimorbidity in a dose-response manner. The finding indicates that existential unease increases people

The Dialogue with Hamlet: Paul-Eerik Rummo’s “Hamlet’s Songs” as an Example of the Existential Paradigm in Estonian Culture

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Anneli Mihkelev

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The article demonstrates different meanings of the motif of Hamlet in the Estonian culture. Hamlet as a literary figure has been very important and influential, a symbol of will and a fighter in a hopeless situation. Paul-Eerik Rummo’s poem “Hamlet’s Songs” (1964 forms the centre around which revolve not only written texts but also many such cultural texts as theatre performances and music, all connected by allusions to Hamlet. Rummo’s poem is one of the most innovative poems from the 1960s in Estonian literature. The generation of the 1960s was influenced by several important contemporary theories, including existentialism. Many young writers systematically undermined the Soviet regime in their works. The use of the motif of Hamlet reveals a similarity between the existential and romantic rebellions. Rummo’s dialogue with Hamlet in his poem expresses optimism in a hopeless situation in a way different from Shakespeare’s.

Running, Being, and Beijing—An Existential Exploration of a Runner Identity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ronkainen, Noora; Harrison, Marlen Elliot; Ryba, Tatiana

2014-01-01

In this research, we explore the negotiation of a conflicted runner identity in a Finnish runner's short-term migration to Beijing, China. We examine the historical and cultural construction of the runner identity and discuss the current discourses that constitute the modern runner subjectivities...... and migration studies as well as practical considerations for the use of autoethnography in psychological research and practice.......In this research, we explore the negotiation of a conflicted runner identity in a Finnish runner's short-term migration to Beijing, China. We examine the historical and cultural construction of the runner identity and discuss the current discourses that constitute the modern runner subjectivities....... From there, we continue with a Heideggerian existential-phenomenological analysis of the ‘boundary situation’ when the project of competitive running is challenged due to environmental and cultural barriers in the migration. Our empirical inquiry is based on the first author's autoethnographic account...

"In Situ Didactics" - creating moments of universal and existential quality and beauty

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Stenderup, Mogens Larsen; Nørgaard, Britta Kusk

2016-01-01

“In Situ Didatics” - creating moments of universal and existential quality and beauty. Written by: Senior Lecturers Mogens Larsen Stenderup and Britta Nørgaard, ( UCN ) University College of Northern Denmark ( mls@ucn.dk; bkn@ucn.dk), published April 2016. Læs den på www.academi.edu "Il existe...... certes un moment où l’une s’ouvre à l’autre – et c’est cette situation que nous appellerons enseignement" ( Lévinas, E. (2009)) Inspired by paradox experiences working with learning processes in different educational environments and cultural settings we are anxious to investigate and open up a new...... and unconsciously preventing actual change in how we organize schools and work with learning processes. This new direction contains more recognition of the importance of relational values and knowledge as part of learning processes to be active educationally....

“Just one animal among many?” Existential phenomenology, ethics, and stem cell research

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2010-01-01

Stem cell research and associated or derivative biotechnologies are proceeding at a pace that has left bioethics behind as a discipline that is more or less reactionary to their developments. Further, much of the available ethical deliberation remains determined by the conceptual framework of late modern metaphysics and the correlative ethical theories of utilitarianism and deontology. Lacking, to any meaningful extent, is a sustained engagement with ontological and epistemological critiques, such as with “postmodern” thinking like that of Heidegger’s existential phenomenology. Some basic “Heideggerian” conceptual strategies are reviewed here as a way of remedying this deficiency and adding to ethical deliberation about current stem cell research practices. PMID:20521117

The Limits of Existential Autonomy and the Fundamental Law Duties of Preserving Inconscious People Lives

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Ana Stela Vieira Mendes Câmara

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In the face of factual, conceptual and scientific uncertainties surrounding the finitude of life, and assuming the search for the ideal of a dignified, natural and proper death without prepayments or undue extensions, this research has the scope to investigate the reasonableness of the parameters that establish limitations on existential autonomy, due to the preservation of life of unconscious people. Identifies, based on heteronomous component of human dignity, the existence of a bundle of basic legal duties of protection of these individuals whose ownership rests with the family and the state. The methodology is qualitative, interdisciplinary bibliographic and documentary, in which it is used hypothetical-deductive approach.

World-viewing Dialogues on Precarious Life: The Urgency of a New Existential, Spiritual, and Ethical Language in the Search for Meaning in Vulnerable life.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Anbeek, C.W.

2017-01-01

In the last sixty years the West-European religious landscape has changed radically. People, and also religious and humanist communities, in a post-secular world are challenged to develop a new existential, ethical and spiritual language that fits to their global and pluralistic surroundings. This

How to work with dreams in psychodrama: developmental therapy from an existential-dialectical viewpoint.

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Verhofstadt-Denève, L M

1995-07-01

As Moreno has shown, the method of psychodrama can be effectively used to work on dreams. The first part of this article describes the theoretical framework. Special reference is made to a personality model based on self-reflection in relation to dialectic processes, existential questions, self-evaluations, and personality development. The theoretical introduction is followed by a description of the basic elements, techniques, and stages associated with classic psychodrama and psychodramatic dream work. After situating this approach in the wider context of dream analysis in the field of group therapy, the different stages of the working model are illustrated by means of a "dream session" conducted with an adolescent therapy group. Finally the session is analyzed from the perspective of a number of basic Morenian tenets and from the point of view of developmental therapy.

R.D. Laing and theology: the influence of Christian existentialism on "The Divided Self".

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Miller, Gavin

2009-04-01

The radical psychiatrist R.D. Laing's first book, "The Divided Self" (1960), is informed by the work of Christian thinkers on scriptural interpretation -- an intellectual genealogy apparent in Laing's comparison of Karl Jaspers's symptomatology with the theological tradition of "form criticism." Rudolf Bultmann's theology, which was being enthusiastically promoted in 1950s Scotland, is particularly influential upon Laing. It furnishes him with the notion that schizophrenic speech expresses existential truths as if they were statements about the physical and organic world. It also provides him with a model of the schizoid position as a form of modern-day Stoicism. Such theological recontextualization of "The Divided Self" illuminates continuities in Laing's own work, and also indicates his relationship to a wider British context, such as the work of the "clinical theologian" Frank Lake.

About the conjunction between literature, religion and existential knowledge in the “Memoirs from Beyond the Grave” of Chateaubriand

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Aleksandra Kamińska

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to present the relationship between literature, religion and existential knowledge in the memorial work of François-René de Chateaubriand. The first main problem is the transmission of universal values represented by Christianity. The second problem are narrator’s tragic experiences that become a source of precious knowledge communicated to the reader. These narrative stakes, reinforced by rhetorical persuasion, are crucial to ensure immortality of the author through the pertinence of his voice addressed to posterity.

Movement Images and Existential Problematics in the Novel by S. Beckett “More Pricks than Kicks”

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Il’ya N. Chernyshev

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The article considers the semantic prerequisites for the use of images associated with movement in S. Beckett’s novel «More Pricks than Kicks» and their functioning in the context of the existential problematic of the work. A great influence on the author’s early prose was made by the modernist tradition and, in particular, the work of J. Joyce. Numerous allusions and a complex system of characters, the distinguishing features of which are the peculiarities of their movement, allowed the writer to express his views on the problem of human existence. This study suggests looking at the figurative component of S. Beckett’s early work from the viewpoint of phenomenological analysis.

Conceptual Structures of Copulas and Locative-Existential Verbs in Tibetan and Himalayan Languages%藏语与喜马拉雅语言中存在类动词的概念结构

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

黄成龙

2014-01-01

文章从认知语言学、语言人类学和认知心理学的角度讨论藏语的系词（yin 与 red）“是”和处所／存在动词（yod、dug、yog．red）“在、有”的功能分布，并且与喜马拉雅语言的存在类动词进行了比较。通过亲属语言之间跨语言的比较，了解存在类动词之间概念的关联性。探索存在类动词在这些语言中概念结构的相似性和差异性。%In this paper,we describe and analyze functional distribution of copulas yin,red and locative-existential verbs yod,dug,yog.red in varieties of Tibetan,in the meantime,we compare Tibetan copulas and locative-existential verbs with those of Himalayan languages.We finally provide similarities and differences of conceptual structures of copulas and locative-existential verbs between Tibetan and Himalayan languages in terms of cognitive linguistics,linguistic anthropology and cogni-tive psychology.

A study of the main ideas in Beauvoir’s works from perspective of existentialism

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Yanyuan Bai

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Simone de Beauvoir is one of the main representatives of existential philosophy which was the most influential philosophy school in 20th century. She is also the most famous feminist in the west. After Le Deuxième Sexe, Simone de Beauvoir wrote another brilliant work describing intellectuals’ destiny — Les Mandarins. This is a book deeply manifests the French intellectual faces during hesitation on crossroads and struggling for progress after World War II. Intellectuals, women & love, revolution & politics are the main themes in this novel. This thesis aims to analyze Simone de Beauvoir’s creation ideas of literature through the social reality in which French intellectual circles lived and from the characters’ love experience. It will mainly focus on stating Simone de Beauvoir’s feminism vision of love and her ethics of the self and the other advocated in the novel.

Why does Existential Threat Promote Intergroup Violence? Examining the Role of Retributive Justice and Cost-Benefit Utility Motivations.

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Hirschberger, Gilad; Pyszczynski, Tom; Ein-Dor, Tsachi

2015-01-01

The current research examined the role of retributive justice and cost-benefit utility motivations in the process through which mortality salience increases support for violent responses to intergroup conflict. Specifically, previous research has shown that mortality salience often encourages political violence, especially when perceptions of retributive justice are activated. The current research examined whether mortality salience directly activates a justice mindset over a cost-benefit utility mindset, and whether this justice mindset is associated with support for political violence. In Study 1 (N = 209), mortality salience was manipulated among Israeli participants who then read about a Hamas attack on Israel with either no casualties or many casualties, after which justice and utility motivations for retribution were assessed. Study 2 (N = 112), examined whether the link between death primes and support for an Israeli preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities is mediated by justice or cost-benefit utility considerations. Results of both studies revealed that primes of death increased justice-related motivations, and these motives, rather than utility motives, were associated with support for violence. Findings suggest that existential concerns often fuel violent intergroup conflict because they increase desire for retributive justice, rather than increase belief that violence is an effective strategy. These findings expand our knowledge on the motivations for intergroup violence, and shed experimental light on real-life eruptions of violent conflict indicating that when existential concerns are salient, as they often are during violent conflict, the decision to engage in violence often disregards the utility of violence, and leads to the preference for violent solutions to political problems - even when these solutions make little practical sense.

Using the Existential Criterion for Assessing the Personality of Overprotective and Overly Demanding Parents in the Families of Patients Who Have Sought Psychological Counseling for Parent-Child Problems

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Kapustin, S. A.

2016-01-01

The article presents the results of applying the existential criterion of normal and abnormal personalities for assessing the personality of overprotective and overly demanding parents in 176 families of patients who have sought psychological counseling. It is shown that the position of overprotective parents is one-sided in relation to the…

Palliative patients’ and significant others’ experiences of transitions concerning organizational, psychosocial and existential issues during the course of incurable cancer: A systematic review protocol

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Madsen, Rikke; Uhrenfeldt, Lisbeth

2014-01-01

ABSTRACT Review question/objective The objective of this review is to identify, appraise and synthesize the best available evidence exploring palliative patients’ or their significant others’ experiences of transitions during the course of incurable cancer. In this review, transitions are concept...... exploring euthanasia will be excluded because euthanasia is not included in the WHO definition of palliation. KEYWORDS Lived experience; incurable cancer; patient; significant other; transition; organizational; psychosocial; existential...

An Exploration of the Differential Effects of Parents' Authoritarianism Dimensions on Pre-school Children's Epistemic, Existential, and Relational Needs

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Guidetti, Margherita; Carraro, Luciana; Castelli, Luigi

2017-01-01

Research on adult populations has widely investigated the deep differences that characterize individuals who embrace either conservative or liberal views of the world. More recently, research has started to investigate these differences at very early stages of life. One major goal is to explore how parental political ideology may influence children's characteristics that are known to be associated to different ideological positions. In the present work, we further investigate the relations between parents' ideology and children cognitive processing strategies within the framework of political ideology as motivated social cognition (Jost et al., 2003) and the dual process model of political ideology (Duckitt et al., 2002). Specifically, epistemic (implicit attitudes toward order vs. chaos), existential (negativity and threat bias), and relational needs (conformity measure) were assessed in pre-school children (N = 106; 4–6 years). For each child at least one parent completed both the Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) and the Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) measures. Interestingly, results indicated that mothers' and fathers' responses had unique associations with children's socio-cognitive motivations, and different findings emerged in relation to the two facets of parental authoritarianism, namely dominance (i.e., SDO) and submission (i.e., RWA). More specifically, children's existential needs appeared to be more related to mothers' RWA scores, whereas children's epistemic needs appeared to be more related to fathers' SDO. Finally, parents' RWA and SDO scores appeared to have opposite effects on children's relational needs: children's conformity increased at increasing levels of mothers' RWA and decreased at increasing levels of fathers' SDO. Overall, however, results were relatively weak and several links between the responses of parents and their children were not significant, suggesting caution in drawing strong conclusions about the impact of parents

An Exploration of the Differential Effects of Parents' Authoritarianism Dimensions on Pre-school Children's Epistemic, Existential, and Relational Needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Guidetti, Margherita; Carraro, Luciana; Castelli, Luigi

2016-01-01

Research on adult populations has widely investigated the deep differences that characterize individuals who embrace either conservative or liberal views of the world. More recently, research has started to investigate these differences at very early stages of life. One major goal is to explore how parental political ideology may influence children's characteristics that are known to be associated to different ideological positions. In the present work, we further investigate the relations between parents' ideology and children cognitive processing strategies within the framework of political ideology as motivated social cognition (Jost et al., 2003) and the dual process model of political ideology (Duckitt et al., 2002). Specifically, epistemic (implicit attitudes toward order vs. chaos), existential (negativity and threat bias), and relational needs (conformity measure) were assessed in pre-school children ( N = 106; 4-6 years). For each child at least one parent completed both the Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) and the Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) measures. Interestingly, results indicated that mothers' and fathers' responses had unique associations with children's socio-cognitive motivations, and different findings emerged in relation to the two facets of parental authoritarianism, namely dominance (i.e., SDO) and submission (i.e., RWA). More specifically, children's existential needs appeared to be more related to mothers' RWA scores, whereas children's epistemic needs appeared to be more related to fathers' SDO. Finally, parents' RWA and SDO scores appeared to have opposite effects on children's relational needs: children's conformity increased at increasing levels of mothers' RWA and decreased at increasing levels of fathers' SDO. Overall, however, results were relatively weak and several links between the responses of parents and their children were not significant, suggesting caution in drawing strong conclusions about the impact of parents

Secular, Spiritual, and Religious Existential Concerns of Women with Ovarian Cancer during Final Diagnostics and Start of Treatment

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Seibæk, Lene; Hounsgaard, Lise; Hvidt, Niels Christian

2013-01-01

resources of comfort and meaning. Conclusion. Hope and courage to face life represent significant personal resources that are created not only in the interplay between body and mind but also between patients and their healthcare professionals. The women dealt with this in a dialectical manner, so that hope...... a woman with ovarian cancer during her first treatment period. Although the women experienced their health to be seriously threatened, they also felt hope, will, and courage. The diagnostic procedures and treatment had comprehensive impact on their lives. However, hope and spirituality were important...... and despair could be present simultaneously. In this process secular, spiritual, and religious existential meaning orientations assisted the women in creating new narratives and obtain new orientations in life....

Being disconnected from life: meanings of existential loneliness as narrated by frail older people.

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Sjöberg, Marina; Beck, Ingela; Rasmussen, Birgit H; Edberg, Anna-Karin

2017-07-17

This study illuminated the meanings of existential loneliness (EL) as narrated by frail older people. Data were collected through individual narrative interviews with 23 people 76-101 years old receiving long-term care and services. A phenomenological hermeneutical analysis was performed, including a naïve reading and two structural analyses as a basis for a comprehensive understanding of EL. Four themes were identified related to meanings of EL: (1) being trapped in a frail and deteriorating body; (2) being met with indifference; (3) having nobody to share life with; and (4) lacking purpose and meaning. These intertwined themes were synthesized into a comprehensive understanding of EL as 'being disconnected from life'. Illness and physical limitation affects access to the world. When being met with indifference and being unable to share one's thoughts and experiences of life with others, a sense of worthlessness is reinforced, triggering an experience of meaninglessness and EL, i.e. disconnection from life. It is urgent to develop support strategies that can be used by health care professionals to address older people in vulnerable situations, thereby facilitating connectedness.

Too lonely to die alone: internet suicide pacts and existential suffering in Japan.

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Ozawa-de Silva, Chikako

2008-12-01

Most striking in the recent rise of suicide in Japan are the increase in suicide among young Japanese and the emergence of Internet suicide pacts. An ethnography of suicide-related Web sites reveals a distinctive kind of existential suffering among visitors that is not reducible to categories of mental illness and raises questions regarding the meaning of an individual "choice" to die, when this occurs in the context of an intersubjective decision by a group of strangers, each of whom is too afraid to die alone. Anthropology's recent turn to subjectivity enables analyses of individual suffering in society that provide a more nuanced approach to the apparent dichotomy between agency and structure and that connect the phenomenon of suicide in Japan to Japanese conceptions of selfhood and the afterlife. The absence of ikigai [the worth of living] among suicide Web site visitors and their view of suicide as a way of healing show, furthermore, that analyses of social suffering must be expanded to include questions of meaning and loss of meaning and, also, draw attention to Japanese conceptions of self in which relationality in all things, including the choice to die, is of utmost importance.

Życie w obliczu śmierci. Filozoficzne rozjaśnienie sytuacji egzystencjalnej. (LIFE IN THE FACE OF DEATH. PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS OF EXISTENTIAL SITUATION

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Gerd Haeffner

2007-06-01

Full Text Available The author presents our experience and knowledge about death. The problem of death is not only biological or psychological but first of all existential. We can understand death as the source of our freedom and the value of time (the world without death would be boring. We must accept the necessity of death and hope that we will live after it. Our faith in immortality is a kind of Kantian postulate. Immortality as Kantian postulate has no guaranty and does not satisfy skeptic but it is postulate of moral law fulfillment.

Surgical nurses' work-related stress when caring for severely ill and dying patients in cancer after participating in an educational intervention on existential issues.

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Udo, Camilla; Danielson, Ella; Henoch, Ingela; Melin-Johansson, Christina

2013-10-01

The aim of this study was to describe surgical nurses' perceived work-related stress in the care of severely ill and dying patients with cancer after participating in an educational intervention on existential issues. This article reports a mixed methods pilot study of an education programme consisting of lectures and supervised discussions conducted in 2009-2010 in three surgical wards in a county hospital in Sweden. The concurrent data collections consisted of repeated interviews with eleven nurses in an educational group, and questionnaires were distributed to 42 nurses on four occasions. Directly after the educational intervention, the nurses described working under high time pressure. They also described being hindered in caring because of discrepancies between their caring intentions and what was possible in the surgical care context. Six months later, the nurses described a change in decision making, and a shift in the caring to make it more in line with their own intentions and patients' needs rather than the organizational structure. They also reported decreased feelings of work-related stress, decreased stress associated with work-load and feeling less disappointed at work. Results indicate that it may be possible to influence nurses' work-related stress through an educational intervention. According to nurses' descriptions, reflecting on their ways of caring for severely ill and dying patients, many of whom had cancer, from an existential perspective, had contributed to enhanced independent decision making in caring. This in turn appears to have decreased their feelings of work-related stress and disappointment at work. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fear of a Black femme: The existential conundrum of embodying a Black femme identity while being a professor of Black, queer, and feminist studies.

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Story, Kaila Adia

2017-10-02

Although a Black femme identity has been defined and embodied by many as an identity with Black feminist roots and revolutionary potentials, Black femmes are still rendered hypervisible and invisible through racist and heteronormative politics. Similarly, embodying a Black femme identity as a professor in academia often engenders these same pretenses of hypervisibility and invisibility. This essay explores what this existential conundrum has been for me as both a Black femme and professor of Black queer and feminist studies, while illuminating the mix of forces within academia that have attempted to stifle my chosen sexual identity and gendered performance.

Bergson leitor de lucrécio: as implicações existenciais do determinismo Bergson reader of Lucretius: the existential implications of determinism

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Jonas Gonçalves Coelho

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Tomamos como objeto de análise a obra precoce de Bergson, os Extraits de Lucrèce, procurando mostrar que ao privilegiar as implicações existenciais negativas do determinismo, prefigura e justifica o fato de dedicar grande parte de seu pensamento filosófico posterior à crítica ao determinismo e à defesa da liberdade.We take as object of analysis Bergson's early work, Extraits de Lucrèce, trying to show that by privileging the negative existential implications of determinism, he prefigures and justifies his having dedicated a great deal of his later philosophical thought to a criticism of determinism and a defense of liberty.

From Shakespeare to Kierkegaard: An Existential Reading of Hamlet = Shakespeare'den Kierkegaard'a: Varoluşçuluk Işığında

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Aslı TEKİNAY

2001-06-01

Full Text Available Shakespeare's Hamlet yields conveniently to an existential reading. Hamlet may be seen as the prototype of the modern European man who struggles in a "rotten" world. In Denmark, he finds himself in a Sartrean "void". As he struggles to overcome his "nausea" by trying to unmask men, strip them of their fine appearances and show them in their true nature, Hamlet passes through the three stages of life described by Kierkegaard: the aesthetic, the ethical and the religious. Since these stages are in contradiction with one another, there is a basic choice, an "either/or" facing man. Hamlet's actions or non-actions in the play can be studied within the framework of this context.

Existential crises in two religious patients: Vicissitudes of faith and the emergence of the true self.

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Fattori, Lucia; Secchi, Cesare

2015-08-01

The authors present two clinical cases involving an existential crisis which led the patients to lose what had been the foundation in their lives, their faith. Although the therapeutic settings differ--the first patient had a few psychotherapy sessions following a psychotic episode with a mystical background, while the second was in the final stage of analytic treatment - the authors highlight how in both clinical cases a loss of faith becomes a total and urgent crisis of the Self. The fracture which ensues seems to generate an intense engagement of the body which, paradoxically during a loss of faith, induces an experience of ecstasy of the kind that has traditionally been reported. In the first case the experience of ecstasy was lived first-hand by the patient who thereafter redefined the psychotic breakdown as a "moment of truth"; whereas the second patient, through a deep projective identification, induces an eerie countertransferential feeling of 'metaphysical' shortfall in the agnostic psychoanalyst, triggering bewilderment, physical discomfort and awe in him. In both cases the authors believe that the notable somatic involvement may be correlated to a potentially profound and unprecedented contact with the True Self. Copyright © 2015 Institute of Psychoanalysis.

The Meaning of Meeting as an Existential Event in the Perspective of the Unity Paradigm

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Wąsiński Arkadiusz

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the key meaning of meeting, understood as an existential event and considered in the perspective of the paradigm of unity. The two mentioned categories: meeting and paradigm of unity are not presented in the literature in the context of their direct relation to each other. Therefore, the main problem presented in the paper is: how far they are cognitively relevant. The starting point for reflections is the recognition of a meeting situation in the perspective of human spiritual development which happens through turning towards the other. This development is experienced in overcoming the tension between the declarative attitude towards the mutual love and the real act expressing the actual openness to this gift. According to Chiara Lubich, the gift of love is the central category of the paradigm of unity. If we follow Thomas Kuhn and define the paradigm as a worldview that unites a community in their holistic vision of the world, then it is the meeting that is an integral and necessary element of this paradigm. Experiencing a meeting, in this context, is the condition for reaching the spiritual unity in a community of people who are led by mutual love and out of that love bear with one another in their otherness.

Physicians in Postgraduate Training Characteristics and Support of Palliative Sedation for Existential Distress.

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Cripe, Larry D; Perkins, Susan M; Cottingham, Ann; Tong, Yan; Kozak, Mary Ann; Mehta, Rakesh

2017-09-01

Palliative sedation for refractory existential distress (PS-ED) is ethically troubling but potentially critical to quality end-of-life (EOL) care. Physicians' in postgraduate training support toward PS-ED is unknown nor is it known how empathy, hope, optimism, or intrinsic religious motivation (IRM) affect their support. These knowledge gaps hinder efforts to support physicians who struggle with patients' EOL care preferences. One hundred thirty-four postgraduate physicians rated their support of PS for refractory physical pain (PS-PP) or PS-ED, ranked the importance of patient preferences in ethically challenging situations, and completed measures of empathy, hope, optimism, and IRM. Predictors of PS-ED and PS-PP support were examined using binary and multinomial logistic regression. Only 22.7% of residents were very supportive of PS-ED, and 82.0% were very supportive of PS-PP. Support for PS-PP or PS-ED did not correlate with levels of empathy, hope, optimism, or IRM; however, for residents with lower IRM, greater optimism was associated with greater PS-ED support. In contrast, among residents with higher IRM, optimism was not associated with PS-ED support. Comparing current results to published surveys, a similar proportion of residents and practicing physicians support PS-ED and PS-PP. In contrast to practicing physicians, however, IRM does not directly influence residents' supportiveness. The interaction between optimism and IRM suggests residents' beliefs and characteristics are salient to their EOL decisions. End-of-life curricula should provide physicians opportunities to reflect on the personal and ethical factors that influence their support for PS-ED.

The role of religious faith, spirituality and existential considerations among heart patients in a secular society: relation to depressive symptoms 6 months post acute coronary syndrome.

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Bekke-Hansen, Sidsel; Pedersen, Christina G; Thygesen, Kristian; Christensen, Søren; Waelde, Lynn C; Zachariae, Robert

2014-06-01

We explored the significance of religious faith/coping and spirituality and existential considerations reported during hospitalisation on depressive symptoms at 6-month follow-up and addressed patients' perceived influence of their faith among 97 consecutive acute coronary syndrome patients (72.2% male patients; mean age, 60.6 years) in a secular society. All faith variables were found unrelated to depressive symptoms. Having unambiguous religious or spiritual faith at follow-up was associated with a perceived positive influence of this faith on quality of life and the disease itself compared to patients with ambiguous faith. These findings underscore the importance of examining degrees of faith in secular settings. © The Author(s) 2013.

Working with chronic and relentless self-hatred, self-harm and existential shame: a clinical study and reflections.

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Austin, Sue

2016-02-01

This paper is the first of a two-part series which explores some of the theoretical and experiential reference points that have emerged in my work with people whose relationship to their body and/or sense of self is dominated by self-hatred and (what Hultberg describes as) existential shame. The first paper focuses on self-hatred and the second paper focuses on shame. This first paper is structured around vignettes taken from a 14-year analysis with a woman who was bulimic, self-harmed and repeatedly described herself as 'feeling like a piece of shit'. It draws together elements of Jung's concepts of the complex and symbol, and Laplanche's enigmatic signifier to focus on experiences of 'inner otherness' around which we are unconsciously organized. It also brings Jung's understanding that emotion is the chief source of consciousness into conversation with Laplanche's approach to the transference which is that by being aware that they do not 'know', the analyst provides a 'hollow' in which the patient's analytic process can evolve. These combinations of ideas are linked speculatively to emerging understandings of the neuroscience of perception and throughout the paper clinical material is used to illustrate these discussions. © 2016, The Society of Analytical Psychology.

Apocalyptic souls: the existential (anti hero metaphor in the Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, Peace Walker and Ground Zeroes games

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Daniel de Vasconcelos Guimarães

2015-06-01

Full Text Available In the present study, I drew a correlation between Søren Kierkegaard’s (1813-1855 existentialist theory and apocalyptic representations in the Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, Peace Walker and Ground Zeroes video games (Konami Computer Entertainment Japan, Kojima Productions, 2004, 2010 and 2014. In this successful franchise, the game’s main character, ‘Snake’ personifies ‘the knight of infinite resignation,’ the ‘tragic hero’ in ‘the infinite movement’ towards the achievement of ‘higher causes’. Also, Snake’s mentor ‘The Boss’, who sacrifices herself in order to reconcile the world from its 1960’s Cold War antagonism would represent another Kierkegaard notion called ‘the knight of faith’, who believes in his/her faith (the cause above all things. Such character traits enrich both gameplay and game narrative and the overall experience by introducing philosophical inquiries to the player. The methodology utilized was a free-form semiotic framework with emphasis on the symbolic representations along with Kierkegaard’s existentialism and other philosophical constructs as well.

Virtue Existential Career Model: A Dialectic and Integrative Approach Echoing Eastern Philosophy.

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Liu, Shu-Hui; Hung, Jui-Ping; Peng, Hsin-I; Chang, Chia-Hui; Lu, Yi-Jen

2016-01-01

Our Virtue Existential Career (VEC) model aims at complementing western modernism and postmodernism career theories with eastern philosophy. With dialectical philosophy and virtue-practice derived from the Classic of Changes , the VEC theoretical foundation incorporates merits from Holland typology, Minnesota Theory of Work Adjustment, Social Cognitive Career Theory, Meaning Therapy, Narrative Approach Career Counseling, and Happenstance Learning Theory. While modernism considers a matched job as an ideal career vision and prefers rational strategies ( controlling and realizing ) to achieve job security; postmodernism prefers appreciating and adapting strategies toward openness and appreciates multiple possible selves and occupations, our model pursues a blending of security and openness via controlling-and-realizing and appreciating-and-adapting interwoven with each other in a dialectical and harmonious way. Our VEC counseling prototype aims at a secular goal of living on the earth with ways and harmony () and an ultimate end to spiral up to the wisdom of living up to the way of heaven () with mind and virtue (). A VEC counseling process of five major career strategies, metaphorical stories of qian and kun , and experiential activities are developed to deliver VEC concepts. The VEC model and prototype presented in this research is the product of an action research following Lewin's (1946) top-to-down model. Situated structure analyses were conducted to further investigate the adequacy of this version of VEC model and prototype. Data from two groups (one for stranded college graduates and the other for growing college students) revealed empirical supports. Y ang type of career praxes tends to induce actualization, which resulting in realistic goals and concrete action plans; yin type of career praxes tends to increase self-efficacy, which resulting in positive attitude toward current situatedness and future development. Acceptance and dialectic thinking often

Sentimentos de pessoas ostomizadas: compreensão existencial Sentimiento de las personas ostomizadas: comprensión existencial Emotions of people living with ostomies: existential comprehension

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Catarina Aparecida Sales

2010-03-01

cuán dolorosos o placenteros son los acontecimientos de la vida, quedando a cargo del enfermero estar atento a sus diferentes modos de expresarse.The objective of this study was to better understand the emotions of ostomy patients and to reinforce their own moral value as beings-in-the-world, through actions of humanized care. This qualitative study followed the existential phenomenology school of thought and was performed at a teaching hospital in Northwestern Paraná - Brazil. Interviews were performed with 15 ostomy patients receiving care at the stomal therapy outpatient clinic during the months of June and July, 2006. The guiding question was: What does being an ostomy patient mean to you? From the analysis, three existential themes emerged: finding oneself in the world of ostomy; daily life with an ostomy bag; and the importance of spirituality in understanding the situation. It was observed that ostomy patients, in their existentiality, express their vicissitudes differently, revealing how painful or pleasant life events can be to them. It is the nurse's challenge to be mindful of their varying forms of expression.

Transcending the Carceral Archipelago: Existential, Figurational and Structurational Perspectives on Power and Control

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Simon Green

2015-09-01

Full Text Available From Foucault (1977 through to Cohen (1985 and Feeley and Simon (1992 criminological thinking about punishment has been dominated by penal rationalities of power and control. This has led to an under-theorised notion of the individual in criminology (Green 2011. As society and penality become increasingly ‘re-emotionalised’ (Karstedt 2011 justice and punishment are invested with a new narrative and expressive dimensions. Drawing on Sartre’s (2010 existential philosophy about choice and authenticity and the social theory of Norbert Elias (2000 and Anthony Giddens (1986 the aim is to locate individual freedom and agency within these wider social conditions and through this begin to provide the basis for a broader conception for criminology of power that is both enabling and liberating as well as oppressive and controlling. De Foucault (1977 a Cohen (1985 y Feeley y Simon (1992, el pensamiento criminológico sobre el castigo ha estado dominado por las racionalidades penales del poder y el control. En criminología, esto ha llevado a una noción del individuo infra-teorizada (Green 2011. A medida que se han “re-emocionalizado” la sociedad y la penalización (Karstedt 2011, se ha investido a la justicia y al castigo de una nueva dimensión narrativa y expresiva. Inspirándose en la filosofía existencial de Sartre (2010 sobre la elección y autenticidad, y la teoría social de Norbert Elias (2000 y Anthony Giddens (1986, el objetivo de este artículo es situar la libertad y acción individual dentro de estas condiciones sociales más amplias, para después comenzar a ofrecer la base para una concepción más amplia de la criminología del poder, que sea tanto facilitadora y liberadora, como opresiva y controladora. DOWNLOAD THIS ARTICLE FROM SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2622078

Virtue Existential Career Model: A Dialectic and Integrative Approach Echoing Eastern Philosophy

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Shu-Hui Liu

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Our Virtue Existential Career (VEC model aims at complementing western modernism and postmodernism career theories with eastern philosophy. With dialectical philosophy and virtue-practice derived from the Classic of Changes, our VEC theoretical foundation incorporates merits from Holland typology, Minnesota Theory of Work Adjustment, Social Cognitive Career Theory, Meaning Therapy, Narrative Approach Career Counseling, and Happenstance Learning Theory. While modernism considers a matched job as an ideal career vision and prefers rational strategies (controlling and realizing to achieve job security; postmodernism prefers adapting and appreciating strategies toward openness and appreciates multiple possible selves and occupations, our VEC model pursues a blending of security and openness via controlling-and-realizing and appreciating-and-adapting interwoven with each other in a dialectical and harmonious way. Our VEC counseling prototype aims at a secular goal of living on the earth with ways and harmony (安身以法以和 and an ultimate end to spiral up to the wisdom of living up to the way of heaven (天道 with mind and virtue (立命以心以德. A VEC counseling process of five major career strategies, metaphorical stories of qian and kun, and experiential activities are developed to deliver VEC concepts. The VEC model and prototype presented in this research is the product of an action research following Lewin’s (1946 top-to-down model. Situated structure analyses were conducted to further investigate the adequacy of this version of VEC model and prototype. Data from two groups (one for stranded college graduates and the other for growing college students revealed empirical supports. Yang type of career praxes tend to induce actualization, which resulting in realistic goals and concrete action plans; yin type of career praxes tend to increase self-efficacy, which resulting in positive attitude toward current situatedness and future

Motivated emotion and the rally around the flag effect: liberals are motivated to feel collective angst (like conservatives) when faced with existential threat.

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Porat, Roni; Tamir, Maya; Wohl, Michael J A; Gur, Tamar; Halperin, Eran

2018-04-18

A careful look at societies facing threat reveals a unique phenomenon in which liberals and conservatives react emotionally and attitudinally in a similar manner, rallying around the conservative flag. Previous research suggests that this rally effect is the result of liberals shifting in their attitudes and emotional responses toward the conservative end. Whereas theories of motivated social cognition provide a motivation-based account of cognitive processes (i.e. attitude shift), it remains unclear whether emotional shifts are, in fact, also a motivation-based process. Herein, we propose that under threat, liberals are motivated to feel existential concern about their group's future vitality (i.e. collective angst) to the same extent as conservatives, because this group-based emotion elicits support for ingroup protective action. Within the context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, we tested and found support for this hypothesis both inside (Study 1) and outside (Study 2) the laboratory. We did so using a behavioural index of motivation to experience collective angst. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding motivated emotion regulation in the context of intergroup threat.

Stalking and compensation for existential damage. Some remarks starting from the sentences of the Court of Cassation (Supreme Court of November 11, 2008 - Le stalking et l’indemnisation du dommage existentiel. Quelques considérations suite aux jugements de la Cour de Cassation en Chambres Unies du 11 novembre 2008 - Stalking e risarcimento del danno esistenziale. Alcune considerazioni alla luce delle sentenze della Corte di Cassazione a Sezioni Unite dell’11 novembre 2008

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Florio M.

2009-05-01

Full Text Available A few days ago, a regulation against stalking was introduced into the Italian system, inserting the art. 612 bis into the Italian penal code. The author considers the new set of rules, aiming to defend the stalking victim, and the prospects of compensation for damage to the person. Above all, puts more emphasis on the analysis of compensation for existential damage, which is now accepted to be repayable as a result of the important sentences of the Court of Cassation in 2008, when definite criteria were established. From now on, such criteria for a systematic analysis of compensation for existential damage will be a reference point for the Italian Courts.

Experiencing historical time: Apocalypse and authoritarianism in inter-war Bulgarian existential philosophy

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Nina Dimitrova

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Experiencing historical time: Apocalypse and authoritarianism in inter-war Bulgarian existential philosophy This article deals with the sense of the pace of time as reflected in the works of Bulgarian philosophers from the “philosophy of life” school, and of other thinkers active in the humanities. It is shown that the feeling of “condensed” time among the authors of the inter-war period is inevitably associated with Biblical imagery – the “reduction” of time foresees the end of time. Several authors left a lasting mark on Bulgarian intellectual history due to their sensitivity to the sharp turns of the age, and their awareness of the intense “flow” of time. The most prominent among tchem were Spiridon Kazandjiev and Yanko Yanev, authors with right-wing political leanings. This article reveals how the end of time provoked in them not only distress and anxiety but also exhilaration at what lay ahead, as if it were the realisation of a longcherished dream.   Doświadczanie czasu historycznego. Apokalipsa i autorytaryzm w bułgarskiej filozofii egzystencjalnej okresu międzywojennego Niniejszy artykuł poświęcony jest doświadczeniu tempa czasu, odzwierciedlonemu w twórczości bułgarskich filozofów sytuujących się w nurcie „filozofii życia” w najszerszym ze znaczeń, jak również innych myślicieli. Zostaje w nim pokazane, jak poczucie czasu „skon­densowanego” u autorów okresu międzywojennego nieodzownie kojarzone jest z obrazami biblijnymi – czas „zredukowany” zapowiada zbliżający się koniec. Myśliciele, którzy pozostawiają trwałe ślady w bułgarskiej historii intelektualistów właśnie w powodu swej wrażliwości na gwałtowne zwroty w czasie, na intensywność jego upływu, to m.in. Spirydon Kazandżijew [Спиридон Казанджиев], Janko Janew [Янко Янев], Najden Szejtanow [Найден Шейтанов] – autorzy o orientacji prawicowej. Artykuł ukazuje, jak �

Transforming Adverse Cognition on the Path of Bhakti: Rule-Based Devotion, “My-Ness,” and the Existential Condition of Bondage

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Travis Chilcott

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Early Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava theologians developed a unique path of Hindu devotion during the 16th century through which an aspirant cultivates a rapturous form of selfless love (premā for Kṛṣṇa, who is recognized as the supreme and personal deity. In the course and consequence of cultivating this selfless love, the recommended practices of devotion are claimed to free one from the basic existential condition of bondage that is of concern for a wide range of South Asian religious and philosophical traditions. One of the principle cognitive tendencies characterizing this condition is to have thoughts and feelings of possessiveness over objects of the world, or what is referred to as the state of “my-ness” (mamatā, e.g., my home, my children, or my wealth. Using the therapeutic model of schema therapy as a heuristic analogue, this article explores the relationship between recommended practices of rule-based devotion (vaidhi-bhakti and the modulation of thoughts and feelings of possessiveness towards mundane objects. I argue that such practices function as learning strategies that can systematically rework and modulate how one relates to and responds to these objects in theologically desirable ways. I conclude by suggesting that connectionist theories of cognition and learning may offer a promising explanatory framework for understanding the dynamics of this kind of relationship.

Losing ground in mega-deltas: basin-scale response to existential threats to the Mekong Delta

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Arias, M. E.; Kondolf, G. M.; Schmitt, R. J. P.; Carling, P. A.; Darby, S. E.; Bizzi, S.; Castelletti, A.; Cochrane, T. A.; Gibson, S.; Kummu, M.; Oeurng, C.; Rubin, Z.; Wild, T. B.

2017-12-01

The Mekong Delta is, in terms of the number of livelihoods it supports, its economic importance, and in its vulnerability to climate change and sinking lands, one of the world's critically threatened mega-deltas. Livelihoods depend on the mere existence of the delta, but also on ecosystem services provided by the delta's drainage basin spanning 795,000 km2 in six abutting countries. These ecosystem services include delivery of sand required to build delta land in the face of rising sea-levels and sediment bound nutrients, provision of spawning habitat for fish that are ultimately harvested in the delta, and hydrologic regulation driving the delta's unique flood-pulse regime. However, while the delta is mainly located in Vietnam, the basin of the Mekong River is shared among China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. In the context of the region's dynamic growth, individual countries are pushing their own development agendas, which include extensive dam building, in-channel sand mining, construction of dykes and canals, and groundwater pumping, all of which contribute to subsidence and erosion of the Delta. Our synthesis of recent research indicates that most of the Mekong's delta land will likely fall below sea-level by 2100 as result of these drivers, exacerbating the impacts of global climatic changes. In this context, local infrastructural projects and changes in land- and water-management may temporarily mitigate some negative effects, but do not address the existential threat to the delta as a whole. To prevent, or at least substantially postpone, the drowning of the Mekong Delta requires identification of the key drivers and immediate concerted management actions on the basin-scale to change the trajectory of subsidence and sediment deficit. A specific challenge is to find the institutional arrangements in this transnational context that could support the needed management changes and equitably distribute costs and impacts. The Mekong Delta is

Education of Coexistence as Technē Tou Biou

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Tomas Kačerauskas

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The article deals with education of coexistence as training of life art (technē tou biou. The major thesis is the following: our existence has been educated in the life environment together with other agents of life world (Lebenswelt, while the latter are educated in the background of our existential project to be realized during our life. This major thesis presupposes the minor ones developed in the article: existential education means the change of the roles between the agents of life enwironment; existential education covers an ironic relationship between the teacher and a disciple; the teacher educates an unique combination of the disciple’s charachteristics to be nourished in his (her existential perspective instead of forcing the equal way for everybody; every community has been educated while an individual changes life environment by realization of his (her existential utopia; education is a kind of existential tradition’s transfer through the new communicative channels; philosophy of education based on existential phenomenology stresses the aspects of responsible coexistence in the life-world to be created; education is the training of our life’s art as responsible creation inseparable from becoming of life-world as the environment of our coexistence; education deals with a miracle of breaking educational circle while a disciple excels the teacher and changes the educational environment. By analysing the problems of existential education the author uses the approaches of both existential phenomenology and cultural regionalistics. 

Inner power, physical strength and existential well-being in daily life: relatives' experiences of receiving soft tissue massage in palliative home care.

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Cronfalk, Berit Seiger; Strang, Peter; Ternestedt, Britt-Marie

2009-08-01

This article explores relatives' experiences of receiving soft tissue massage as a support supplement while caring for a dying family member at home. In palliative home care, relatives play an important role as carers to seriously ill and dying family members. To improve their quality of life, different support strategies are of importance. Complementary methods, such as soft tissue massage have become an appreciated supplement for these patients. However, only few studies focus on relatives experiences of receiving soft tissue massage as a supplemental support. Qualitative design Nineteen relatives received soft tissue massage (hand or foot) nine times (25 minutes) in their homes. Open-ended semi-structured tape-recorded interviews were conducted once per relative after the nine times of massage, using qualitative content analysis. Soft tissue massage gave the relatives' feelings of 'being cared for', 'body vitality' and 'peace of mind'. For a while, they put worries of daily life aside as they just experienced 'being'. During massage, it became apparent that body and mind is constituted of an indestructible completeness. The overarching theme was 'inner power, physical strength and existential well-being in their daily lives'. All relatives experienced soft tissue massage positively, although they were under considerable stress. Soft tissue massage could be an option to comfort and support relatives in palliative home care. In palliative nursing care, soft tissue massage could present a worthy supplement in supporting caring relatives.

Existential Postdisciplinarity

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Pernecky, Tomas; Munar, Ana Maria; Wheeller, Brian

2016-01-01

Postdisciplinarity makes claims on ontological, epistemic, and methodological levels, but it is inevitably a personal philosophical stance. This article represents an existentialist approach to the discourse on postdisciplinarity, offering reflective narratives of three academics. Tomas Pernecky...... discusses creativity, criticality, freedom, and methodological and epistemic pluralism; Ana María Munar reveals her journey of epistemological awakening; and Brian Wheeller underscores the importance of researchers’ subjective and emotive voice. Jointly, the authors depict postdisciplinarity...

Clinical holistic medicine: the case story of Anna. III. Rehabilitation of philosophy of life during holistic existential therapy for childhood sexual abuse.

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Ventegodt, Søren; Clausen, Birgitte; Merrick, Joav

2006-03-07

When we experience life events with overwhelming emotional pain, we can escape this pain by making decisions (in our mind) that transfer responsibility from our existence to the surrounding world. By doing this, we slowly destroy the essence of our being, health, quality of life, and ability to function. The case of Anna is an excellent example of such a systematic destruction of self, done to survive the extreme pressure from childhood abuse and sexual abuse. The case study shows that the damage done to us by traumatic events is not on our body or soul, but rather our philosophy of life. The important consequence is that we can heal our existence by letting go of the negative decisions taken in the past painful and traumatic situations. By letting go of the life-denying sentences, we come back to life and take responsibility for our own life and existence. The healing of Anna's existence was done by existential holistic therapy. Although the processing did not always run smoothly, as she projected very charged material on the therapists on several occasions, the process resulted in full health and a good quality of life due to her own will to recover and heal completely. The case illustrates the inner logic and complexity of intensive holistic therapy at the most difficult moment, where only a combination of intensive medical, psychiatric, and sexological treatment could set her free. In the paper, we also present a meta-perspective on intensive holistic therapy and its most characteristic phases.

RETRACTED: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice With Film

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Kat Peoples

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Because existential counseling is sometimes difficult to teach due to the philosophical concepts of the theory, counselor-educators can use films to help students understand, synthesize, and apply existential concepts. Constructivist teaching methods and experiential exercises give to students a structure that helps them understand existential concepts within the context of their own worldviews and how those concepts could operate in a therapeutic practice. By providing a detailed explanation of Fight Club, educators assist students in grasping the philosophical underpinnings of existential counseling theory concretely. Specific activities are then used to help students apply the concepts with clients.

Wars and suicides in Israel, 1948-2006.

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Oron Ostre, Israel

2012-05-01

This paper reports the characteristics of suicides which occurred during the existential and the non-existential wars in Israel. It provides a first approximation of whether the suicide patterns in each war are consistent with the findings of Morselli and Durkheim, and whether their theoretical interpretations can serve as a preliminary guideline to explaining the Israeli case, which is characterized by short periods of war, social integration during some of the non-existential wars, and a sharp rise in post-war male suicide rates following all of the existential wars. Implications for further studies on the subject in Israel and elsewhere are discussed.

The Lurking Wolf

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Larsen, Janni Lisander; Jacobsen, Søren; Hall, Elisabeth

of existential experiences over time in female patients suffering from Lupus. Method: Three 3 qualitative indept interviews with 15 women is planned during 1½ year. First and second round is performed, and third is planned during spring 2015. Interviews are guided by Van Manens life world existentials (time...... to withdraw their consent, and to choose time and place for the interviewing. Results: Interpretation on the existential meaning is in progress. Preliminary results document that the chaotic time of the diagnosis gradually changes over the years, leaving a mark on their existential life. Experiencing......THE LURKING OF THE WOLF- QUALITATIVE RESARCH OF EXISTENTIAL EXPERIENCES WITH LUPUS IN FEMALE PATIENTS. J. Lisander Larsen (1, 2), S. Jacobsen (2), E.O. C. Hall (1), R. Birkelund(3) (1) Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Section for Nursing, Denmark. (2) University Hospital...

Velamento da angústia existencial do cidadão e do homem público e o sentido de um dever ser próprio a ações sérias Concealing the existential anguish of the citizen and of the public official and the meaning of a duty being inherent to serious actions

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Valderez F. Fraga

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Este artigo explora a complexidade do fenômeno da angústia fundamentalmente como angústia existencial da qual se ocupa especialmente Heidegger em íntima relação com o dasein, sem relegá-la ou excluir a literatura a respeito. A questão central é a presença fenomenal do homem comum e do homem público como ser-no-mundo, na vida e em suas organizações. A literatura escolhida orienta a discussão para fundamentos fenomenológicos como presença, impermanência, abertura, velamento, poder ser, fuga, bem como para disposições e posturas como querer ter, querer ser, assumir-se, recorrendo a um embasamento teórico para essa primeira discussão que questiona, inicialmente e durante o artigo, implicações da angústia heideggeriana nas expectativas de cidadania. A reflexão final emerge em forma de questão em tom paradoxal que por si só é manifestação de angústia e exemplo de necessidade da seriedade do homem diante do público, em toda a sua extensão, porque a angústia existencial não se manifestou simplesmente velada, mas como uma falta.Nowadays globally manifest uneasiness which affects common men as well as public citizens motivates this exploratory study towards complexity of anxiety as a phenomenon, not as an emotion, although without relegating it or excluding the related bibliography, but to fundamentally investigate existential anguish in accordance to Heidegger, that is, in connection with the dasein. The core question is the phenomenal presence of common and public men as a being-in-the-world of life and organizations. The selected literature drives that discussion to phenomenological basics such as presence, impermanence, openness, veiling, might-be, and escape, as well as dispositions and postures like willing-to-have, willing-to-be, and assuming-oneself, resorting to a theoretical basis for this primary discussion which questions the Heideggerian anxiety implications on citizenship expectancies. The final reflection

Wars and Suicides in Israel, 1948–2006

Science.gov (United States)

Oron (Ostre), Israel

2012-01-01

This paper reports the characteristics of suicides which occurred during the existential and the non-existential wars in Israel. It provides a first approximation of whether the suicide patterns in each war are consistent with the findings of Morselli and Durkheim, and whether their theoretical interpretations can serve as a preliminary guideline to explaining the Israeli case, which is characterized by short periods of war, social integration during some of the non-existential wars, and a sharp rise in post-war male suicide rates following all of the existential wars. Implications for further studies on the subject in Israel and elsewhere are discussed. PMID:22754482

With Doug: an Eastern Orthodox--Gestalt framework for pastoral psychotherapy in the armed forces.

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, David

2013-01-01

In military behavioral healthcare, a short-term, solutions-focused system often privileges cognitive techniques over existential, affective, or psychodynamic approaches to care. Pastoral psychotherapy, which often privileges existential and person-centered care, has the potential to prove a pivotal complement in treating the whole person. This article offers an existential approach to pastoral psychotherapy in the military using integrated concepts and applications from Gestalt Therapy and Eastern Orthodox pastoral care.

Psychology of Terrorism

Science.gov (United States)

2007-12-14

and logistic support. 160. Kfir, N. (2002). Understanding suicidal terror through humanistic and existential psychology. C. E. Stout (Ed), The...anomie or for an existential vacuum, which may drive other individuals to drifting or to entering the drug culture. - To understand the differences...any group of prisoners is by definition ‘survivalist’, yet that of the Red Brigades has evolved through three phases ‘social’, ‘ existential ’ and

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

Science.gov (United States)

Lilja, Aina; DeMarinis, Valerie; Lehti, Arja; Forssén, Annika

2016-01-01

Objective To explore existential meaning-making in an ethnic-majority subgroup with mental ill health and to increase knowledge about the importance of gaining access to such information in mental healthcare. Design Qualitative study using in-depth interviews and systematic text condensation analysis. Participants 17 devote Christians with an ethnic-Swedish background, 12 women and 5 men, 30–73 years old, from different congregations across Sweden, having sought medical care for mental ill health of any kind. Setting The secular Swedish society. Results A living, although asymmetric, relationship with God often was seen as the most important relationship, giving hope and support when ill, but creating feelings of abandonment and fear if perceived as threatened. Symptoms were interpreted through an existential framework influenced by their view of God. A perceived judging God increased feelings of guilt, sinfulness and shame. A perceived merciful God soothed symptoms and promoted recovery. Existential consequences, such as being unable to pray or participate in congregational rituals, caused feelings of ‘spiritual homelessness’. Participants gave biopsychosocial explanations of their mental ill health, consonant with and sometimes painfully conflicting with existential explanations, such as being attacked by demons. Three different patterns of interaction among biopsychosocial and existential dimensions in their explanatory systems of illness causation were identified: (a) comprehensive thinking and consensus; (b) division and parallel functions and (c) division and competitive functions. Conclusions Prevailing medical models for understanding mental ill health do not include the individual's existential experiences, which are important for identifying risk and protective factors as well as possible resources for recovery. The various expressions of existential meaning-making identified in this devout religious subgroup illustrate that existential

The Existential Learner

Science.gov (United States)

McCoog, Ian J.

2010-01-01

We are all smart in different ways. Through the theory of multiple intelligences, Howard Gardner has been one of the leaders in cataloging HOW people are smart as opposed to how smart they ARE. The ability to see "the big picture" and make connections between similar and dissimilar concepts has been considered for inclusion in the multiple…

THE PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPT OF “UBUNTU” AS DIALOGIC ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Fr. Ikenga

“Ubuntu” being humanistic, transcending the ethical limitations of sovereign ..... existentialism with that of “ubuntu‟s”, African existential analytics. Both have the ... absence of war, conflict, violence, fear, destruction and human sufferings, but ...

Menneskelige grundtræk i sygeplejen

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hall, Elisabeth; Harder, Ingegerd; Haahr, Anita

2012-01-01

, to get a deeper understanding of human existentials, in other words characteristics common to all human beings. Inspired by van Manen and others, we describe seven human existentials, space, body, time, relations, ambience, historicity/memory and mortality. We illuminate the meaning of these existentials...... with examples from phenomenological research and discuss their importance to clinical nursing. The discussion thus extends ‘van Manen’s four existentials’ space, body, time and relations that have gained increasing popularity in nursing research and nursing education. We conclude by proposing that a more human...

Eksistensiale verstaan van die Ou Testament: Die teologiese arbeid van Antonius HJ Gunneweg

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. B. Boshoff

1987-01-01

Full Text Available Existential understanding of the Old Testament: The theological work of Antonius HJ Gunneweg Gunneweg applies Bultmann's concept of existential understanding to the Old Testament. Existential interpretation means that the text must be laid out in terms of the possibilities of the human existence. The author shows how Gunneweg worked it out under the following headings: Israel; The beginning; Moses; One kingdom or two kingdoms; Paul; Sola scriptura instead of salvation history; Word. The result is that Gunneweg comes to a unique understanding of the relationship between the Old and New Testaments.

[Suicide -- an essay trying to reveal the theme].

Science.gov (United States)

Sampaio, M A; Boemer, M R

2000-12-01

This essay proposes to reveal facets of the suicide through the discourse of different authors treating this theme as well as through contacts that I was able to have in my nursing training, through my academic trajectory. This trajectory includes an incursion by phenomenological ideas, mainly by the ideas of Heidegger and his existential analysis of the man as being-there. In this way, the understanding of a person who decides to finalize his/her existence, can be, by the existential analysis perspective, a way to reconstruct and redimension his/her existential perspectives.

Demoralization in Opioid Dependent Patients: A Comparative Study with Cancer Patients and Community Subjects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jong, C.A.J. de; Kissane, D.W.; Geessink, R.J.; Velden, D. van der

2008-01-01

Aim: To study existential distress or demoralization expressed as meaninglessness and helplessness in opioid dependent patients. xxx Method: Comparison of existential distress between opioid dependent patients (n=131), patients with advanced cancer (n=100) and a community based sample without severe

Is Gestalt Therapy a Humanistic Form of Psychotherapy?

Science.gov (United States)

Bergantino, Len

1977-01-01

Believes the therapeutic situation that offers the greatest awareness with the least amount of dehumanization is a synthesis of the gestalt and the existential humanistic (EH) orientations. Considers the relationship and possible synthesis of the existential and gestalt positions. (Author/RK)

Teachers' meanings regarding educational practice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berg, R.M. van den

2002-01-01

In this article, a number of scientific schools of thought and research results are reviewed and found to show the importance of identifying the existential attributions of teachers. Important points of anchor are existential phenomenology and symbolic interactionism, the approach to organizations

Hope in action—facing cardiac death: A qualitative study of patients with life-threatening disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Margrethe Aase Schaufel

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Coping with existential challenges is important when struck by serious disease, but apart from cancer and palliative care little is known about how patients deal with such issues and maintain hope. To explore how patients with life-threatening heart disease experience hope when coping with mortality and other existential challenges, we conducted a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews. We made a purposive sample of 11 participants (26–88 years who had experienced life-threatening disease: eight participants with serious heart disease, two with cancer, and one with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Analysis was by systematic text condensation. The findings showed that hope could enhance coping and diminish existential distress when patients were confronted with mortality and other existential challenges. Hope was observed as three types of dynamic work: to shift perception of mortality from overwhelming horror toward suppression or peaceful acceptance, to foster reconciliation instead of uncertainty when adapting to the new phase of life, and to establish go-ahead spirit instead of resignation as their identity. Meaning of life could, hence, be sustained in spite of serious threats to the persons’ future, everyday life, and self-conception. The work of hoping could be supported or disturbed by relationships with family, friends, and health care professionals. Hope can be regarded as an active, dynamic state of existential coping among patients with life-threatening disease. Physicians may support this coping and thereby provide personal growth and alleviation of existential distress by skillfully identifying, acknowledging, and participating in the work of hoping performed by the patient.

Hope in action—facing cardiac death: A qualitative study of patients with life-threatening disease

Science.gov (United States)

Schaufel, Margrethe Aase; Nordrehaug, Jan Erik; Malterud, Kirsti

2011-01-01

Coping with existential challenges is important when struck by serious disease, but apart from cancer and palliative care little is known about how patients deal with such issues and maintain hope. To explore how patients with life-threatening heart disease experience hope when coping with mortality and other existential challenges, we conducted a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews. We made a purposive sample of 11 participants (26–88 years) who had experienced life-threatening disease: eight participants with serious heart disease, two with cancer, and one with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Analysis was by systematic text condensation. The findings showed that hope could enhance coping and diminish existential distress when patients were confronted with mortality and other existential challenges. Hope was observed as three types of dynamic work: to shift perception of mortality from overwhelming horror toward suppression or peaceful acceptance, to foster reconciliation instead of uncertainty when adapting to the new phase of life, and to establish go-ahead spirit instead of resignation as their identity. Meaning of life could, hence, be sustained in spite of serious threats to the persons' future, everyday life, and self-conception. The work of hoping could be supported or disturbed by relationships with family, friends, and health care professionals. Hope can be regarded as an active, dynamic state of existential coping among patients with life-threatening disease. Physicians may support this coping and thereby provide personal growth and alleviation of existential distress by skillfully identifying, acknowledging, and participating in the work of hoping performed by the patient. PMID:21423599

Hope in action-facing cardiac death: A qualitative study of patients with life-threatening disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Schaufel, Margrethe Aase; Nordrehaug, Jan Erik; Malterud, Kirsti

2011-03-18

Coping with existential challenges is important when struck by serious disease, but apart from cancer and palliative care little is known about how patients deal with such issues and maintain hope. To explore how patients with life-threatening heart disease experience hope when coping with mortality and other existential challenges, we conducted a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews. We made a purposive sample of 11 participants (26-88 years) who had experienced life-threatening disease: eight participants with serious heart disease, two with cancer, and one with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Analysis was by systematic text condensation. The findings showed that hope could enhance coping and diminish existential distress when patients were confronted with mortality and other existential challenges. Hope was observed as three types of dynamic work: to shift perception of mortality from overwhelming horror toward suppression or peaceful acceptance, to foster reconciliation instead of uncertainty when adapting to the new phase of life, and to establish go-ahead spirit instead of resignation as their identity. Meaning of life could, hence, be sustained in spite of serious threats to the persons' future, everyday life, and self-conception. The work of hoping could be supported or disturbed by relationships with family, friends, and health care professionals. Hope can be regarded as an active, dynamic state of existential coping among patients with life-threatening disease. Physicians may support this coping and thereby provide personal growth and alleviation of existential distress by skillfully identifying, acknowledging, and participating in the work of hoping performed by the patient.

Mediators of the childhood emotional abuse-hopelessness association in African American women.

Science.gov (United States)

Lamis, Dorian A; Wilson, Christina K; Shahane, Amit A; Kaslow, Nadine J

2014-08-01

Although there is an association between experiencing childhood emotional abuse and feeling hopeless as an adult, it is critical to understand the factors that may be protective in this relationship. The goal of this study was to determine if two protective factors, namely spiritual well-being, including both religious and existential well-being, and positive self-esteem, served to mediate the association between childhood emotional abuse and adult hopelessness. The sample for this investigation was low-income African American women suicide attempters who were abused by a partner in the prior year (N=121). A path analysis revealed that in this sample, the childhood emotional abuse-hopelessness link was mediated by existential well-being and positive self-esteem, as well as by the two-mediator path of emotional abuse on existential well-being on self-esteem on hopelessness. Results suggested that existential well-being may be a more salient protective factor for hopelessness than religious well-being among abused, suicidal African American women who experienced childhood emotional abuse. Findings highlight the value of culturally relevant strategies for enhancing existential well-being and self-esteem in this at-risk population to reduce their vulnerability to feelings of hopelessness. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effect of spiritual interventions addressing existential themes using a narrative approach on quality of life of cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kruizinga, Renske; Hartog, Iris D; Jacobs, Marc; Daams, Joost G; Scherer-Rath, Michael; Schilderman, Johannes B A M; Sprangers, Mirjam A G; Van Laarhoven, Hanneke W M

2016-03-01

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of spiritual interventions on quality of life of cancer patients. We conducted our search on June 6, 2014 in Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, and PubMed. All clinical trials were included that compared standard care with a spiritual intervention that addressed existential themes using a narrative approach. Study quality was evaluated by the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. A total of 4972 studies were identified, of which 14 clinical trials (2050 patients) met the inclusion criteria, and 12 trials (1878 patients) were included in the meta-analysis. The overall risk of bias was high. When combined, all studies showed a moderate effect (d) 0.50 (95% CI = 0.20-0.79) 0-2 weeks after the intervention on overall quality of life in favor of the spiritual interventions. Meta-analysis at 3-6 months after the intervention showed a small insignificant effect (0.14, 95% CI = -0.08 to 0.35). Subgroup analysis including only the western studies showed a small effect of 0.17 (95% CI = 0.05-0.29). Including only studies that met the allocation concealment criteria showed an insignificant effect of 0.14 (95% CI = -0.05 to 0.33). Directly after the intervention, spiritual interventions had a moderate beneficial effect in terms of improving quality of life of cancer patients compared with that of a control group. No evidence was found that the interventions maintained this effect up to 3-6 months after the intervention. Further research is needed to understand how spiritual interventions could contribute to a long-term effect of increasing or maintaining quality of life. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Governing Boring Apocalypses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Hin-Yan; Lauta, Kristian Cedervall; Maas, Matthijs Michiel

2018-01-01

and in our societal arrangements may increase our susceptibility to existential hazards. Finally, different types of exposure of our society or its natural base determine if or how a given hazard can interface with pre-existing vulnerabilities, to trigger emergent existential risks. We argue that far from...

Existential Grammar for Composition.

Science.gov (United States)

Merchant, Frank

The teaching of grammar has been in sad decline since medieval times, when it included the whole skill of creating in language. Our textbook community has moved through a series of ineffective fashions, from those of Fries to post-Chomsky. All have presumed to replace prescriptive rules with realistic explanations. But all have fallen, like the…

Design for Existential Crisis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Light, Ann; Shklovski, Irina; Powell, Allison

2017-01-01

destabilize society? What is to be done when it isn't "business as usual" and even broken concepts of progress seem no longer to be progressing? In this paper, we discuss aspects of humanity, such as the need for meaning, fulfillment, dignity and decency, which computers struggle to support but can easily...... undermine. We juxtapose design that offers hope with that which offers only distraction and conclude with a plea to avoid Bovine Design, or tools that encourage passivity, rote-behavior and a blinkered existence at a time of great uncertainty and change. The big question that alt-chi can ask for 2017 is...

Energy - the existential problem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Michaelis, H.

1980-01-01

The volume contains the 16 speeches held on the meeting of the German Atom Forum Nuclear energy with the background of the world's energy situation of January 1980. They deal with the new dimensions of the world energy problem, possibilities of an alternative long-term development, long-term prognoses, energy for the Third World, international problems of energy policy, availability of hard coal, energy policy in the Federal Republic, ways of application and substitution potential of nuclear energy, industrial development, new energy sources, the purpose of energy decentralized energy supply, the energy demand, environment protection as a vehicle for cultural criticism. The editor sees in the debate a serious approach between supporters and opponents of nuclear energy. (HSCH) [de

Modernity in Two Great American Writers' Vision: Ernest Miller Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald

Science.gov (United States)

Keshmiri, Fahimeh; Darzikola, Shahla Sorkhabi

2016-01-01

Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, American memorable novelists have had philosophic ideas about modernity. In fact their idea about existential interests of American, and the effects of American system on society, is mirrored in their creative works. All through his early works, Fitzgerald echoes the existential center of his era. Obviously,…

The Sartre-Heidegger Controversy on Humanism and the Concept of Man in Education

Science.gov (United States)

Kakkori, Leena; Huttunen, Rauno

2012-01-01

Jean-Paul Sartre claims in his 1945 lecture "Existentialism is a Humanism" that there are two kinds of existentialism: that of Christians like Karl Jaspers, and atheistic like Martin Heidegger. Sartre's "spiritual master" Heidegger had no problem with Sartre defining him as an atheist, but he had serious problems with Sartre's…

Prayer and meditation among Danish first time mothers-a questionnaire study.

Science.gov (United States)

Prinds, Christina; Hvidtjørn, Dorte; Skytthe, Axel; Mogensen, Ole; Hvidt, Niels Christian

2016-01-19

Mothers' existential dimensions in the transition to motherhood have not been described thoroughly. They might experience disruption and new perspectives in existential ways and this may especially be the case in preterm birth. The aim of this study was twofold. First we investigated the existential dimension of motherhood transition in a secularized context, through practices of prayer and meditation. Second we described the relationship between time of birth (term/preterm) and the prayer/meditation practices of the mothers. Data were gathered from a nationwide questionnaire survey among first time mothers conducted during the summer 2011. All Danish women who gave birth before the 32(nd) pregnancy week (n = 255), and double the number of mothers who gave birth at full term (n = 658) in 2010 were included (total n = 913). The questionnaire consisted of 46 overall items categorized in seven sections, which independently cover important aspects of existential meaning-making related to becoming a mother. The respondent rate was 57% (n = 517). Moments of praying or meditation 6-18 months post partum were reported by 65%, and mothers who responded affirmatively, practiced prayer (n = 286) more than meditation (n = 89), p meditation between mothers of full term or preterm born children, not even after controlling for perinatal or post partum loss, mode of birth, age, status of cohabiting or education. In this explorative study we found specific practices of existential meaning-making through prayer and/or meditation among first time mothers, living in a very secularized context. Yet we know only little about character or importance of these practices among mothers, and hardly anything about existential meaning-making among new fathers. Hence the implications of meaning-making practices related to other dimensions of health are difficult to address in a qualified way in care for new mothers and families.

Clinical Holistic Medicine: The Case Story of Anna. II. Patient Diary as a Tool in Treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sören Ventegodt

2006-01-01

Full Text Available In spite of extreme childhood sexual and violent abuse, a 22-year-old young woman, Anna, healed during holistic existential therapy. New and highly confrontational therapeutic tools were developed and used to help this patient (like acceptance through touch and acupressure through the vagina. Her vulva and introitus were scarred from repeated brutal rape, as was the interior of her mouth. During therapy, these scars were gently contacted and the negative emotional contents released. The healing was in accordance with the advanced holistic medical toolbox that uses (1 love, (2 trust, (3 holding, and (4 helping the patient to process and integrate old traumas.The case story clearly revealed the philosophical adjustments that Anna made during treatment in response to the severe childhood abuse. These adjustments are demonstrated by her diary, where sentences contain both the feelings and thoughts of the painful present (the gestalt at the time of the abuse, thus containing the essence of the traumas, making the repression of the painful emotions possible through the change in the patient’s philosophical perspective. Anna's case gives a unique insight into the process of traumatization (pathogenesis and the process of healing (salutogenesis. At the end of the healing, Anna reconnected her existence to the outer world in a deep existential, suicidal crisis and faced her choice of life or death. She decided to live and, in this process, assumed existential responsibility, which made her able to step out of her mental disease. The advanced holistic toolbox seems to help patients heal even from the worst childhood abuse. In spite of the depth of the existential crisis, holistic existential therapy seems to support existential responsibility well and thus safe for the patients.

Thinking, Relating and Choosing: Resolving the issue of Faith ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Which is worse: Doing evil or being evil? If we are free to define ourselves through our choices, as existentialism posits, then the latter is worse. This paper attempts to resolve the issue of the difference between religious (group) ethics and the ethics of a person of faith that embraces individuals with an existential ...

Anxious Affinities: How Theatrical Performance Can Generate a Platform for Interpersonal Dialogue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Motal Jan

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The article combines both philosophical and psychological approaches to argue that art and theatre performance especially can be grasped as a revelation of the universal and basic human concern, which is existential anxiety. The author presents an opinion, that via performative acts on stage, spectators and performers/actors are interconnected in hermeneutic situation (Hans-Georg Gadamer, in which they play their existential experience. Therefore, the universal death anxiety (Irvin D. Yalom can be understood as a possible platform for interpersonal and intercultural dialogue (Martin Buber. The article concludes, that archetypes (Carl Gustav Jung are such a place for mutual understanding, representing both mental and physical answers to the basic existential experience of humankind.

Radicalization: An Overview and Annotated Bibliography of Open-Source Literature

Science.gov (United States)

2006-12-15

particularly with liberal, democratic, and humanistic Muslims Phares points to Jihadism as the main root cause of terrorism and suggests that defending...An Overview and Annotated Bibliography of Open-Source Literature 155 of ambiguity), epistemic and existential needs theory (need for closure...This book presents Terror Management Theory, which addresses behavioral and psychological responses to terrorist events. An existential

Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Research in Organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

1981-07-01

Lofland, lq76), symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1969), ethnomethodology (Turner, 1974), existentialism (Douglas & Johnson, 1977), and phenomenology...influenced greatly by this ethnomethodology or perhaps symbolic interactionism , many others will have bcen influenced by a variety of the other...approach, qualitatitve research is based on a variety of philosophical orien- tations including natural science, symbolic interactionism , and existential

A Review of Literatures

Science.gov (United States)

2007-01-01

S. Halling (Eds.), Existential -phenomenological perspectives in psychology: Exploring the breadth of human experience (p. 115–126). New York...differences through movement style. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 47 (3) 367-375. Shore, B. (1996). Culture in mind: Cognition, culture and the...in China: An interview study. International Journal of Management, 18, 465-472. Vivero, V. & Jenkins, S. (1999). Existential hazards of the

Partnership for the Americas: Western Hemisphere Strategy and U.S. Southern Command

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

natural resources and the preservation of human rights, to fears of potential existential clashes of political ideologies, our national needs have...form radical subversive movements. Through- out history, however, humanist , liberal, and democratic governments have proven better at rallying the...sures. This approach was rationalized by comparing it to the larger potential horrors, destructive results, and existential threat of the spread of

Wonder-driven Entrepreneurship Teaching

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Herholdt-Lomholdt, Sine Maria; Hansen, Finn Thorbjørn

2016-01-01

This paper will in an overall and outlining way describe why the phenomenology of wonder and wonder-based approaches can become doorways for understanding the existential and ontological dimensions of entrepreneurship teaching.......This paper will in an overall and outlining way describe why the phenomenology of wonder and wonder-based approaches can become doorways for understanding the existential and ontological dimensions of entrepreneurship teaching....

Jointness: All for One and One for All

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-01

one driven by capability instead. During the Cold War, the Dutch Armed Forces were oriented towards the existential threat of a Soviet invasion...War ended the existential threat that provided the Dutch defense policy with its primary focus. Intra-European military competition was stifled by...instruments to create an orderly world. Dutch humanist and Christian traditions, which run deep in the society, reinforce this thought and also

An Alternative Approach: Examining Arguments Against Coercive Interrogation Techniques from a Biblical-Ethics Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

2016-06-10

Ethics of Torture. Jeffreys is Associate Professor of Humanistic Studies and Religion at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay (Jeffreys 2009... existential struggle of those suffering from MI is a result of “perpetrating, failing to prevent, or bearing witness to acts that transgress deeply held... existential impact of CIT on the interrogator. While neither offers a complete and substantiated theory, their comments provide further argumentation that

NATURAL AND SOCIAL STATUS. HISTORICAL AND LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marius ANDREESCU

2018-06-01

Full Text Available The history of philosophy and the history of legal doctrines mention and analyze the differences, often categorical, between the existence of man in his natural status and on the other hand, his existence in social status. The doctrine of the social contract is the mainstream of the thought that analyzes the existential status of man in the social environment and the natural environment by arguing, according to the author and the philosophical conception, the historical, social and juridical particularities of the natural status and social status. In our study we support the compatibility between the two existential forms of man, we identify the existential categories in which these can be defined, and emphasize the implications of these categories in realization of the act of justice.

Balanced parenting style and its impact on the development of child personality

OpenAIRE

Sergey A. Kapustin

2015-01-01

The paper includes research results of families, who have never applied to psychological counselling. To assess the normality and abnormality of parent and child personality existential criterion was used. In these families a so-called balanced style of parenting was revealed. This style indicates the compromising parental position in the education of their children concerning the existential dichotomies help and autonomy, nature and culture, self-actualization and conditional values, determi...

Does Military Culture Adequately Prepare Senior Leaders to Provide Clear Objective, and Useful Strategic Advice?

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-17

relegate South Vietnamese forces to the fight against the Viet Cong in lieu of training and employing them in the fight against the existential threat...counter insurgencies in foreign countries that are ostensibly of minimal threat to the existential being of the United States. Since insurgent threats to...profound difference between the will to understand for purposes of coexistence and humanistic enlargement of horizons, and the will to dominate for

East Europe Report: Political, Sociological and Military Affairs, No. 2193

Science.gov (United States)

1983-09-06

want to become "good" people, perform humanistic deeds, be useful, not senselessly vegetate. Values such as a sense of duty, a sense of honor, but...produc- tion, primarily in the production of vegetables, conservation of pastures, preservation of livestock, and broadly interpreted social- existential ...by three fourths of the respondents to have self-government active in social- existential matters (an explanation to this might be, the lack of trade

Al Qaeda as a Charismatic Phenomenon

Science.gov (United States)

2009-06-01

loses meaning. In short, they are situations of existential threat in a society.40 36 As cited in...accessed March 21, 2009). 58 their countries face an existential crisis due to the threat of the crusaders led by the U.S. and Israel on their...Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas. 83 an ideological challenge best confronted by drawing on Islam’s humanist and

Enduring Strategic Rivalries

Science.gov (United States)

2014-08-01

Humanist slogan that first became popular in the fifteenth century, Bella gerant alii; tu, felix Austria, nube—Others make war; you, happy Habsburgs, marry...and perceptions of Winston Churchill for the British to hang on in the face of the existential threat that the Third Reich represented. This essay...to Western actions instead of the existential problem caused by a wave of internal rebellions, whose causes were internal, overlaid by Chinese

The Russian Military Today and Tomorrow: Essays in Memory of Mary Fitzgerald

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

aim to persuade relevant audiences, in this case the political and military elite, that the issue in question poses an “ existential threat to the... existential gamble by Lenin and Trotsky stood Marxism on its head. That gamble failed when Germany did not become the vanguard of the world revolution...for Russia’s spiritual renewal, the development of moral values, patriotic and humanistic traditions, and cultural and scientific potential. Most

Tilting at Windmills: Colonialism, Communism, and the Limits of Coercion

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-01

existential threat to Jewry at the hands of Hitler, the Nazis, and their sympathizers had generated an elemental desire for recognition. If such...Strategic Context- Framing the Problem The existential threat to the United States, in the form of possible nuclear war with the Soviet Union...South East Asia. In Indochina’s case, the realpolitik consideration of “Europe first” would take precedence over more liberal, humanist policies on the

Existential Being as Transformative Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Walters, David A.

2008-01-01

In some ways, "a culture of the modern consulting room" may be seen as having been initiated by Freud and followers. Here, social hierarchy, unconscious motivation and the authority of analyst may all be seen as manifestations of professional practice. With the contributions of Heidegger, Kierkegaard, May, Adler, Rogers and others of the…

Reality and Fiction in the Perspective of Linguistic Existence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomas Kačerauskas

2011-04-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with relation between reality and fiction. The project of phenomenology of creation is presented in this context. According to the author, reality is an environment of our becoming. We fill this environment with our objects, desires, and expectations. Reality and fiction make two poles of creative tension. Human creation, i.e. culture is developed between these two poles. The author links culture with existential creation, i.e. with creation of life story. It is stressed that life story is analogous not to a diary but to a novel where every event takes part in the existential whole. An existential novel is born in a particular spiritual environment which is renewed by its inscription into this environment. The author refers to existential events as phenomena which being inscribed into our living whole direct the stream of events. The author uses the metaphors of the theatre as a public space and the river as a reative stream. It is stated that our existence is developed as polyphonic interrelation between a part and the whole. Different modi of existential creation like realization, working, embodiment, spiritualization and their links are analysed. Working is connected with a private domestic environment the created works in which should be prooved in a public space of the city. It is discussed on an opinion that the national language is the main modus of nationality. It is stated that a multinational environment of a capitol is the best school of national existence. It is showed that a theoretical model of phenomenology of creation is useful in the interpretation of historical and cultural phenomena. 

Necessary and impossible: on spiritual questions in relation to early induced abortion

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Maria Liljas Stålhandske

2009-01-01

Full Text Available No matter how technically developed and medically sophisticated our society becomes, in the end we are all going to die. In other words, as human beings we are, from time to time, forced to deal with situations of existential significance. Existential and spiritual questions remain relevant—even in a country where most people­ have abandoned institutional forms of religion. But how do people­ deal with these questions? Sweden continues to uphold an extreme position, from a global perspective, when it comes to religiosity and traditional values. No other country in the world has, to such a great extent, left traditional and survival values on the behalf of those based on rationality and self expression. Religious and ethnic minorities have brought new forms of piety to the Swedish scene, but secularization and religious privatization dominate. In this situation, it is important to study people’s ways of dealing with existential life situations. What do people think, feel, believe and do in the presence of the ultimate questions—when there exists no common ground for meaning-making? This article begins with an outline of the state of religion in Sweden, against the backdrop of the contemporary climate in Western culture. This is followed by an introduction to abortion in Sweden, and to abortion research of interest for this paper. Ritual participation is the next topic, leading to concepts of importance for the pilot study: existential homelessness and individualized rituals. In the rest of the article the focus is on the pilot study and a discussion of its results in relation to the existential situation in Sweden at large.

[The relationship between career decision-making self efficacy and anxiety].

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Chen; Cai, Yun; Liu, Jia; Shan, Dan; Zhou, Xia

2012-03-01

The purpose of the paper is to examine the relationship among Career Decision-Making Self Efficacy, existential anxiety and anxiety in the sample of college students during the professional choice. Data on The Revised Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy-Shot Form, Existential Anxiety Scale (EAS), SCL-90 and self-identity status were collected and analyzed on a sample of 500 college students. 201 rural students' career decision making self-efficacy scores were as follows: self-appraisal (12.58 ± 3.48), occupational information (12.07 ± 3.05), goal selection (12.48 ± 3.51), planning (12.17 ± 3.10), problem solving (9.75 ± 2.38), all scores were lower than urban students, the difference was statistically significant (P guilt anxiety (13.72 ± 2.38), alienation and loneliness anxiety (16.82 ± 2.51), all scores are higher than urban students, the difference was statistically significant (P decision making self-efficacy. There is a significant positive correlation between anxiety and existential anxiety. There exists a significant negative correlation among factors of student and career decision making self-efficacy and anxiety. Meaningless and emptiness anxiety on career decision making self-efficacy are significant predictors. There is negative correlation among existential anxiety, occupational information and anxiety during the professional choice.

Prayer and meditation among Danish first time mothers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Prinds, Christina; Hvidtjørn, Dorte; Skytthe, Axel

2016-01-01

BackgroundMothers’ existential dimensions in the transition to motherhood have not been described thoroughly. They might experience disruption and new perspectives in existential ways and this may especially be the case in preterm birth. The aim of this study was twofold. First we investigated...... the existential dimension of motherhood transition in a secularized context, through practices of prayer and meditation. Second we described the relationship between time of birth (term/preterm) and the prayer/meditation practices of the mothers.MethodsData were gathered from a nationwide questionnaire survey...... among first time mothers conducted during the summer 2011. All Danish women who gave birth before the 32nd pregnancy week (n = 255), and double the number of mothers who gave birth at full term (n = 658) in 2010 were included (total n = 913). The questionnaire consisted of 46 overall items categorized...

Predicative possession in Medieval Slavic Bible translations Predicative Possession in Early Biblical Slavic

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Julia McAnallen

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Late Proto-Slavic (LPS had an inventory of three constructions for expressing predicative possession. Using the earliest Slavic Bible translations from Old Church Slavic (OCS, and to a lesser degree Old Czech, a number of conclusions can be drawn about the status of predicative possession for LPS. The verb iměti ‘have’ was the most frequent and least syntactically and semantically restricted predicative possessive construction (PPC. Existential PPCs with a dative possessor appear primarily with kinship relations, abstract possessums, and in a number of other fixed construction types; existential PPCs with the possessor in an u + genitive prepositional phrase primarily appear with concrete and countable possessums. Both existential PPCs call for an animate, most often pronominal, possessor. The u + genitive was the rarest type of PPC in LPS, though it had undoubtedly grammaticalized as a PPC.

Traumatic Childbirth from the Perspective of the Healthcare Professional

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schrøder, Katja

2016-01-01

, but it accentuates the natural unpredictability of childbirths and it gives voice to the midwife and obstetrician who go to work with no intention to cause harm. I have investigated the perspective of the involved healthcare professional from an individual approach, based on the existential-humanistic traditions...... was to explore to what extent and in what way midwives and obstetricians feel guilt or have existential considerations in relation to these events. Feeling guilty seemed to play a pivotal part in the narratives of being involved in a traumatic childbirth as a healthcare professional, and even in cases...... health and wellbeing in the aftermath. In study II, we formed five categories during the comparative mixed methods analysis: i) the pa-tient; ii) clinical peers; iii) official complaints; iv) guilt and v) existential considerations. Although blame from patients, peers or official authorities was feared...

Depression, osteoporosis, serotonin and cell membrane viscosity between biology and philosophical anthropology

OpenAIRE

Cocchi, Massimo; Tonello, Lucio; Gabrielli, Fabio; Pregnolato, Massimo

2011-01-01

Abstract Due to the relationship between biology and culture, we believe that depression, understood as a cultural and existential phenomenon, has clear markers in molecular biology. We begin from an existential analysis of depression constituting the human condition and then shift to analysis of biological data confirming, according to our judgment, its original (ontological) structure. In this way philosophy is involved at the anthropological level, in as much as it detects the underlying m...

Grief Interrupted: The Experience of Loss Among Incarcerated Women

OpenAIRE

Harner, Holly M.; Hentz, Patricia M.; Evangelista, Maria Carmela

2010-01-01

Incarcerated women face a number of stressors apart from the actual incarceration. Nearly half of all women in prison experience the death of a loved one during their incarceration. Our purpose for this study was to explore the experience of grief and loss among incarcerated women using a phenomenological method. Our study approach followed van Manen's method of phenomenology and Munhall's description of existential lifeworlds. Our analysis revealed four existential lifeworlds: temporality: f...

Unity of command for federal consequence management

OpenAIRE

Lucie, Harold Quinton

2013-01-01

CHDS State/Local Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited The United States eventually will face an existential catastrophe. An existential catastrophe would result in cascading effects extending well beyond the physical boundaries of the event. When studying the federal response to major disasters, it is apparent higher levels of presidential interest provide a positive impact on results. The lack of coordination of federal response efforts and the inability of the presid...

Musiikki ahdistuksen taitona : Filosofinen tutkimus musiikin eksistentiaalis-ontologisesta merkityksestä

OpenAIRE

Torvinen, Juha

2007-01-01

Music as the Art of Anxiety: A Philosophical Approach to the Existential-Ontological Meaning of Music. The present research studies music as an art of anxiety from the points of view of both Martin Heidegger s thought and phenomenological philosophy in general. In the Heideggerian perspective, anxiety is understood as a fundamental mode of being (Grundbefindlichkeit) in human existence. Taken as an existential-ontological concept, anxiety is conceived philosophically and not psychologica...

U.S. Army War College Guide to National Security Issues. Third Edition, Volume 1. Theory of War and Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

2008-06-01

consideration of the unknowns and the role of chance, and recognizes the strategic environment consists of both physical and humanistic systems.19 It...or total goals. It really makes no difference if the goal is something existential like continuing to exist as a nation or something less vital...are less well adapted to confront the new threat structure emerging in an age of sacred terror and new kinds of existential concerns. The security

The U.S. Army War College Guide to National Security Issues. Volume 1: Theory of War and Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

of both physical and humanistic systems.19 It is one thinking lens that has great application in the strategic appraisal process. Richard E. Neustadt...total goals. It really makes 85 no difference if the goal is something existential like continuing to exist as a nation or something less vital like...kinds of existential concerns. The security problem has become more complex and multidimensional. In his seminal People, States and War, first published

[The hospital as space and as territory].

Science.gov (United States)

Stiefel, Friedrich; Marion-Veyron, Régis; Englebert, Jérôme

2018-02-07

Space is lived individually and collectively and can become a source of existential affectation, especially when the lived experience is modified by disease. The fact that the hospital is also a place of territorialisation can potentiate this affectation, with at times surprising consequences. We aim - based on a reflection about the relationship patients and clinicians establish with the territory of the hospital- to identify some psychological and existential issues at stake with regard to space as a social construction.

Vliv existencialismu na výchovu

OpenAIRE

Sál, Petr

2015-01-01

The theme of this thesis is to describe the development of the philosophical basis for the emergence of existentialism by Jean-Paul Sartre and subsequently explore this philosophical model. Then the work proceeds to the thought experiment and creates an outline of the teacher's competence, which would include the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre. The basic question, which this thesis should answer, is whether it is possible to apply a philosophical approach of existentialism, especially early p...

“I’m just as Rock ’n’ Roll fan” : Popular music as a meaning resource for aging

OpenAIRE

Kotarba, Joseph A.

2009-01-01

Critics and fans alike have traditionally viewed popular music, especially in terms of its rock‘n’roll iterations, as a meaning resource for youth navigating through adolescence. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relevance of popular music for self-identity through middle age and beyond. The theoretical basis for this exploration is a composite of ideas from existential social thought and symbolic interactionist views on aging. Existential social thought tells us that the process of...

U.S. Army War College Guide to National Security Issues. Volume 1. Theory of War and Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-01

environ- ment consists of both physical and humanistic systems.19 It is one thinking lens that has great ap- plication in the strategic appraisal process...goals. It really makes 97 no difference if the goal is something existential like continuing to exist as a nation or something less vital like...priorities are less well adapted to confront the new threat structure emerging in an age of “sacred terror” and new kinds of existential concerns. The

Entreprenörskap som existentiell handling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kupferberg, Feiwel

2002-01-01

aspects are best revealed as one studies aspects of entrepreneurship tthat have been marginalized in entrepnreneurial studies such as first time entrepreneurs, women entreprnerurs, ethnic entrepneurship, antrepreneeurs with an academic background and entreprneursship in undersocialized industrial...... populations. The existential aspects of entepreneurship are only partially taken int account by the new economic sociology, emphasizing the value of socializing for its own sake. More generally a focus upon the existential aspects of entrepreneurial action challenges the classical sociological vies of order...

Consideration about moral accomplishment: a necessity in today’s world

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Iulia Tutuianu

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Unlike in the atheist existentialism, the Christian one finds the individual in palpable situations, seen as opportunities in the process of personal accomplishment. The existentialism is not a quietude philosophy, but it asks for permanent effort. The religious man has a meaning, a purpose, The Encounter with Absolute, his entire life being part of Propedeutica. He replaces the anguish with hope, with the joy of being closed to God which occurs in each moment when we are aware that we follow our destiny.

HANS KÜNG ile KÜRESEL AHLAK ÜZERİNE

OpenAIRE

Eren, Mustafa

2015-01-01

Global ethics has as an existential significance in Hans Küng?s philosophical thought. Küng prefers the term ?ethos? for his theory as it has   deeper  and more unfathomable implications than ethics and moral. Tragedies of humankind during past two centuries have the stimulating  power for Küng. He has in his mind all these human casualties when he thinks about theology and philosophy and finally he dwelled on ethos within which he tried to handle these everlasting existential issues. The fol...

Spiritual well-being and mental health outcomes in adolescents with or without inflammatory bowel disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Cotton, Sian; Kudel, Ian; Roberts, Yvonne Humenay; Pallerla, Harini; Tsevat, Joel; Succop, Paul; Yi, Michael S

2009-05-01

The purpose of this study was threefold: 1) to describe spiritual well-being (existential and religious well-being) in adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) versus healthy peers; 2) to examine associations of spiritual well-being with mental health outcomes (emotional functioning and depressive symptoms); and 3) to assess the differential impact of existential versus religious well-being on mental health. A total of 155 adolescents aged 11-19 years from a children's hospital and a university hospital filled out questionnaires including the Spiritual Well-Being Scale, the Children's Depression Inventory-Short Form, and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. Covariates in multivariable models included demographics, disease status, and interactions. Participants' mean (SD) age was 15.1 (2.0) years; 80 (52%) were male; and 121 (78%) were of white ethnicity. Levels of existential and religious well-being were similar between adolescents with IBD and healthy peers. In multivariable analyses, existential well-being was associated with mental health (partial R(2) change = .08-.11, p religious well-being and depressive symptoms: that is, the relationships were stronger in adolescents with IBD as compared with healthy peers. Religious well-being was only marginally significantly associated with mental health after controlling for other factors. Although both healthy adolescents and those with IBD had high levels of spiritual well-being, having IBD moderated the relationship between spiritual well-being and mental health. Meaning/purpose was related to mental health more than was connectedness to the sacred.

Balanced parenting style and its impact on the development of child personality

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Sergey A. Kapustin

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The paper includes research results of families, who have never applied to psychological counselling. To assess the normality and abnormality of parent and child personality existential criterion was used. In these families a so-called balanced style of parenting was revealed. This style indicates the compromising parental position in the education of their children concerning the existential dichotomies help and autonomy, nature and culture, self-actualization and conditional values, determinism and self-determination. The study results suggest that this position is developed by parents independently and on a rational basis. In accordance with the existential criterion mentioned above, characteristics of the educational position of parents indicate normality of their personality. It is shown that a balanced style of parenting contributes to developing child personality type with a dual, contradictory orientation for both children and their parents when solving life problems. Children with this type of personality, as well as their parents, manifest inherent willingness to compromise position towards the same existential dichotomies help and autonomy, nature and culture, self-actualization and conditional values, determinism and self-determination. Thanks to a balanced style of parenting favourable personal prerequisites for the development of normal personality are shown. As balanced style of parenting contributes to the normal development of child personality, these children have lack personal prerequisites for emerging difficulties in social adaptation, and therefore in families with such style of solving parent-child problems, due to these difficulties are completely absent.

Spiritual Needs of Patients with Chronic Diseases

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Harold G. Koenig

2010-11-01

Full Text Available For many patients confronted with chronic diseases, spirituality/religiosity is an important resource for coping. Patients often report unmet spiritual and existential needs, and spiritual support is also associated with better quality of life. Caring for spiritual, existential and psychosocial needs is not only relevant to patients at the end of their life but also to those suffering from long-term chronic illnesses. Spiritual needs may not always be associated with life satisfaction, but sometimes with anxiety, and can be interpreted as the patients’ longing for spiritual well-being. The needs for peace, health and social support are universal human needs and are of special importance to patients with long lasting courses of disease. The factor, Actively Giving, may be of particular importance because it can be interpreted as patients’ intention to leave the role of a `passive sufferer´ to become an active, self-actualizing, giving individual. One can identify four core dimensions of spiritual needs, i.e., Connection, Peace, Meaning/Purpose, and Transcendence, which can be attributed to underlying psychosocial, emotional, existential, and religious needs. The proposed model can provide a conceptual framework for further research and clinical practice. In fact, health care that addresses patients’ physical, emotional, social, existential and spiritual needs (referring to a bio-psychosocial-spiritual model of health care will contribute to patients’ improvement and recovery. Nevertheless, there are several barriers in the health care system that makes it difficult to adequately address these needs.

The Use of Philosophical Practice in Lifelong and Self-Directed Learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Finn Thorbjørn

2001-01-01

In this article I invite the reader to reconsider philosophical counselling and practice first of all as a pedagogical practice. Recent research in adult education and especially in the area of "self-directed learning" reveals a growing interest in the existential and philosophical dimensions...... of learning and guidance in the adult education setting. I suggest that we use philosophical counselling to strengthen the adult´s capacity for lifelong and self-directed learning and that philosophical practice in general could be connected to a new kind of "existential adult pedagogy"....

O cotidiano do ser-adolescendo com aids: movimento ou momento existencial? El cotidiano del ser-adolecer con sida: ¿movimiento o momento existencial? The daily life of adolescents with aids: existential movement or moment?

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Cristiane Cardoso de Paula

2009-09-01

diarias, ocio y relacionamientos. Transitando entre estos momentos, se re-vela como un ser-adolecer . En este movimiento existencial se re-vela como un ser-de-posibilidades, que no está limitado a este doble acontecer : adolecer (según demarcaciones de la edad y características predeterminadas y Sida (fragilidad clínica. Ahí reside el desafío de conjugar la dimensión biológica y existencial, en un modelo asistencial-institucional de cuidado al ser-adolecer.Children with vertical transmission HIV pass from childhood to adolescence and little is known about how they care for themselves. The objective was to understand the daily life of adolescents with AIDS. Heiddeger's hermeneutic analyzes was applied. The phenomenological interview of 11 non-institutionalized boys and girls (12-14 years with a disclosed diagnosis took place in 3 reference healthcare facilities in Rio de Janeiro. The comprehensive analysis showed that adolescents' daily live is marked by childhood and adolescent moments. In childhood, there is a desire to play like other children. In adolescence, there is a desire to be like others in appearance, mood, daily activities, leisure and relationship. In passing between these two moments, a process of becoming adolescent is revealed. In this existential movement they reveal as a being-with-possibilities that are not limited in the double-facticity: adolescence (according to etaria marks and predetermined characteristics and AIDS (clinical fragility. Therein resides the challenge of conjugating biological and existential dimensions in adolescent care.

French Swiss physicians' attitude toward palliative sedation: Influence of prognosis and type of suffering.

Science.gov (United States)

Beauverd, M; Bernard, M; Currat, T; Ducret, S; Foley, R A; Borasio, G D; Blondeau, D; Dumont, S

2014-10-01

Palliative sedation is a last resort medical act aimed at relieving intolerable suffering induced by intractable symptoms in patients at the end-of-life. This act is generally accepted as being medically indicated under certain circumstances. A controversy remains in the literature as to its ethical validity. There is a certain vagueness in the literature regarding the legitimacy of palliative sedation in cases of non-physical refractory symptoms, especially "existential suffering." This pilot study aims to measure the influence of two independent variables (short/long prognosis and physical/existential suffering) on the physicians' attitudes toward palliative sedation (dependent variable). We used a 2 × 2 experimental design as described by Blondeau et al. Four clinical vignettes were developed (vignette 1: short prognosis/existential suffering; vignette 2: long prognosis/existential suffering; vignette 3: short prognosis/physical suffering; vignette 4: long prognosis/physical suffering). Each vignette presented a terminally ill patient with a summary description of his physical and psychological condition, medication, and family situation. The respondents' attitude towards sedation was assessed with a six-point Likert scale. A total of 240 vignettes were sent to selected Swiss physicians. 74 vignettes were completed (36%). The means scores for attitudes were 2.62 ± 2.06 (v1), 1.88 ± 1.54 (v2), 4.54 ± 1.67 (v3), and 4.75 ± 1.71 (v4). General linear model analyses indicated that only the type of suffering had a significant impact on the attitude towards sedation (F = 33.92, df = 1, p = 0.000). Significance of the results: The French Swiss physicians' attitude toward palliative sedation is more favorable in case of physical suffering than in existential suffering. These results are in line with those found in the study of Blondeau et al. with Canadian physicians and will be discussed in light of the arguments given by physicians to explain their decisions.

An Existential-Phenomenological Investigation of Women's ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

addictions, BDD, as well as low self-esteem (Rieves. & Cash .... ness and Prevention (1999), body image includes how .... her family, peers, and romantic partnerships. ...... Behaviour Research and Therapy, 32(5), 497–502. doi: 10.1016/0005-.

Ressignificação existencial do pretérito e longevidade humana Existential meaning of the past, and human longevity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karina Pavão Patrício

2009-06-01

associated with sadness, depression and death in its group, contradicting the alleged idea that older people increase life-time (as has been observed in recent years. This manuscript has the aim of determining environmental aspects involved with longevity; it thus uses "grounded theory", a technique of qualitative research method, operating on data provided by elderly former railroad workers. It was observed that former railroad worker's social representations convey to a central category: desolation from perceiving life and environmental annihilation due to continuous State and Society negligence to promote and preserve good things - that existed in the past. We can also observe that, in a parallel way, by hyper valorizing past things, they recognize their existence as part of an epic process that promoted the São Paulo state countryside economic and social development, with an existential meaning to the past, which suggests to be a strong defense mechanism that contributes to longevity. This finding can be included in the hypothesis that the function of longevity would be to preserve a social contingent with knowledge about a way of life that was successful because it was socially advantageous.

Church Attendance and Religious Experience

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Marianne Nilsen Kvande

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Previous studies have shown that gender may moderate the relationship between religiousness and mental health in most countries, but few studies have been conducted in Norway and Denmark. This study examined gender differences in religious experiences and church attendance as predictors of existential well-being among 295 women and 233 men from the general Norwegian population. Analyses showed that the structural equation models for women and men did not differ significantly on the global level. The models for women and men, however, showed different patterns. Among men, church attendance and negative religious experiences predicted existential well-being; among women, positive and negative religious experiences were related to existential well-being, but church attendance was not. The present findings suggest that men may benefit more from active religiousness, whereas women may benefit more from affective religiousness. Comparing these results with research in other cultural contexts, we find that different operationalizations of church attendance yield the same types of patterns across cultural contexts. Consequently, the benefits of religiousness may be similar for women and men irrespective of cultural context.

Existencialidade da criança com AIDS: perspectivas para o cuidado de enfermagem Existencialidad del niño con SIDA: perspectivas para el cuidado de enfermería Existentially of the child with AIDS: perspectives for the nursing care

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristiane Cardoso de Paula

2008-03-01

la relación intersubjetiva de presencia y respeto.The focus of this study is to present some reflections about the Nur sing care which emerged from the disser tation "A meeting of lived and dialogued care of the nursing team with the child being who lives with AIDS". This work aim was to understand the meaning of this care in relation to the Humanistic Nursing Theory by Paterson and Zderad. It was a phenomenological and qualitative study with hermeneutic analysis. It was showed the perception regarding the existentiality of the child being who lives with AIDS: children maintain a relationship with other people and with the world (mainly the care world, have a singularity marked by temporality and historicity, and consider their relatives as people who take care and need care. In the genuine meeting of Nursing care, it was concluded that it is essential the understanding of this child being existentiality as well as of his/her relatives as the care unity, highlighting the better being concerning intersubjective relationship of presence and respect.

Clinical Holistic Medicine: Mental Disorders in a Holistic Perspective

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Søren Ventegodt

2005-01-01

Full Text Available From a holistic perspective, psychiatric diseases are caused by the patient’s unwillingness to assume responsibility for his life, existence, and personal relations. The loss of responsibility arises from the repression of the fundamental existential dimensions of the patients. Repression of love and purpose causes depersonalization (i.e., a lack of responsibility for being yourself and for the contact with others, loss of direction and purpose in life. Repression of strength in mind and emotions leads to derealization (the breakdown of the reality testing, often with mental delusions and hallucinations. The repression of joy and gender leads to devitalization (emotional emptiness, loss of joy, personal energy, sexuality, and pleasure in life.The losses of existential dimensions are invariably connected to traumas with life-denying decisions. Healing the wounds of the soul by holding and processing will lead to the recovery of the person's character, purpose of life, and existential responsibility. It can be very difficult to help a psychotic patient. The physician must first love his patient unconditionally and then fully understand the patient in order to meet and support the patient to initiate the holistic process of healing. It takes motivation and willingness to suffer on behalf of the patients in order to heal, as the existential and emotional pain of the traumas resulting in insanity is often overwhelming. We believe that most psychiatric diseases can be alleviated or cured by the loving and caring physician who masters the holistic toolbox. Further research is needed to document the effect of holistic medicine in psychiatry.

Facets of Spirituality Diminish the Positive Relationship between Insecure Attachment and Mood Pathology in Young Adults.

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Michaela Hiebler-Ragger

Full Text Available Traditionally, in attachment theory, secure attachment has been linked to parameters of mental health, while insecure attachment has been associated with parameters of psychopathology. Furthermore, spirituality and attachment to God have been discussed as corresponding to, or compensating for, primary attachment experiences. Accordingly, they may contribute to mental health or to mental illness. In this cross-sectional observational study, we investigate attachment styles (Avoidant and Anxious Attachment; ECR-RD, spirituality (Religious and Existential Well-Being; MI-RSWB, and mood pathology (Anxiety, Depression, Somatization; BSI-18 in 481 (76% female young adults (age range: 18-30 years who had a Roman Catholic upbringing. In accordance with previous research, we found insecure attachment to be associated with low levels of spirituality. Furthermore, insecure attachment and low levels of spirituality were associated with higher levels of mood pathology. In hierarchical regression analyses, only Anxious Attachment positively predicted all three dimensions of mood pathology while Existential Well-Being-but not Religious Well-Being-was an additional negative predictor for Depression. Our results underline that spirituality can correspond to the attachment style, or may also compensate for insecure attachment. Higher Existential Well-Being-comprised of facets such as hope for a better future, forgiveness and the experience of sense and meaning-seems to have an especially corrective effect on mood pathology, independent of attachment styles. Our findings emphasize the vital role of existential well-being in young adults' affective functioning, which might be considered in prevention and treatment. Further research in clinical surroundings is recommended.

Falling for the Feint

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aggerholm, Kenneth; Jespersen, Ejgil; Ronglan, Lars Tore

2011-01-01

of others?’ In order to clarify this, the paper will conduct a contextual analysis of a feint drawing on existential philosophy and phenomenology. The main argument is that the feint incarnates a fundamental and indispensable strategy in the game context of football and the analysis of it throws light...... on central existential phenomena involved in game creativity, with appearance, seduction, commitment and value being the focal ones. The analysis suggests a broader notion of expertise by pointing to the need of stressing the dynamic and social game context. What the feint explicates is that in football...

The Function of Love in Solzhenitsyn's The First Circle

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John Schillinger

1977-01-01

Full Text Available Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, like Boris Pasternak before him, insists upon the primacy of life over any socio-political system. To lead truly meaningful lives, his characters must comprehend that they are responsible for their own actions; that they are engaged in an existential struggle which pits individual freedom against the will of authority. In The First Circle , this struggle is clearly reflected in the theme of love which, when analyzed in terms of the suppression or triumph of its four basic elements ( sex, eros, philia, and agape , offers a convincing allegory of man's existential self-definition by free choice.

Theory of the Whole and the Part – Ontological Perspective (E. Husserl, R. Ingarden

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Barska Katarzyna

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the paper is demonstrate the thesis that Ingarden's ontological system allows a better understanding of the “part-whole” problem then previous theories. Especially, if we take into account the existential ontology of Ingarden, which refers to Husserl “part-whole” theory, we can see that development of terms made by Ingarden sheds new light on old problems. In this context, particularly important is to distinguish between two existential moments: contingancy/inseparatness, because thanks to them we can talk about many different types of relationships and hence many types of objects.

The Judas Effect: Betrayal in Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless

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Vlad Dima

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This article revisits the ending of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960 in an attempt to untangle the complicated relationship between the two main characters, and to claim that they are characters that belong to no identifiable genre. Instead, they come to life as characters at the intersection point of existentialism, creationism, and two radically different genres, film noir and neorealism. In essence, they are characters without a genre, always out of place, and their existential drifting generates a Judas effect—a trope that establishes betrayal and sacrifice as necessary narrative tools and that suspends the classical (cinematic Oedipal cycle.

Apophatic way: darkness or light? (interpretation of the apophatic way in the theology of V.N. Lossky

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V. V. Limonchenko

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Consideration of apophatics by V. Lossky realized through the establishment of two measurements that may explicate by reference to the texts of Dionysius the Areopagite. The significance of Dionysius the Areopagite in pointing out some not having gnostic­intellectual character mode of apophatic theology. Non­intellectualistic understanding of apophaticism may disclose through the understanding of the image of the Divine Darkness. Ignorance alleged mystical theology is not a state of negative character or a simple lack of knowledge, it is obvious affinity act of aesthetic contemplation, not allowing yourself to express the statement, but supposing the real presence, indicating stepping over the edge, extasys. But the ecstatic character of apophaticism makes sense of not the ecstatic visions, images, and the need to cleanse and going beyond the usual state: apophaticism is a disposition of mind, refuses drafting concepts of God that is not possible by turning off the thought, but deepening it to the primacy of reason, pre­predicative and pre­logical, turning the idea into an existential position. In the image of the Divine Darkness, correlated to the Divine Light, easy to see antinomy, but cannot see agnosticism closeness of God. In the light of existential understanding apophaticism it can be understood as the ultimate existential exposure, when the experience of others does not guarantee the encounter with God, this is the way that can only pass on their own. There is no unauthorized individualism but there is enduring on himself, that is, both intellectually and apophaticism­dialectical procedure, and how vital existential entering into communion with God is experienced in its nature.

Experiences of being exposed to intimate partner violence during pregnancy

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Kristin Engnes

2012-03-01

Full Text Available In this study a phenomenological approach was used in order to enter deeply into the experience of living with violence during pregnancy. The aim of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of women's experiences of being exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV during pregnancy. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with five Norwegian women; two during pregnancy and three after the birth. The women were between the age of 20 and 38 years. All women had received support from a professional research and treatment centre. The essential structure shows that IPV during pregnancy is characterized by difficult existential choices related to ambivalence. Existential choices mean questioning one's existence, the meaning of life as well as one's responsibility for oneself and others. Five constituents further explain the essential structure: Living in unpredictability, the violence is living in the body, losing oneself, feeling lonely and being pregnant leads to change. Future life with the child is experienced as a possibility for existential change. It is important for health professionals to recognize and support pregnant women who are exposed to violence as well as treating their bodies with care and respect.

Experiences of being exposed to intimate partner violence during pregnancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Engnes, Kristin; Lidén, Eva; Lundgren, Ingela

2012-01-01

In this study a phenomenological approach was used in order to enter deeply into the experience of living with violence during pregnancy. The aim of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of women's experiences of being exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with five Norwegian women; two during pregnancy and three after the birth. The women were between the age of 20 and 38 years. All women had received support from a professional research and treatment centre. The essential structure shows that IPV during pregnancy is characterized by difficult existential choices related to ambivalence. Existential choices mean questioning one's existence, the meaning of life as well as one's responsibility for oneself and others. Five constituents further explain the essential structure: Living in unpredictability, the violence is living in the body, losing oneself, feeling lonely and being pregnant leads to change. Future life with the child is experienced as a possibility for existential change. It is important for health professionals to recognize and support pregnant women who are exposed to violence as well as treating their bodies with care and respect.

How Search for Meaning Interacts with Complex Categories of Meaning in Life and Subjective Well-Being?

Science.gov (United States)

Damásio, Bruno Figueiredo; Koller, Sílvia Helena

2015-03-03

This study sought to assess how the search for meaning interacts with crisis of meaning and with different categories of meaning in life (meaningfulness, crisis of meaning, existential indifference, and existential conflict). Furthermore, the moderation role of search for meaning between the relation of categories of meaning and subjective well-being (SWB) was also evaluated. Participants included 3,034 subjects (63.9% women) ranging in age from 18 to 91 (M = 33.90; SD = 15.01) years old from 22 Brazilian states. Zero-order correlations and a factorial MANOVA were implemented. Positive low correlations were found for search for meaning and crisis of meaning (r = .258; p < .001). Search for meaning presented a small-effect size moderation effect on the relation of the different categories of meaning with subjective happiness, F(6, 3008) = 2.698, p < .05; η2 = .004, but not for satisfaction with life, F(6, 3008) = .935, p = .47; η2 = .002. The differences on the levels of subjective happiness of those inserted in existential indifferent and conflicting categories differ depending on the levels of search for meaning. Further directions for future studies are proposed.

Essential qualities of children’s favorite places

Science.gov (United States)

Prakoso, S.

2018-03-01

This paper builds on an existential-phenomenology framework to better understand the essential qualities of children’s favorite places. Based on grounded theory, this study focused on the everyday life experiences of 25 children (14 girls and 11 boys), aged 9–12 years and living in Jakarta, whose housing environments reflected various spatial qualities. The results showed that all children reported having one or more favorite places. Despite differences in type, scale, form, and location of children’s favorite places, each existential place was a supportive urban space conceived, perceived, and lived through the meaning and symbolic use given to it by a child. The essential qualities of children’s favorite places were accessibility, a location within route from home to other destinations (such as a friend’s house or school), and a space providing a sense of comfort, security, and social affiliation, as well as experiences that were restorative, personal, sensory, and materialistic. This study may have implications for the design of urban places that foster the formation of children’s favorite spaces by taking into account these essential qualities of children’s lived-existential spaces.

Taming the monsters of tomorrow

Science.gov (United States)

Kupferschmidt, Kai

2018-01-01

In Mary Shelley's novel, the scientist Victor Frankenstein fears that creating a female companion to his unhappy monster could lead to a "race of devils" that could drive humanity extinct. Today, some scientists worry about scientific advances in the real world that could kill all of humanity, or at least end civilization as we know it. Some two dozen researchers at three academic centers are studying these "existential risks"—including labmade viruses, armies of nanobots, and artificial intelligence—and what can be done about them. But critics say their scenarios are far-fetched and distract from real existential dangers, including climate change and nuclear war.

Building doctoral ecologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bengtsen, Søren Smedegaard

2018-01-01

heavily from the support from informal and extra-curricular researcher communities and non-formal support systems even beyond the institution in the private and societal lifeworlds. The chapter describes and analyses such forms of organizational and existential darkness within doctoral education...... and professionalization of doctoral education, with Graduate schools increasing in size and organizational complexity. Paradoxically, we see in contemporary research into doctoral students’ learning experiences that the students do not favour the formalized support systems and supervision, but on the contrary draw most......, and discusses how institutions and doctoral programmes could use such sprawling spaces for learning to build doctoral ecologies and to strengthening existentially based pedagogies within doctoral education....

O convivio com a dor: um enfoque existencial El convivio con el dolor: un enfoque existencial Living with pain: an existential focus

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Luciane Maximiliano Sanches

2002-12-01

árias dimensiones también está afectada, fundamentalmente en lo que se refiere al mundo familiar, del trabajo y de la auto-relación.In the routine of a hospital, during my nursing practice of providing care to patients with pain, it was shown to me as reaching beyond a biological sphere included in an existential dimension. Something in this experience disturbed me and I felt the need to understand these people suffering from pain, asking how they understand their pain and what is the meaning of experiencing painful chronic situations. In the attempt to find a way to obtain such understanding, I searched for some ideas stemming from phenomenology. Then, I interviewed the subjects individually based on the central question: "How is your experience with pain? Tell me about this". After the analysis, I was able to understand that pain is a way to narrow the horizon of possibilities and transformations in existence. It is not only the physical body that is ill, but also life is affected in its various dimensions, fundamentally with regard to the family, work and self-relation world.

Waiting for the existential revolution in Europe

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Komárek, Jan

2014-01-01

Roč. 12, č. 1 (2014), s. 190-212 ISSN 1474-2640 Institutional support: RVO:68378122 Keywords : European Union * post- communism countries * European integration Subject RIV: AG - Legal Sciences Impact factor: 0.628, year: 2014

The kingdom of God: Utopian or existential?

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2014-06-26

Jun 26, 2014 ... The word utopia was coined in the 16th century by Sir Thomas More in his book about ...... obeying, as well as the binary oppositions God versus people. ... picture: The work of faith, the poiēsis-praxis of pistis, presents itself …

Existential technique and cognitive restructuring strategies in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Introduction: Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder with lots of psychosocial implications that can result in low self-esteem and social inhibitions in several social activities. The uncertainty of never knowing where the seizure will occur lowers one's self-esteem and dignity. Objective: This study, therefore, investigated ...

Waiting for the Existential Revolution in Europe

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Komárek, Jan

2014-01-01

This essay argues, contrary to the widespread beliefs that prevailed after 1989, that the experience of post-communist countries and their peoples, both before and after 1989, can bring something new to our understanding of Europe’s present predicament: sometimes as an inspiration, sometimes as a...... suggestion made here: that the experience of living in a collective dream of socialism can be used as an inspiration rather than as something that needs to be erased from the collective memory of Europe....

Surviving testicular cancer: : sexuality & other existential issues

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pool, Grietje

2003-01-01

The thesis deals with the psychological aspects of ‘sexuality after testicular cancer’, where my collegue, the physician dr. Van Basten formerly predominantly described the physical-biological aspects of this subject. Testicular cancer is a type of male genital cancer, usually diagnosed between

Majeutyczny autoportret – obraz człowieka w hermeneutycznej praxis Kierkegaarda (The maieutical self-portrait – the idea of human being in Soren Kierkegaard’s hermeneutical praxis

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Jaromir Brejdak

2012-09-01

Full Text Available From the theologian Wilhelm Herrmann, who influenced both Rudolf Bultmann and Martin Heidegger comes the formulation that we can say about the God only as much as He did to and with us. In the article above I try to show that the same can be said about the human being and its idea: all we can atribute to it is what we have experienced. It means: a theologia experientiae implies an antropologia experientiae, a certain anthropology of experience and from an experience. I try to describe it in relation to the existential maieutics of Kierkegaard. What I claim is: a reliable idea of man is without such an existential maieutics not possible.

Patient perceptions of experience with cardiac rehabilitation after isolated heart valve surgery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Tina B; Berg, Selina K; Sibilitz, Kirstine L

2018-01-01

in a cardiac rehabilitation programme, and none have analysed their experiences with it. AIMS: The purpose of this qualitative analysis was to gain insight into patients' experiences in cardiac rehabilitation, the CopenHeartVR trial. This trial specifically assesses patients undergoing isolated heart valve...... to take active personal responsibility for their health. Despite these benefits, participants experienced existential and psychological challenges and musculoskeletal problems. Participants also sought additional advice from healthcare professionals both inside and outside the healthcare system....... CONCLUSIONS: Even though the cardiac rehabilitation programme reduced insecurity and helped participants take active personal responsibility for their health, they experienced existential, psychological and physical challenges during recovery. The cardiac rehabilitation programme had several limitations...

Forma dat esse: a Christian ontology of human spirit

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Joan Martínez Porcell

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Forma dat esse was initially high fertility existential anthropology. Christian philosophy inherited although explanations hylemorphic with explaining human nature knew register the being and doing of the person inside the ontology of created spirits. The presence of human corporeality was a spirit that existed in the boundary and the horizon of eternity. The plasticity of human tendencies was a sign of his intelligence and it should be defined by their spirituality. The word was being-communication and love was the most important act of his life fertility. No wonder that we offer existential self as memory itself and the presence of the soul from the patenting of his spiritual being.

Modeling of industrial stream and resources of machine-building enterpriser complex of wood preparation

Science.gov (United States)

Sereda, T. G.; Kostarev, S. N.

2018-03-01

Theoretical bases of linkage of material streams of the machine-building enterprise and the automated system of decision-making are developed. The process of machine-building manufacture is submitted by the existential system. The equation of preservation of movement is based on calculation of volume of manufacture. The basis of resource variables includes capacities and operators of the equipment. Indignations such as a defect and failure are investigated in the existential basis. The equation of a stream of details on a manufacturing route is made. The received analytical expression expresses a condition of a stream of movement of details in view of influence of work of the equipment and traumatism of the personnel.

Kierkegaard y la comunicación indirecta. Algunos comentarios a La Alternativa

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María García Amilburu

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The Alternative, a Kierkegaardian work of 1843 signed with a pseudonym, presents a religious intention and focuses on the interiority exalted by the subjective thought and the indirect existential communication. Indirect communication is best for moving persons from inside in order to improve their lifes; and interiority is the path of personal enrichment because of the existential integration of knowledge in the individual. Objectivity suppresses interiority so the object can be known as it is; but interiority asks how does these knowledge affect one's existence and it leads to autoknowledge. Kierkegaard distinguishes the essential knowledge, that which keeps an essential relation with the existence of the individual and corresponds to subjective thought, on the one hand, from the accidental knowledge, on the other hand, that which has no essential relation with one's existence. Not as with the accidental, essential knowledge is communicated indirectly with the intention that the receptor turns over itself and engages in subjective thought on the transmited. Indirect communication is, then, the art of communicating essential thruths, and it is thoroughly metaphorical: this is why Kierkegaard invents a series of characters who embody the existential failure or success, characters who manifest essential knowledge which the reader ought to make his own in order to live a thoroughly human existence.

Geriatric Logotherapy: Exploring the Psychotherapeutics of Memory in Treating the Elderly

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John H. Morgan

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Geriatric Logotherapy is an analytical approach designed to address issues uniquely confronted in the counseling encounter with the elderly and is an adaptation of the psychotherapeutic school of thought known as Logotherapy. Logotherapy is a type of psychotherapeutic analysis and treatment which focuses on a will to meaning, founded upon the belief that striving to find meaning in one's life is the primary, most powerful motivating and driving force within the human experience. Sometimes called existential analysis, logotherapy grew out of the psychiatric research and personal experience of Viktor Frankl, M.D., based on his internment experience in Germany. Known as the Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy (Freud and Adler being the founders of the First and Second Schools, logotherapy as a school of thought emphasizes existential reflection rather than psychoanalytic repression, focusing upon the concept and centrality of “meaning” in one’s life rather than Freud’s “pleasure principle” and Adler’s “will to power.” This article explores, then, the application of this school of psychotherapeutic theory and practice to the psychological care and treatment of the elderly, emphasizing the “existential efficacy of the good memory” as an analytical tool for emotional nurture with emphasis upon “immediacy” rather than “longevity” of care and treatment.

The Relationships Between Spiritual Well-Being, Quality of Life, and Psychological Factors Before Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Sara J; Chen, Yiyi; Paik, Kyungjeen; Mirly, Brandy; Thomas, Charles R; Hung, Arthur Y

2017-10-01

Given shifting trends of religious identities in the USA, better understanding the impact of patients' religious identities on health-related quality of life (QOL) may help tailor the use of psychological interventions. Men with prostate cancer (N = 43) completed measures of quality of life (QOL), spiritual well-being in two domains (i.e., Faith and Meaning/Peace), psychological state, and psychological trait before undergoing radiotherapy. We hypothesized that (1) higher existential Meaning/Peace would correlate with higher QOL and psychological trait protective factors (e.g., Agreeableness) and that (2) higher existential Meaning/Peace would correlate with lower depression, anxiety, and Neuroticism (i.e., a psychological trait risk factor). We did not anticipate similar relationships between religious Faith and QOL, depression, anxiety, or psychological traits and consider related analyses to be exploratory in nature. Meaning/Peace was indeed negatively associated with depression, anxiety, and Neuroticism. Meaning/Peace was positively correlated with Physical, Social, Functional, and Emotional well-being, as well as Extraversion. Religious Faith was positively associated with Functional well-being, but not the other state, trait, or QOL domains. In sum, prostate cancer patients' sense of existential Meaning/Peace prior to radiotherapy was associated with well-being in many domains, whereas religious Faith appeared less so.

La fe como evento existencialescatológico en el pensamiento de Rudolf Bultmann. De la filosofía de Martín Heidegger al planteo teológico

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Alberto F. Roldán

2013-10-01

Full Text Available In this paper we analyze the proposition that the theologian Rudolf Bultmann made on the subject of faith. We describe the mutual influences between Martin Heidegger and Bultmann from specially developed joint work in Marburg in 1923 and 1924. The author shows that, although Heidegger’s existential philosophy represented an important influence to Bultmann, the latter develops a more theological approach that characterizes faith as an existential and eschatological event that requires a decision on the part of the listener. Bultmann also remains faithful to its Lutheran heritage to take away the anthropological approach of existentialism, stating the total character of the fall of man that makes him unfit to achieve for itself «real life» dimension can be realized only by through faith in Christ crucified. The latter is for Bultmann the real scandal of the Gospel and not the «fake scandal» of the pre-scientific vision of the New Testament kerygma. This research aims to demonstrate that demythologizing, which becomes an insurmountable hurdle for many readers of Bultmann, was just a method to facilitate faith in the gospel by modern man. Consequently, to paraphrase Immanuel Kant, Bultmann seems to say: «I had to let go of the myth to give rise to faith».

Literatura y filosofía: Sartre, Martín-Santos y Bartleby

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Santamaría Pargada, Antonio

2006-04-01

Full Text Available Luis Martín Santos has been, after his soon death, one of the most unfairly forgotten Spanish intellectuals. This situation happens to be even more unjust considering the success of his novel “Time of Silence” and his unfinished “Time of Destruction”. The works of this psychiatrist, philosophically formed in the existentialism tradition, tackle from psychiatric and medical studies to interpretations of Dilthey, Jaspers and Heidegger. Maybe the most important achievement made by Dr. Martín-Santos was the fact of pooling in his novels all the different fields he worked in, namely: existential philosophy, psychiatry and literature. This mutual influence leads to a clearly existential interpretation of the narrative subject and to a nihilist conception of freedom: the nothingness completely understood as Sartre did. And, consequently, the attractiveness of approaching the Spanish author through literary theories that are close to the French contemporary philosophy and the primacy, not only of the existential analysis in literature, but also of the influence of the literary character as a fiction that is able to create possible realities. That is why it is interesting to study “Bartleby the Scrivener” as a paradoxical example of the existential nothingness made flesh. To put it in a nutshell, the existential triviality, a sign of modern times, has been indeed very successfully portrayed by Martín-Santos.Luis Martín-Santos ha sido, tras su temprana muerte, uno de los grandes olvidados entre los intelectuales españoles del franquismo. Olvido especialmente injusto, teniendo en cuenta el éxito de su novela Tiempo de Silencio y su interesante proyecto inacabado Tiempo de Destrucción. La obra de este psiquiatra formado filosóficamente en el existencialismo abarca desde trabajos psiquiátricos relativos a la medicina hasta interpretaciones de Dilthey, Jaspers y Heidegger. Tal vez el mayor logro de Martín- Santos fuera el de aunar en sus

The Role of Phenomenology of Merleau- ponty in Medicine

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Somayeh Rafighi

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Today, phenomenology, with an emphasis on direct explanations with regard to the lived experience of people is interest of different areas. With emphasis on body, Merleau- Ponty's phenomenology is considered in medical science. In his phenomenology, Merleau- Ponty gives new definition of body and names it lived body. Lived body is against of mechanical body and is the central of subjectivity and being- in- the – world and included all of existential aspects of man. Such definition enable doctors to consider all of existential aspects of man besides his physiological and same understanding of the disease based on the patient lived experience. This paper attempts to examine the implications of this new concept of the body as it is described in the medical field.

[Method of existence analytic psychotherapy].

Science.gov (United States)

Längle, A

1990-01-01

Introducing questions of individual purpose and meaning into psychotherapy was an important contribution of Viktor Frankl and a necessary supplement to traditional psychotherapy. V. Frankls "Logotherapy" (logos = meaning) however has found its main application in counselling (especially bereavement and grief processes) and prophylactic endeavours (e.g. pedagogics). Suffering from meaninglessness, on the other hand, showed up to be a respectively rare indication for psychotherapeutic interventions in its proper sense. Thus the question was arising how to apply Frankl's valuable meaning-centered concept of man (which he called "Existential Analysis") in a genuine way to other neurosis and to personality disorders, so far "unspecific indications" to Logotherapy. This paper gives an outline and methodological foundation of "Existential Analysis Psychotherapy". A case study finally is illustrating its phenomenological proceeding.

The Diseased "Terror Tunnels" in Gaza: Israeli Surveillance and the Autoimmunization of an Illiberal Democracy

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Marouf Hasian, Jr.

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This essay provides an ideological critique of the media tropes that have been used by Israeli militarists, politicians, diplomats, and members of the public to characterize Gazan “terror tunnels” as existential threats. The author extends the work of Butler, Derrida, Esposito, and other scholars to illustrate the ways that autoimmunizing rhetorics are used to render precarious the lives of Israelis while erasing the non-combat status of Gazan civilians who are accused of aiding and abetting those who build smuggling tunnels. This focus on the alleged existential danger of the tunnels is used to ward off international criticism of those who accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF of violating the international humanitarian law principles of distinction, proportionality, necessity, and humanity.

Viewing Death on Television Increases the Appeal of Advertised Products

Science.gov (United States)

DAR-NIMROD, ILAN

2012-01-01

References to death abound in many television programs accessible to most people. Terror Management Theory (TMT) postulates that existential anxiety, which death reminders activate, may reinforce materialistic tendencies. The current paper explores the effect of a death reminder in television shows on the desirability of advertised products. Consistent with TMT's predictions, in two studies participants show greater desire for products, which were advertised immediately following clips from programs that featured a death scene, compared with programs that did not. Cognitive accessibility of death predicted the appeal difference while changes in affect or interest in the show did not. The findings are discussed in light on affective and existential theories which make opposite predictions. Implications and future directions are considered. PMID:22468421

Viewing death on television increases the appeal of advertised products.

Science.gov (United States)

Dar-Nimrod, Ilan

2012-01-01

References to death abound in many television programs accessible to most people. Terror Management Theory postulates that existential anxiety, which death reminders activate, may reinforce materialistic tendencies. The current article explores the effect of a death reminder in television shows on the desirability of advertised products. Consistent with Terror Management Theory's predictions, in two studies participants show greater desire for products, which were advertised immediately following clips from programs that featured a death scene, compared with programs that did not. Cognitive accessibility of death predicted the appeal difference while changes in affect or interest in the show did not. The findings are discussed in light on affective and existential theories which make opposite predictions. Implications and future directions are considered.

Spirituality in Sport – Athletes’ Experiences and Reflections

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ronkainen, Noora; Nesti, Mark; Tikkanen, Olli

Northern European countries, England and Finland. Our inquiry was grounded on existential-narrative framework and a broad existentialist definition of spirituality (Webster, 2004). The empirical data was collected through essay writing. Eight elite athletes were invited to write a reflective story about...... mainly, but not exclusively, humanistic dimensions of spirituality. The emerging themes included transcendence, movement as a way of being and experiencing, love for the sport, wonder and awe. We suggest that although many people in Northern European countries may not identify their experiences......-cognitive theorizing. References Parry, J., Robinson, S., Watson, N. and Nesti, M. (2007). Sport and Spirituality: An Introduction. London: Routledge. Webster, R. (2004). An Existential Framework of Spirituality. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality 9: 7–19....

«La ontología solo es posible como fenomenología». En torno a la fenomenología de Martin Heidegger

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Jorge Enrique Pulido Blanco

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to highlight the central role that phenomenology in the approach of the fundamental ontological question. On the relevance of phenomenology remains hidden is even sponsored by introducing Martin Heidegger in the introduction to Being and Time only provisional concept of the method and, along with it, not show your specific performance of the work development. However, it is puzzling that the philosopher asserts without major reservations «Ontology is possible only as phenomenology»2. To achieve my goal, I analyze the way in which phenomenology operates resolution three unpostponable problems in reading the opus magnum, namely connecting critical-phenomenological ontology, connecting fundamental ontology-analytic existential and free-keyontology phenomenology -and existential-analytic.

A interação existencial entre seres humanos e animais no romance Pedro Páramo, de Juan Rulfo = The existential interaction between human beings and animals in the novel Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo

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Evely Vânia Libanori

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Em Pedro Páramo, de Juan Rulfo, o corvo, o cavalo e o gato são animais que mantêm estreita ligação existencial com o ser humano. A interação ser humano-animal é fundamental para o entendimento de temas filosóficos presentes no romance, como a identidade humana, o outro, a morte. O corvo é o batedor da chegada de Juan Preciado no mundo da morte. O cavalo de Miguel Páramo é o único ser que sofre, verdadeiramente, a morte do seu tutor. O gato é o animal que faz visitas noturnas a Susana San Juan, com quem estabelece um diálogo somente inteligível para os dois. A integração entre personagens humanas e animais em Pedro Páramo mostra a comunicação entre seres pertencentes a diferentes espécies animais. No romance, seres humanos, corvos, cavalos e gatos têm mais semelhanças entre si do que a cultura ocidental antropocêntrica conhece.In Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo, the raven, the horse and the cat are animals that maintain a close existential link to the human beings. In the book, this human being/animal interaction is fundamental to the understanding of philosophical themes such as the identity, the other, and the death. In the story, the raven is the escort of Juan Preciado arrival into the death world. Miguel Páramos’s horse is the only being that genuinely suffers because of the death of its guardian, that is, Miguel’s death. The cat is the animal that make night visits to Susana San Juan to whom it speaks in a way that is understood by the two of them only. The connection between human and animal characters in Pedro Páramo shows the communication among beings that belong to different animal species. In the novel, human beings, ravens, horses, and cats are much more alike than the western anthropocentric culture has it.

Research Article Special Issue

African Journals Online (AJOL)

pc

2018-03-07

Mar 7, 2018 ... 1Msc of pediatric Nursing, Research Center for Noncommunicable Diseases, Jahrom ... people with chronic disease history, stress, depression and existential ... nurses with religious advisers, programs Self-care education.

Practical Markov Logic Containing First-Order Quantifiers With Application to Identity Uncertainty

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Culotta, Aron; McCallum, Andrew

2005-01-01

.... In this paper, we present approximate inference and training methods that incrementally instantiate portions of the network as needed to enable first-order existential and universal quantifiers in Markov logic networks...

Reconsidering the International Association for the Study of Pain definition of pain

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Milton Cohen

2018-04-01

Conclusion:. Based on these results, a revised definition of pain is offered: Pain is a mutually recognizable somatic experience that reflects a person's apprehension of threat to their bodily or existential integrity.

Clinical Holistic Medicine: A Psychological Theory of Dependency to Improve Quality of Life

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Søren Ventegodt

2004-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we suggest a psychological theory of dependency as an escape from feeling existential suffering and a poor quality of life. The ways in which human beings escape hidden existential pains are multiple. The wide range of dependency states seems to be the most common escape strategy used. If the patient can be guided into the hidden existential pain to feel, understand, and integrate it, we believe that dependency can be cured. The problem is that the patient must be highly motivated, sufficiently resourceful, and supported to want such a treatment that is inherently painful. Often, the family and surrounding world is suffering more than the dependent person himself, because the pattern of behavior the patient is dependent on makes him or her rather insensitive and unable to feel. If the patient is motivated, resourceful, and trusts his physician, recovery from even a severe state of dependency is not out of reach, if the holistic medical tools are applied wisely. The patient must find hidden resources to take action, then in therapy confront and feel old emotional pain, understand the source and inner logic of it, and finally learn to let go of negative attitudes and beliefs. In this way, the person can be healed and released of the emotional suffering and no longer be a slave to the dependency pattern.

The concept of the spiritual path in the views of Augustine and Bernard of Clairvaux: comparative analysis

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A. V. Timofeev

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The article examines the transformation of St. Augustine’s anthropological views in virtually unexplored in Ukraine philosophical and theological teachings of the medieval mystic Bernard of Clairvaux. Research field focused on the issues of negative and positive theological approaches, metaphysical and existential position of philosophical view of the problem of man. Based on the study of foreign scientists, outlines the key aspects of Augustinian doctrine of the human desire for God, the theoretical basis for philosophical and theological views of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. The conclusions substantiated regarding the impact of anthropological views of St. Augustine on the formation of existential components in the concept of the spiritual path of Bernard of Clairvaux. Transforming an ontological approach to the problem of man in practical sense of being in God as a form of spiritual path, St. Bernard complements the existential aspect of Christian anthropology. By means of a comparative analysis revealed the originality of the author’s approach St. Bernard to the problem of man’s spiritual development, which finds expression in the symbolic images of the spiritual marriage ­ an allegorical interpretation of the relationship between God and the soul at the highest levels of mystical contemplation. Dominant moral and practical sense in the teaching of St. Bernard is presented as a justification for the tendency to anthropological turning in medieval philosophy.

The Theory of Action in the light of the schizo experience: an study of insane epistemology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriel Peters

2016-12-01

device that has proven fruitful in a variety of research domains, namely the plunge into the realm of the “pathological” as a pathway to illuminate “normal” modalities of action and experience. Resorting to this strategy on the plane of sociological characterizations of human conduct, the article harnesses phenomenological and existential descriptions of schizoid and schizophrenic experiences, not only to understand these in the light of the praxeological theory of action, but also to deepen the praxeological theory of action in the light of what such descriptions teach us about the multiplicity of ways of being-in-the-world displayed by the anthropos. The study defends that these transformations, despite their psychic costs, must not be conceived as mere functional deficits, but rather as complex existential attitudes which defy, in practice, certain postulates of the praxeological theory of action: the grounding upon tacit beliefs is replaced with a hyper-reflexive compulsion, the pragmatic relationship with material objects gives way to a quasi-philosophical perplexity in face of their mere reality, the inter-subjective agreements that offer familiarity and order to social reality in a given culture are perceived in their radical ontological arbitrariness, and the estrangement from one’s own body ceases to be a playful Cartesian skepticism so as to become a profound existential experience.

Clinical Holistic Medicine (Mindful, Short-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Complemented with Bodywork in the Treatment of Experienced Impaired Sexual Functioning

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Søren Ventegodt

2007-01-01

Full Text Available In this clinical follow-up study, we examined the effect of clinical holistic medicine (psychodynamic short-term therapy complemented with bodywork on patients with poor self-assessed sexual functioning and found that this problem could be solved in 41.67% of the patients ((95% CI: 27.61–56.7%; 1.75 < NNT < 3.62, p = 0.05. The bodywork was inspired by the Marion Rosen method and helped the patients to confront painful emotions from childhood trauma(s, and thus accelerated and deepened the therapy. The goal of therapy was the healing of the whole life of the patient through Antonovsky-salutogenesis. In this process, rehabilitation of the character and purpose of life of the patient was essential, and assisted the patient to recover his or her sense of coherence (existential coherence. We conclude that clinical holistic medicine is the treatment of choice if the patient is ready to explore and assume responsibility for his or her existence (true self, and willing to struggle emotionally in the therapy to reach this important goal. When the patient heals existentially, quality of life, health, and ability to function in general are improved at the same time. The therapy was “mindful” in its focus on existential and spiritual issues. The patients received in average 14.8 sessions at the cost of 1,188 EURO.

Pedagogy Out Of Fear Of Philosophy As A Way Of Pathologizing Children

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Arie KIZEL

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article conceptualizes the term Pedagogy of Fear as the master narrative of educational systems around the world. Pedagogy of Fear stunts the active and vital educational growth of the young person, making him/her passive and dependent upon external disciplinary sources. It is motivated by fear that prevents young studentsas well as teachersfrom dealing with the great existential questions that relate to the essence of human beings. One of the techniques of the Pedagogy of Fear is the internalization of the view that without evaluation and assessment we cannot know a childs level or worthand therefore are unable to help him/her if he is slow in learning. In contrast, Philosophy for/with Children offers a space for addressing existential questions, some of which deal with urgent social issues. The willingness to make philosophy inquiry an alternative already from an early age seeks to allow the child to challenge him/herself with new and fresh questions. Philosophy for/with Children does not regard children as a space of lack (experience, knowledge, values, etc. The new and fresh philosophical perspective of children demands the presence of a willingness to engage in dialogue and rejection of the fear of the innocent and deep questions of philosophy. Shaking free of the Pedagogy of Fear and restoring honor to childrens questions demands a fundamental conceptual change within education. The replacement of existential certainty as it is depicted by adults in the existing education system with an existential question is a heavy intellectual task that in most cases is viewed as subversiveprimarily on the part of the adult. It demands a return to starting points and a willingness to allow children a free and safe educational space in which to ground preliminary and fertile questions about themselves, their lives, their environment, and, most of all, the changing world they discover with the form of originality that is right for them.

'blackface': A (narrative) introduction to Richard Kearney's notion of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2016-05-31

May 31, 2016 ... supplements the historical and existential with 'a sort of incarnate ..... poignant accounts of the violence involved when a 'historico- .... Here, in turn, Fanon's humanist passion gives profound expression to the capacity.

Mood and narrative entwinement: some implications for educational practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Conroy, Sherrill A; Dobson, Stephen

2005-09-01

Moods are one way of existentially reading the authenticity of people and are entwined within any narrative. Attunement between narrative and its mood is crucial for understanding the implicit message of the narrator. Sometimes, a master narrative is interrupted by counternarratives, so that narrative recognition becomes problematic. People can disguise their existential state when narrating, but the mood discloses it nonetheless. The authors explore the relationship between mood and narrative, and how the two are connected with how a person acts authentically or inauthentically. They provide selected empirical examples of narratives from medical students to support their argument. The educational relevance of their discussion comprises the final section. Educators in any educational program must first reflect on, then make explicit the manner in which narrative and mood are used to communicate knowledge.

Grief Interrupted: The Experience of Loss Among Incarcerated Women

Science.gov (United States)

Harner, Holly M.; Hentz, Patricia M.; Evangelista, Maria Carmela

2011-01-01

Incarcerated women face a number of stressors apart from the actual incarceration. Nearly half of all women in prison experience the death of a loved one during their incarceration. Our purpose for this study was to explore the experience of grief and loss among incarcerated women using a phenomenological method. Our study approach followed van Manen's method of phenomenology and Munhall's description of existential lifeworlds. Our analysis revealed four existential lifeworlds: temporality: frozen in time; spatiality: no place, no space to grieve; corporeality: buried emotions; and relationality: never alone, yet feeling so lonely. The findings generated from this study can help mental health providers as well as correctional professionals develop policies and programs that facilitate the grief process of incarcerated women within the confines of imprisonment. PMID:20581074

LIVING TOGETHER IN SECONDARY SCHOOL LEVEL FROM LOGOTHERAPY

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Jorge Alfredo Salinas-Romero

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This article aims to assess the Logoterapia to promote a harmonious coexistence secondary school level, for it involved second graders of secondary level being 37 male and 30 female whose ages ranged between 13 and 14 years and 17 teachers being 16 female and only one male with an average age of 33 years. The research was conducted using a descriptive, cross-sectional research design study by applying the Guide for Self-diagnosis of School Coexistence from the educational perspective of Fierro, Tapia, Fortoul, Martínez-Parente, Macouzet and Jimenez, the Existential Scale A. Längle, Orgler C. and M. Kundi and Purpose of Life Scale (PIL of Crumbaugh J. and Maholick. It is concluded that the development of personal skills and existential allow a harmonious school life.

‘The engine just started coughing!’ — Limits of physical performance, aging and career continuity in elite endurance sports

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ronkainen, Noora; Ryba, Tatiana; Nesti, Mark

2013-01-01

This research examines male endurance athletes' experience of aging and/or reaching the perceived limits of physical performance. More specifically, the current study aimed to explore how existential meanings attached to these experiences are connected with athletes' decision-making concerning...... career continuity and retirement. Life story interviews were conducted with 10 Finnish runners and/or orienteers aged between 25 and 62 and the data was analyzed with an existential-narrative framework. Four major storylines related to aging were identified: The end of an era, putting things...... the normativity of retirement when unable to improve their results anymore, other athletes demonstrated career continuity and positive aspects in the late career years, such as lack of competitive anxiety, finding perspective and increased enjoyment in running. We suggest that through awareness of alternative...

AN NASAWIYYAH FI RIWAYAT ZINAH LI NAWAL AL SA’DAWI

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Merdu Arika

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Literature have widely described the women existence and inequality. Feminist literary criticism is a study which focuses on analysis of women demanding justice of their existence. It also describes the elements of inequality occurred in "zeina" novel written by Nawal Al-Saadawi. The object of this research is the theory of existentialism feminism of Simone de Beauvoir who stated that women should be aware of its existence by treating themselves consciously. This research is analyzed by descriptive method. The result of this research indicates that there are some feminist elements referred to Simone de Beauvoir theory found in "zeina" novel. namely (1 personality dynamic; including willing of freedom and freedom without any regulation (2 gender consideration (3 society (4 cultural principles and (5 women’s physique. Keyword: Feminist, Existentialism, Arabic Novel

Spirituality in narratives of meaning

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Francois Wessels

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This article forms part of a study which was inspired by the ever-growing need for significance expressed both by my life coaching and pastoral therapy clients as well as the need for existential meaning reported both in the lay press and academic literature. The study reflected on a life that matters with a group of co-researchers in a participatory action research relationship. The study has been positioned within pastoral theology and invited the theological discourse into a reflection of existential meaning. Adopting a critical relational constructionist epistemology, the research was positioned within a postmodern paradigm. The implications for meaning and research were explored and described. This article tells the story of how spirituality was positioned in the narratives of meaning by my fellow researchers.

A CONSTITUIÇÃO DO SUJEITO: UMA REFLEXÃO A PARTIR DE JEAN-PAUL SARTRE

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Lúcia Cecília da Silva

2017-05-01

this object of study has difficulties, which are evident in the different approaches to it, either objectivist or subjectivist ones. In order to contribute to such discussion, this study aims at analyzing how the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre approaches the processes of the constitution of the subject. The Sartrean perspective enriches Psychology because, by rejecting reductionisms, it offers a conception that does not dichotomize the phenomenon of objectification-subjectification, since it conceives the subject in the dialectical relation between objectivity and subjectivity. Sartre does not only suggest elements to understand body, consciousness and the world as a human and historical reality, but also elucidates how the subject, who is forged in intersubjectivity, constructs his/her personal and collective history. Keywords: psychology; constitution of the subject; existentialism; Jean-Paul Sartr

The Game as the Way of Personal Identity Development

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L. A. Belyayeva

2012-01-01

Full Text Available  The paper suggests the game interpretation as the universal and phenomenal way of developing personal identity by a relaxed participation in game activity. Unlike the extended definitions of game as a culturalogical and pedagogical phenomenon, the authors suggest the game analysis in philosophical perspective revealing its existential status. Being the active form of personal existence, the game facilitates self-awareness by means of self-understanding and self-determination in the course of game activity developing the attitude of «I am another one», and giving a chance to experiment with personal identity, taking and playing various social and cultural roles. The existential significance of games activating self-understanding and meaning of self-existence is growing nowadays, given pluralism and reassessment of values. 

Philosophical counselling: Towards a ‘new approach’ in pastoral care and counselling?

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Daniel J. Louw

2011-05-01

Full Text Available The practice of pastoral counselling was dominated for several decades by the Rogerian techniques of empathetic listening. To a large extent, healing was predominately related to the realm of feelings (the affective dimension. Rational Emotive Therapy opened up other avenues. However, besides Logotherapy, the realm of meaning and its connectedness to world views and ideas (Plato: forms remained uncharted in many theories for pastoral care and counselling. In this article it was argued that philosophical counselling opens up new avenues for pastoral care and counselling. Philosophical counselling probes into the realm of different schemata of interpretation. A model for the making of a spiritual existential analysis was proposed in order to detect the impact of the Christian spiritual schema of interpretation on the dynamics of existential networking.

Having The Last Laugh

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aggerholm, Kenneth; Ronglan, Lars Tore

2012-01-01

This paper provides an existential analysis of humour as a social virtue in invasion games at the elite sport level. The main argument is that humour in this particular context can be valuable both in the competitive social training environment and in game performance. This is investigated through...... philosophical and psychological conceptualisations of humour that are used to reveal and analyse the appearance and possible value of a humorous approach in various social situations experienced during invasion games and the associated training situations. It is concluded that humour can help balance...... and structure the social training environment as well as facilitate creative game performance. On this basis it is suggested that the existential perspectives on humour presented could make a fruitful contribution to talent development in the domain of invasion games....

VAROLUŞ FELSEFELERİ, VAROLUŞÇU TERAPİ VE SOSYAL HİZMET

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Gizem ÇELİK

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Öz Varoluş felsefeleri, insanı ve insan yaşamını açıklamaya çalışan felsefi akımları temel alarak; ancak onlardan farklılaşan önemli nitelikleri ile günümüz insanının sorunlarına yönelen ve tek bir tanımlamayla anılması mümkün olmayan, kimilerine göre bir felsefe yapma tarzını kimilerine göre ise bir felsefi iklimi ifade etmektedir. En yalın ifadeyle, insanı nesne gibi ele alan ve yorumlayan yaklaşımlara tepki olarak, insanın biricik ve otantik oluşu özelliği ile tanımlanması gereken bir varoluş olduğunu belirten varoluşçu görüş, pek çok insanî soruyu ele alıp işleyerek “öz-varoluş ilişkisi”, “varlığın ve hayatın anlamı”, “özgür iradenin insan davranışlarındaki rolü”, “sınırsız özgürlük ve sorumluluk”, “varoluşsal anksiyete” gibi pek çok konuda açıklamalarda bulunmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, varoluş felsefelerine ve temel niteliklerine ilişkin genel bilgilere, artan ve karmaşıklaşan insan sorunlarının çözümünde önemli açıklamalar getirmesi dolayısıyla terapide yer bulan varoluşçu analizin özelliklerine ve odağı insan, insan sorun ve ihtiyaçları olan sosyal hizmet disiplin ve mesleğinin varoluş felsefeleri ile olan ilişkisine yer verilmektedir. Abstract Without a single definition, philosophies of existence sometimes described as the “way of making philosophy” or sometimes “climate of philosophy”. It basically arose from philosophical trends which are trying to explain human and life but differentiates from them by focusing on the problems of the modern man. By the simplest terms, existential philosophy states that human being must be defined as unique and authentic existent and it has born as a reaction to the approach that takes human beings as objects. Existential philosophy takes and examines many humanitarian questions such as "self-existence relationship”, “meaning of life and the existence”, “the role of

Quantifiers in Russian Sign Language

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kimmelman, V.; Paperno, D.; Keenan, E.L.

2017-01-01

After presenting some basic genetic, historical and typological information about Russian Sign Language, this chapter outlines the quantification patterns it expresses. It illustrates various semantic types of quantifiers, such as generalized existential, generalized universal, proportional,

3 -aa atabor - ft 3 2 2014-the question of objectivity its implications ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

JONATHAN

appropriates, transforms, and transcends French structuralism, romanticism, phenomenology, nihilism, populism, existentialism, hermeneutics, Western. Marxism, Critical Theory, and anarchism. Although post-modernism shares elements with each, it has important quarrels with every approach (ROSENAU. 1996, 13).

Knowing, believing, living in Africa: A practical theology perspective ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2013-02-12

Feb 12, 2013 ... world and tendencies of discontinuity, uncertainty, violence and destruction. In South Africa, .... terms of their existential realities, local faith communities are critical in the ..... Islam and Christianity – and not secular humanism'.

Editorial

African Journals Online (AJOL)

denise

In a recent article in American Psychologist, Howard. Kendler .... present analyses of ancestor dreams within the context of .... an end to. This existential dilemma of meaningless ... Levinas thematizes in his own analysis of the ethical relation.

Inferring ontology graph structures using OWL reasoning

KAUST Repository

Rodriguez-Garcia, Miguel Angel; Hoehndorf, Robert

2018-01-01

' semantic content remains a challenge.We developed a method to transform ontologies into graphs using an automated reasoner while taking into account all relations between classes. Searching for (existential) patterns in the deductive closure of ontologies

An Existential-Phenomenological Investigation of the Experience of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative ... we are by the radical and deep-seated refusal of that ...... throughout his pre-doctoral year by providing services at both a residential crisis stabilization facility and a day.

Historical consciousness and existential awareness in Karl Barth's ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies. Journal Home · ABOUT · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 63, No 4 (2007) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Design for Existential Crisis in the Anthropocene Age

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Light, Ann; Powell, Alison; Shklovski, Irina

2017-01-01

What should be our orientation to the socio-technical as climate predictions worsen; ecological crises and wars escalate mass migration and refugee numbers; right-wing populism sweeps through politics; automation threatens workers' jobs and austerity policies destabilize society? What is to be done...

Sen and Moral Choice: Merging development and existentialism ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Development as freedom, in the words of Amartya Sen (1999), a renowned Indian political economist and philosopher, means that development is not reducible to income satisfaction. Rather, it is about what people are “able to do and be”. But beyond Sen, this paper makes the argument that human development, based on ...

An Existential-Phenomenological Investigation of the Experience of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

the various factors that contributed to the various methods of management, including religious beliefs, .... self-deprecation, low self-esteem, and lowered life satisfaction in individuals who have suffered severe .... could be linked to the patient's self-concept and life history. In addition, he believed that a primary purpose of ...

An Existential-Phenomenological Investigation of the Experience of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

current, as the social stigma of mental illness continues to be ..... people with not only learning disabilities and ... A central question, however, remains: Has this theory impacted ..... that individual goals are achieved (Bandura, 1977,. 1989).

Application of PLC to mine hoist

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zheng Liquan

2003-01-01

This paper describes the reform of the hoister JMK 1.85 x 4 (B) with programmable logic controller (PLC), introduces hardware architecture, software architecture and interference protection measures, and presents the existential problems and suggestions for improvement

Some Mid-Life Ruminations on the Human Capacity to Transcend One's Acculturation.

Science.gov (United States)

Rousseve, Ronald J.

1983-01-01

The dialectical capacity of human consciousness enables us to generate alternatives in opposition to previous conditioning. Transcending one's acculturation need not leave one searching for gurus. Authentic personal meaning may be attained from an existential reawakening. (RM)

9. F Ochieng-Odhiambo and C Iteyo Reason and Sagacity in Africa ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Ochieng-Odhiambo and C. Iteyo

African philosophy is an existential lived experience, common and obvious to all ..... The African personality is itself defined as the cluster of humanist ... question of ethnicity, and this was epitomized by the violence and senseless killings that.

Culturalism and existentialist thought—a reading of Julien Kilanga ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

existentialism, globalisation, Julien Kilanga Musinde, meaning of death. ... violence and dictatorship” (119). By contrast, and using his own style .... Josué boasts a humanistic education in which Greco-Latin culture looms large. This is not only ...

35 Mwepu WEB Engels 01.pmd

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Owner

rivalling the author of La vie et demie in terms of describing violence. Having .... humanism and a mind where knowledge and generosity are roused.” (91) ..... the existential dialectics process through which the positive transformation of every.

A Psychological View of Spirituality and Leadership.

Science.gov (United States)

Solomon, Jeffrey; Hunter, Jeremy

2002-01-01

Using Howard Gardner's concept of existential intelligence along with others such as Jerome Bruner, explores the psychology of spirituality and leadership. Describes how famous film director uses meditation in his work. Draws implications for educational leadership. (PKP)

"It's Not Just Time Off": A Framework for Understanding Factors Promoting Recovery From Burnout Among Internal Medicine Residents.

Science.gov (United States)

Abedini, Nauzley C; Stack, Shobha W; Goodman, Jessie L; Steinberg, Kenneth P

2018-02-01

Burnout rates for internal medicine residents are among the highest of all specialties, yet little is known about how residents recover from burnout. We identified factors promoting recovery from burnout and factors that assist with the subsequent avoidance of burnout among internal medicine residents. A purposive sample of postgraduate year 2 (PGY-2), PGY-3, and recent graduates who experienced and recovered from burnout during residency participated in semistructured, 60-minute interviews from June to August 2016. Using qualitative methods derived from grounded theory, saturation of themes occurred after 25 interviews. Coding was performed in an iterative fashion and consensus was reached on major themes. Coding revealed 2 different categories of resident burnout- circumstantial and existential -with differing recovery and avoidance methods. Circumstantial burnout stemmed from self-limited circumstances and environmental triggers. Recovery from, and subsequent avoidance of, circumstantial burnout arose from (1) resolving workplace challenges; (2) nurturing personal lives; and (3) taking time off. In contrast, existential burnout stemmed from a loss of meaning in medicine and an uncertain professional role. These themes were identified around recovery: (1) recognizing burnout and feeling validated; (2) connecting with patients and colleagues; (3) finding meaning in medicine; and (4) redefining a professional identity and role. Our study suggests that residents experience different types of burnout and have variable methods by which they recover from and avoid further burnout. Categorizing residents' burnout into circumstantial versus existential experiences may serve as a helpful framework for formulating interventions.

Demystifying Consciousness With Mysticism? Cognitive Science and Mystical Traditions

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Sebastjan Vörös

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The article considers whether, and how, current scientific studies of consciousness might benefit from insights of mystical traditions. Although considerable effort has been expanded towards introducing mysticism into mainstream cognitive science, the topic is still controversial, not least because of the multifariousness of meaning associated with the term (from “illogical thinking” through “visions” and “raptures” to “paranormal” and “psychopathological phenomena”. In the context of the present article, mysticism is defined as a set of practices, beliefs, values etc. developed within a given religious tradition to help the practitioner realize the experiential and existential transformations associated with mystical experiences, i.e. experiences characterized by the breakdown of the subject-object dichotomy. It is then examined in which areas mysticism so defined might provide beneficial for consciousness studies; broadly, three such areas are identified: phenomenological research (mysticism as a repository of unique experiential material and practical know-how for rigorous phenomenological analyses, the problem of the self (mysticism as a repository of experiential-existential insights into one’s fundamental selflessness, and the so-called hard problem of consciousness (mysticism as a unique experiential-existential answer to the mind-body problem. It is contended that, contrary to popular belief, cognitive science could benefit from insights and practices found in mystical traditions, especially by way of grounding its findings in the lived experience and thereby (potentially demystifying some of its self-imposed abstract conundrums.

Distress screening using distress thermometer in head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy and evaluation of causal factors predicting occurrence of distress

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shirley Lewis

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Distress is commonly seen in head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy. Causal factors of distress are multifactorial; which encompasses physical, psychological, spiritual, and existential factors with complex interrelationship among the factors. Materials and Methods: Thirty patients undergoing head and neck radiotherapy were included in the study. Patients were screened for pain scores, distress scores, physical and psychological symptoms, and spiritual and emotional distress. Results: Significant increasing trend seen for pain score, distress score, and total number of symptoms during 2 nd week, 4 th week, and on completion of radiotherapy treatment (all P′s < 0.001 compared to pretreatment. Those who had chemotherapy (CT along with radiation had significantly greater pain score (t = 5.54, P = 0.03 and distress score (t = 3.9, P = 0.05 at 2 weeks into radiotherapy compared to those who did not receive CT. There was significantly higher grade of skin toxicity in those with spiritual distress (Somers′ d = 0.36, P = 0.02 and higher grade of mucositis in those with existential distress (d = 0.34, P = 0.02 at 4 weeks into radiotherapy. Conclusion: Positive correlation between distress score and pain score and occurrence of physical symptoms. Increasing trend seen for pain score, distress score, and total number of symptoms during 2 nd week, 4 th week, and completion of radiotherapy treatment compared to pretreatment. Increase in distress score in those with existential and spiritual distress.

Living with clipped wings—Patients’ experience of losing a leg

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annelise Norlyk

2013-10-01

Full Text Available This study explores the lived experience of losing a leg as described by the patients themselves post-discharge. Studies have documented that regardless of aetiology patients are faced with severe physical as well as psychosocial challenges post-amputation. However, only few studies explore in-depth the patients’ perspective on the various challenges following the loss of a leg. The study uses the phenomenological approach of Reflective Lifeworld Research (RLR. Data were collected from 24 in-depth interviews with 12 Danish patients. Data analysis was performed according to the guidelines given in RLR. The essential meaning of losing a leg is a radical and existential upheaval, which restricts patients’ lifestyle and irretrievably alters their lifeworld. Life after the operation is associated with despair, and a painful sense of loss, but also with the hope of regaining personal independence. The consequences of losing a leg gradually materialize as the patients realize how the loss of mobility limits their freedom. Patients experience the professional help as primarily directed towards physical care and rehabilitation. The findings show that the loss of a leg and, subsequently, the restricted mobility carry with them an existential dimension which refers to limitation of action space and loss of freedom experienced as an exclusion from life. Our findings demonstrate a need for complementary care and stress the importance of an increased awareness of the psychosocial and existential consequences of losing a limb.

Depression, osteoporosis, serotonin and cell membrane viscosity between biology and philosophical anthropology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabrielli Fabio

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Due to the relationship between biology and culture, we believe that depression, understood as a cultural and existential phenomenon, has clear markers in molecular biology. We begin from an existential analysis of depression constituting the human condition and then shift to analysis of biological data confirming, according to our judgment, its original (ontological structure. In this way philosophy is involved at the anthropological level, in as much as it detects the underlying meanings of depression in the original biological-cultural horizon of human life. Considering the integration of knowledge it is the task of molecular biology to identify the aforementioned markers, to which the existential aspects of depression are linked to. In particular, recent works show the existence of a link between serotonin and osteoporosis as a result of a modified expression of the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 5 gene. Moreover, it is believed that the hereditary or acquired involvement of tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (Tph2 or 5-hydroxytryptamine transporter (5-HTT is responsible for the reduced concentration of serotonin in the central nervous system, causing depression and affective disorders. This work studies the depression-osteoporosis relationship, with the aim of focusing on depressive disorders that concern the quantitative dynamic of platelet membrane viscosity and interactome cytoskeleton modifications (in particular Tubulin and Gsα protein as a possible condition of the involvement of the serotonin axis (gut, brain and platelet, not only in depression but also in connection with osteoporosis.

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African Journals Online (AJOL)

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in the Department of English at the. University of Lagos ... in existential psychoanalysis in his reading of the play, he nevertheless concentrated on what he ..... essay, “Functional Redundancy and Ellipsis as Strategies in Reading and Writing” ...

Jan Patočkas politisches Denken. Anmerkungen mit Blick auf Hannah Arendt und Carl Schmitt

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Hagedorn, Ludger

2007-01-01

Roč. 47, č. 2 (2007), s. 300-309 ISSN 0523-8587 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z90090514 Keywords : Political Theory – Existentialism – Liberty – Totalitarianism – Philosophy of History Subject RIV: AA - Philosophy ; Religion

Securitisation: The case of post-9/11 United States Africa policy ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

): weak states were believed to pose an existential threat to the US. American aid to Africa consequently more than tripled in the years following 9/11. Using the Copenhagen School's securitisation theory, we investigate the interaction between ...

A Better State of War: Surmounting the Ethical Cliff in Cyber Warfare

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-01

humanistic , interpersonal context. The report states “The cyberspace environment that we seek rewards innovation and empowers individuals; it connects...considerations are secondary to existential threats. When disagreements arise, international norms and laws establish guiding principles for the

Riding the third wave: Applying ACT in the context of elite sport – how to develop values, identity and meaning?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Becker-Larsen, Astrid; Gregersen, Jón

Athletes are faced with a large range of challenges throughout their careers. To help athletes cope with these challenges, sport psychology offers a number of different approaches. The third wave approach of Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) deals with existential questions such as: “Who am I......, the third wave aims to change the relation to thoughts and feelings by developing psychological flexibility rather than to reduce the actual symptoms (e.g., unpleasant thoughts and emotions) (Hayes et al., 2004). This involves approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Training) (ACT; Hayes, 2004......) and Mindfulness Acceptance Commitment (MAC; Gardner & Moore, 2007) along with existential psychology (Nesti, 2004). In our work as sport psychology consultants, we are inspired by the third wave and specifically the work with values. We believe that an athlete who can answer these “big questions” will often have...

Concepts of dialogue as counterterrorism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gad, Ulrik Pram

2012-01-01

Since 9/11, the terrorist is often awarded the position of the radical Other: the personified existential threat to the West. The counterterrorism strategy presented by the Danish government describes itself as covering a ‘broad spectrum’ of efforts. It includes an ‘active foreign policy’ in rela......Since 9/11, the terrorist is often awarded the position of the radical Other: the personified existential threat to the West. The counterterrorism strategy presented by the Danish government describes itself as covering a ‘broad spectrum’ of efforts. It includes an ‘active foreign policy......’ in relation to the Muslim world and an ‘active integration policy’ in relation to Muslim migrants. Both inside and outside the nation-state, efforts range from ‘hard power’ security strategies of elimination and control involving military, police and intelligence operations, to ‘soft power’ strategies...

Spirituality in cancer care at the end of life.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrell, Betty; Otis-Green, Shirley; Economou, Denice

2013-01-01

There is a compelling need to integrate spirituality into the provision of quality palliative care by oncology professionals. Patients and families report the importance of spiritual, existential, and religious concerns throughout the cancer trajectory. Leading palliative care organizations have developed guidelines that define spiritual care and offer recommendations to guide the delivery of spiritual services. There is growing recognition that all team members require the skills to provide generalist spiritual support. Attention to person-centered, family-focused oncology care requires the development of a health care environment that is prepared to support the religious, spiritual, and cultural practices preferred by patients and their families. These existential concerns become especially critical at end of life and following the death for family survivors. Oncology professionals require education to prepare them to appropriately screen, assess, refer, and/or intervene for spiritual distress.

Developing and testing a new method “Theme-situations” for the diagnostics of psychological readiness to developmental conflict resolution in youth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N.V. Gorlova

2013-10-01

Full Text Available We describe the procedure of development of the author's method for the study of psychological readiness to development conflict management in youth, consisting of three parts, which use the method of projection to varying degrees. The method involves diagnosis of development conflict management in adolescence and actualization of the basic contradictions of adolescence, associated with the importance of the following topics to a maturing individual: setting long-term goals, choice of professional self-realization, partner choice in a romantic relationship, solving the existential questions. The method involves identification of strategies to solve these conflicts by young people (asserting own position and “existential” type of answer to the existential question. It has been tested on the retest reliability and construct validity and showed a wide range of connections to the scales of many well-known psycho-diagnostic tools.

First child's impact on parental relationship

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Prinds, Christina; Mogensen, Ole; Hvidt, Niels Christian

2018-01-01

about how life together as a couple changed. At the same time, some experienced more conflicts with their partner than before giving birth, however, the majority did actually not. More than half felt their relationship linked to 'something bigger than themselves' or had had dreams on being a family......Background: The first child's birth is for most mothers a profound experience carrying the potential to change life orientations and values. However, little is known of how becoming a mother influences the existential dimensions of life within the parental relationship for example how motherhood...... may change how we view our partner and what we find important. The aim of this study was to explore how becoming a mother might change the parental relationship seen from the mother's perspective with a specific focus on dimensions related to existential meaning-making. Methods: In 2011, 499 Danish...

La finitude de l’existence dans l’analytique du Dasein: L’entrelacement du comprendre et de l’affection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristian Ciocan

2010-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, I will discuss the Heideggerian interpretation of death in relation with two fundamental structures of the existential analysis: understanding (Verstehen and state-of-mind (Befindlichkeit. In the first part, I will highlight how the understanding opens the phenomenon of death as a possibility: this possibility will prove to be a specific imminence, in that it must be assumed by the Dasein in itself, as Dasein’s ownmost and nonrelational possibility that cannot be outstripped. In the second part, I will analyse the relation between death and the affectivity, emphasizing the contrast between the traditional position on this subject – which involves the philosophical neutralization of a natural fear of death – and Heidegger’s position, suggesting a dynamic tension between the fear and anxiety, where anxiety is not an annihilation of fear, but its existential radicalization.

Undecidability of Weak Bisimilarity for PA-Processes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Srba, J.

2003-01-01

We prove that the problem whether two PA-processes are weakly bisimilar is undecidable. We combine several proof techniques to provide a reduction from Post's correspondence problem to our problem: existential quantification technique, masking technique and deadlock elimination technique....

The Buber-Rogers Dialogue: Theory Confirmed in Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Seckinger, Donald S.

1976-01-01

Considers a dialogue between Carl Rogers and Martin Buber and its use both in distinguishing the concept teaching from the concept therapy as a general case and specifically in differentiating existential psychotherapy from Buber's theory of instruction. (Author/RK)

A Bottom up Initiative: Meditation & Mindfulness 'Eastern' Practices in the "Western" Academia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Singla, Rashmi

a case of bottom up initiative, where the students themselves have demanded inclusion of non- conventional psychosocial interventions illustrated by meditation and mindfulness as Eastern psychological practices, thus filling the gap related to the existential, spiritual approaches. The western...

‘We are here to stay and we won’t shut up’

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meret, Susi; Blumensaat Rasmussen, Jeppe

2014-01-01

For those people who stood on that thin cusp between survival and becoming a casualty of war, the consequences of those actions were of existential proportions. For most Europeans these brushes with life, death and profiteering remain largely invisible....

Contemporary prophetic preaching theory in the United States of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2014-02-05

Feb 5, 2014 ... ... this is not the sword (violence) but the word (and ultimately, the Word). ..... existential implications of Luther's joyous rose with its cross- marked heart as ... Christian humanist John De Gruchy points out (De Gruchy. 2011:3).

144 | P a g e

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Fr. Ikenga

Truth met a similar violence in the historical development of pragmatism. ... secular humanism led not to world peace but to the bloodiest century in human history, .... 25 FJ Lescoe, Existentialism with or without God (New York: Alba House ...

Heidegger and Hegel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wentzer, Thomas Schwarz

2016-01-01

The paper identifies a structural isomorphism between Hegel's and Heidegger's thinking of historicity. Hegel's idealist principle of subjectivity is replaced by Heidegger's existential concept of facticity, transforming the discourse of a Phenomenology of Spirit into a Hermeneutic of Facticity...

From the Invisible Hand to the Invisible Handshake: Marketing Higher Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibbs, Paul

2002-01-01

Business marketing principles do not meet the needs of higher education. An alternative, humanistic marketing philosophy, includes a reconceptualization of the marketing mix as temporality (learning as a temporal activity), existential trust, and learner self-confidence. (Contains 60 references.) (SK)

New approaches to cleaner production: applying the SASI method to micro-tanneries in Colombia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sanz, M.; Siebel, M.A.; Ahlers, R.; Gupta, J.

2016-01-01

The literature on micro and small sized enterprises in developing countries shows their existential difficulties. This is particularly true for those in marginal areas with multiple challenges including pollution prevention. Environmental agencies tend to require capital intensive end-of-pipe

Psychotherapy for Suicidal Clients.

Science.gov (United States)

Lester, David

1994-01-01

Reviews various systems of psychotherapy for suitability for suicidal clients. Discusses psychoanalysis, cognitive therapy, primal therapy, transactional analysis, Gestalt therapy, reality therapy, person-centered therapy, existential analysis, and Jungian analysis in light of available treatment options. Includes 36 citations. (Author/CRR)

International Journal of Arts and Humanities (IJAH) Bahir Dar- Ethiopia

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Nneka Umera-Okeke

the imperatives of the visual media in the discourse of the existential realities of the ... social enquiry these all engaged in the encrypt age and embalming for all ..... photograph suggests a road, and shrub land that would ultimately disappear in ...

Healthcare professionals' perspectives on traumatic childbirth - interpreting the data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schrøder, Katja; Jørgensen, Jan Stener; Lamont, Ronald F

2016-01-01

We would like to thank Cauldwell and Bewley (1) for their encouraging comments regarding our recent manuscript 'Blame and guilt - a mixed methods study of obstetricians' and midwives' experiences and existential considerations after involvement in traumatic childbirth' (2). The manuscript...

Browse Title Index

African Journals Online (AJOL)

existential appraisal, Abstract. N U Ukwamedua. Vol 9, No 1 (2006) ... Vol 9, No 1 (2006), The Ethical, Social and Judicial Significance of the Ekpe Fraternity Shrine Among the Effik, Abstract. E E Offiong. Vol 10, No 1 (2007), The ...

Hard or Easy? Difficulty of Entrepreneurial Startups in 107 Climato-Economic Environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van de Vliert, Evert; Janssen, Onne; Van der Vegt, Gerben S.

Driven by existential needs for thermal comfort, nutrition, and health, human populations create cultural adaptations to environmental conditions. Entrepreneurs starting new businesses in more threatening or more challenging environments may be a case in point. In a secondary analysis of

Revista de Documentacao de Estudos em Linguistica Teorica e Aplicada (DELTA): Novos Estudos em Gamatica Gerativa (Journal of Documentary Studies in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics [DELTA]: New Studies in Generative Grammar).

Science.gov (United States)

Revista de Documentacao de Estudos em Linguistica Teorica e Aplicada, 2000

2000-01-01

This issue contains the following articles: "Resumption and Last Resort" (Joseph Aoun); "Existentials, A-Chains, and Reconstruction" (Norbert Hornstein); "How Long Was the Nineteenth Century" (David Lightfoot); "Formal Features and Parameter Setting: A View From Portuguese Past Participles and Romance Future…

Daily Report, Supplement, East Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

1993-07-28

science, technological strategic research, and humanistic , regional, innovative research for the needs of the Federal Assembly and federal...histories (Swedish, Danish, Nor- wegian...), but through certain " existential " characteris- tics. For example, how time was determined, what the family

Cohesion in Multinational Military Units

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-10

Assertiveness for Hofstede’s Masculinity dimension and added three dimensions: Humanistic , Performance, and Future Orientation. GLOBE researchers...values. It addresses the most profound existential issues of human life; e.g. freedom and inevitability, fear and faith, security and insecurity, right

TRANSFER OF METALS FROM SOIL TO Cucumis sativus FRUIT ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

iudousoro

and cadmium from shoot to leaf; and nickel and chromium from shoot to fruit. Generally ... The main human exposure route of all toxic metals in Eket was ..... The existential potential for nickel and lead contamination and toxicity raises the issue.

On the security of the Winternitz one-time signature scheme

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Buchmann, Johannes; Dahmen, Erik; Ereth, Sarah; Hülsing, Andreas; Rückert, Markus; Nitaj, A.; Pointcheval, D.

2011-01-01

We show that the Winternitz one-time signature scheme is existentially unforgeable under adaptive chosen message attacks when instantiated with a family of pseudo random functions. Compared to previous results, which require a collision resistant hash function, our result provides significantly

System viability of organizations and the aetiology of organizational crisis : A Quantitative Assessment of Stafford Beer's Viable System Model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pfiffner, M.D.

2017-01-01

Subject of this dissertation is the aetiology of crisis processes which place organizations under existential threats and which often cause organizational demise and bankruptcy. To date, research on organizational crises (OC) has not succeeded in identifying the generic grounds for these detrimental

Pervasion of what? : techno–human ecologies and their ubiquitous spirits.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Coeckelbergh, Mark

2012-01-01

Are the robots coming? Is the singularity near? Will we be dominated by technology? The usual response to ethical issues raised by pervasive and ubiquitous technologies assumes a philosophical anthropology centered on existential autonomy and agency, a dualistic ontology separating humans from

A Critique of Peter Jarvis's Conceptualisation of the Lifelong Learner in the Contemporary Cultural Context

Science.gov (United States)

Bagnall, Richard G.

2017-01-01

This paper examines Peter Jarvis's conceptualisation of lifelong learners, who are seen as being the individual products of their learning engagements, constrained by their individual biological potentials. They are presented as seeking existentially authentic resolution to dialectically oppositional disjunctures between their individual…

Efficacy, cost-utility and reach of an eHealth self-management application 'Oncokompas' that helps cancer survivors to obtain optimal supportive care: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Hout, Anja; van Uden-Kraan, Cornelia F; Witte, Birgit I; Coupé, Veerle M H; Jansen, Femke; Leemans, C René; Cuijpers, Pim; van de Poll-Franse, Lonneke V; Verdonck-de Leeuw, Irma M

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Cancer survivors have to deal with a wide range of physical symptoms, psychological, social and existential concerns, and lifestyle issues related to cancer and its treatment. Therefore, it is essential that they have access to optimal supportive care services. The eHealth

Personality, threat and affective responses to cultural diversity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van der Zee, K.I.; Van Der Gang, Ineke

The present study tried to reconcile assumptions from Terror Management Theory that individual differences in openness to diversity are enhanced by existential threat with own recent findings suggesting that individual differences are diminished by threat. A model was supported assuming that it is

An Arithmetical Hierarchy of the Law of Excluded Middle and Related Principles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Akama, Yohji; Berardi, Stefano; Hayashi, Susumu

2004-01-01

's Lemma, Post's Theorem, Excluded Middle for simply Existential and simply Universal statements, and many others.Our motivations are rooted in the experience of one of the authors with an extended program extraction and of another author with bound extraction from classical proofs....

Mortality salience and brand attitudes: the moderating role of social presence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fransen, M.L.; Smeesters, D.; Fennis, B.M.

2010-01-01

Terror Management Theory (TMT; Greenberg, Pyszczynski, and Solomon 1986) suggests that reminders of death intensify the desire to express cultural norms leading to culturally prescribed behavior. Living up to these norms provides high levels of self-esteem serving as a buffer against existential

Experimenting with alternative futures in Cairo

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sparre, Sara Lei

2018-01-01

This article investigates young middle-class Egyptians' engagement with the religious and national visions of Resala, Egypt's largest Muslim youth NGO, and how they come to rethink themselves existentially and politically through this commitment, in the context of the 2011 uprising and its...

Between punishment and discipline: comparing strategies to control unauthorized immigration in the United States

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nicholls, W.

2014-01-01

Immigration scholars have noted the rise of a distinctive discourse concerning immigrants in the United States. The ‘immigrant threat’ discourse is said to portray immigrants as an existential threat to the country and contributes to highly restrictive enforcement policies. Through a close

On the Mechanization of the Proof of Hessenberg's Theorem in Coherent Logic

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bezem, M.; Hendriks, R.D.A.

2008-01-01

We propose to combine interactive proof construction with proof automation for a fragment of first-order logic called Coherent Logic (CL). CL allows enough existential quantification to make Skolemization unnecessary. Moreover, CL has a constructive proof system based on forward reasoning, which is

Fifty Strategies for Counseling Defiant, Aggressive Adolescents: Reaching, Accepting, and Relating.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanna, Fred J.; Hanna, Constance A.; Keys, Susan G.

1999-01-01

Takes a transtheoretical approach using ideas from cognitive behavioral, existential, Gestalt, psychodynamic, and multicultural therapies to describe both new and established strategies for relationships building with defiant youth. Arranges strategies in three categories: reaching, accepting, and relating. Suggestions for counselors when working…

Using Gestalt Psychodrama Experiments in Rehabilitation Counseling

Science.gov (United States)

Coven, A. B.

1977-01-01

Gestalt therapy is an existential helping approach that assumes human beings have the potential to choose their behavior and thus define their own meaning in life. Applying Gestalt theory, disabled persons can define the meaning of the disability to their total person. (Author)

Working with values in coaching

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stelter, Reinhard

2016-01-01

: - Existential coaching - Protreptic coaching as a philosophically inspired coaching approach - Third-generation coaching as a narrative-collaborative practice The overall objective of this chapter is to present and discuss the state of knowledge about values as a central aspect of the coaching process...

National Ideology in the Land of Caudillos: Understanding Colombian - Venezuelan Relations

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-01

The new constitution brought several institutional and legal reforms based on principles that the delegates considered more modern, humanist ...2009, http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=15634, (accessed 16 February 2010). 102 Venezuela is not an existential threat to

Browse Title Index

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 1 - 50 of 255 ... Vol 16 (2016): Special Edition, A phenomenology of marijuana use among graduate students ... Vol 2, No 2 (2002), Accounting for Experience: Phenomenological ... Encounters: A Relational Approach to Phenomenological Research ... existential-phenomenological investigation of women's experience of ...

The Relationship between Turkish Pre-Service ICT Teachers' Educational Philosophies and Occupational Anxieties

Science.gov (United States)

Deryakulu, Deniz; Atal-Köysüren, Deniz

2018-01-01

This study examines Turkish pre-service Information and Communication Technologies teachers' educational philosophies and occupational anxieties. A total of 800 pre-service teachers participated in the study. Results showed that the predominant educational philosophies among the participants were the existentialism, progressivism,…

解释冲突的公断（Ⅰ）——论利科对当代诠释学的贡献%Arbitrations on Conflict of Interpretations （Part I ） ： on Ricoeur＇ s Contributions to Contemporary Hermeneutics

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

姚满林

2012-01-01

在当代诠释学领域中,各种诠释学理论相互冲突,方法论与存在论之间的冲突就是其中之一。利科立足西方哲学传统,通过现象学、语义学与反思环节,对诠释学方法论与存在论之间的关系做出了公断,解答了解释的冲突。%In the field of the contemporary hermeneutics, there are various conflicts of hermeneutic theories, one of which is the conflict between methodology and existentialism. Based on the western philosophical tradition, Ricoeur arbitrates the relations between methodology and existentialism through the phases of phenomenology, se- mantics and reflection, and solves the hermeneutic conflict.

Impact of Spirituality/Religiousness on Cyber Bullying and Victimization in University Students: Mediating Effect of Emotional Intelligence.

Science.gov (United States)

Yadav, Mohit; Yadav, Rohit

2018-05-22

The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between spirituality/religiousness with cyber bullying and victimization amongst Indian University students and whether emotional intelligence mediates the relationship. Data were collected from 490 University students studying in undergraduate and postgraduate courses across India. IBM AMOS was used to find reliability and validity of instruments and PROCESS macro for IBM SPSS by Preacher and Hayes (Behav Res Methods 36(4): 717-731, 2004) was used for conducting mediation analyses. Both spiritual and existential well-being were found negatively related with cyber bullying and victimization. As far as mediation goes, the negative relationships between spiritual and existential well-being with that of cyber bullying and victimization were significantly mediated by Appraisal of Self-Emotions, Appraisal of Other's Emotions and Regulation and control of Emotions dimensions of emotional intelligence. Implication and future directions are also discussed.

Life politics, nature and the state: Giddens' sociological theory and The Politics of Climate Change.

Science.gov (United States)

Thorpe, Charles; Jacobson, Brynna

2013-03-01

Anthony Giddens' The Politics of Climate Change represents a significant shift in the way in which he addresses ecological politics. In this book, he rejects the relevance of environmentalism and demarcates climate-change policy from life politics. Giddens addresses climate change in the technocratic mode of simple rather than reflexive modernization. However, Giddens' earlier sociological theory provides the basis for a more reflexive understanding of climate change. Climate change instantiates how, in high modernity, the existential contradiction of the human relationship with nature returns in new form, expressed in life politics and entangled with the structural contradictions of the capitalist state. The interlinking of existential and structural contradiction is manifested in the tension between life politics and the capitalist nation-state. This tension is key for understanding the failures so far of policy responses to climate change. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2013.

Women who doctor shop for prescription drugs.

Science.gov (United States)

Worley, Julie; Thomas, Sandra P

2014-04-01

Doctor shopping is a term used to describe a form of diversion of prescription drugs when patients visit numerous prescribers to obtain controlled drugs for illicit use. Gender differences exist in regard to prescription drug abuse and methods of diversion. The purpose of this phenomenological study guided by the existential philosophy of Merleau-Ponty was to understand the lived experience of female doctor shoppers. Interviews were conducted with 14 women, which were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. Included in the findings are figural aspects of the participants' experience of doctor shopping related to the existential grounds of world, time, body, and others. Four themes emerged from the data: (a) feeding the addiction, (b) networking with addicts, (c) playing the system, and (d) baiting the doctors. The findings suggest several measures that nurses can take to reduce the incidence of doctor shopping and to provide better care for female doctor shoppers.

Kinds of well-being: A conceptual framework that provides direction for caring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathleen T. Galvin

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This article offers a conceptual framework by which different kinds and levels of well-being can be named, and as such, provides a foundation for a resource-oriented approach in situations of illness and vulnerability (rather than a deficit-oriented approach. Building on a previous paper that articulated the philosophical foundations of an existential theory of well-being (“Dwelling-mobility”, we show here how the theory can be further developed towards practice-relevant concerns. We introduce 18 kinds of well-being that are intertwined and inter-related, and consider how each emphasis can lead to the formulation of resources that have the potential to give rise to well-being as a felt experience. By focusing on a much wider range of well-being possibilities, practitioners may find new directions for care that are not just literal but also at an existential level.

Clinical Holistic Medicine: Holistic Rehabilitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Søren Ventegodt

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Quality of life, health, and ability are often lost at the same time and most often in one decaying existential movement over 5 or 10 years. This “lost life” is mostly too slow to be felt as life threatening, but once awakened to reality, it provokes the deepest of fears in patients: the fear of death itself and destruction of our mere existence. The horrible experience of having “lost life””, often without even noticing how it happened, can be turned into a strong motivation for improvement. Personal development is about finding the life deeply hidden within in order to induce revitalization and rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is about philosophy of life with the integration of the repressed painful feelings and emotions from the past and the letting go of the associated negative beliefs and decisions. The holistic medical toolbox builds on existential theories (the quality of life theories, the life mission theory, the theory of character, the theory of talent, and the holistic process theory and seems to have the power to rehabilitate the purpose of life, the character of the person, and fundamental existential dimensions of man: (1 love; (2 strength of mind, feelings, and body; and 3 joy, gender, and sexuality; allowing the person once again to express and realize his talents and full potential. The principles of rehabilitation are not very different from other healing, but the task is often more demanding for the holistic physician as the motivation and resources often are very low and the treatment can take many years.

Is dignity therapy feasible to enhance the end of life experience for people with motor neurone disease and their family carers?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bentley Brenda

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Development of interventions that address psychosocial and existential distress in people with motor neurone disease (MND or that alleviate caregiver burden in MND family carers have often been suggested in the research literature. Dignity therapy, which was developed to reduce psychosocial and existential distress at the end of life, has been shown to benefit people dying of cancer and their families. These results may not be transferable to people with MND. The objectives of this study are to assess the feasibility, acceptability and potential effectiveness of dignity therapy to enhance the end of life experience for people with motor neurone disease and their family carers. Methods/design This is a cross-sectional study utilizing a single treatment group and a pre/post test design. The study population will comprise fifty people diagnosed with MND and their nominated family carers. Primarily quantitative outcomes will be gathered through measures assessed at baseline and at approximately one week after the intervention. Outcomes for participants include hopefulness, spirituality and dignity. Outcomes for family carers include perceived caregiver burden, hopefulness and anxiety/depression. Feedback and satisfaction with the intervention will be gathered through a questionnaire. Discussion This detailed research will explore if dignity therapy has the potential to enhance the end of life experience for people with MND and their family carers, and fill a gap for professionals who are called on to address the spiritual, existential and psychosocial needs of their MND patients and families. Trial registration ACTRN Trial Number: ACTRN12611000410954

THE MEANING OF INSULIN PUMPE THERAPY TO ADULT PATIENTS WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nissen, Heidi; Aagaard, Hanne

on a semi-structured interview guide inspired by Van Manens four fundamental existentials. The interviews were analyzed according to 3 interpretation contexts as described by Kvale and Brinkmann. The first step paraphrases what the patients say. The second step analyses critically what patients say...

Auf der Suche nach Gotte urknall

CERN Document Server

heinrich, Hansjörg

2007-01-01

In a mega tunnel near Geneva Lake, a second big-bang will take place soon. The world elite of physics hope to answer existential questions for humanity: How was made our Universe? From where do we come? which energy holds cosmos together? (4 pages)

Meaning in Context

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Henning; Dahl, Veronica

2005-01-01

with a "flat" semantic representation as first proposed by Hobbs (1985), consisting basically of a conjunction of atomic predications in which all variables are existentially quantified with the widest possible scope; in our framework, this provides very concise semantic terms as compared with other...

Science, Values and Loves : Theologies as Expressive Constructions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Drees, W.B.

2017-01-01

Invited to write “a manifesto for [my] own theological position”, I begin with science and human rights as excellent examples of universalist aspirations of modernity. Modern individualism is important too, as particular existential loves shape each life. Science, morality, and personal loves are

Multicultural Humanistic Psychology: Empirical Investigations of Humanistic Concepts.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaffins, Belinda J.; McConnell, Stephen C.

Multicultural psychology examines existential-humanistic concerns in reference to the unique world of the client. Some of these contextual variables include race, age, religion, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, sociocultural and sociopolitical influences, as well as the roles of power, privilege, and disadvantage. Diversity impacts…

Ingenuity and National Security

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-01

is in an unfamiliar situation as the lone super power without a significant existential threat. China is a rising power and Russia aspires to...independence to the most powerful nation on the planet . The time period surrounding World War II demonstrated that governmental processes and

Authenticity and Learning: Implications for Reference Librarianship and Information Literacy Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Klipfel, Kevin Michael

2015-01-01

This article articulates and defends a student-centered approach to reference and instructional librarianship defined by authentic engagement with students' interests. A review of the history of the construct of authenticity in philosophy, humanistic and existential psychology, and contemporary educational psychology is traced. Connections are…

Spiritual Well-Being and Suicidal Ideation among College Students

Science.gov (United States)

Taliaferro, Lindsay A.; Rienzo, Barbara A.; Pigg, R. Morgan, Jr.; Miller, M. David; Dodd, Virginia J.

2009-01-01

Objective: This study explored whether specific dimensions of spiritual well-being (religious well-being and existential well-being) relate to reduced suicidal ideation, and whether associations persisted after controlling for religiosity and psychosocial variables associated with suicide. Participants: Participants were 457 college students who…

The Jesuit Imaginary: Higher Education in a Secular Age

Science.gov (United States)

Hendrickson, Daniel Scott

2012-01-01

The philosopher Charles Taylor argues in "A Secular Age" (2007) that people who live in secular cultures are losing the capacity to experience genuine "fullness." Described by Taylor as a philosophical-anthropological conception of human flourishing that corresponds with existential senses of meaning and purpose, fullness is…

Selective forgery of RSA signatures with fixed-pattern padding

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lenstra, A.K.; Shparlinski, I.E.; Naccache, D.; Paillier, P.

2002-01-01

We present a practical selective forgery attack against RSA signatures with fixed-pattern padding shorter than two thirds of the modulus length. Our result extends the practical existential forgery of such RSA signatures that was presented at Crypto 2001. For an n-bit modulus the heuristic

Chuang Tzu. Reflexiones en torno a la relación entre el cultivo existencial y la intersubjetividad (Translation by María Inés Arrizabalaga)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Garsdal, Jesper

2010-01-01

English Title:  Chuang Tzu as an inspiration for reflections on the relation between existential cultivation and inter-subjectivity Abstract in English: This article presents a reflection on how an interpretator's "homeontology" might color the interpretation of a given text, in casu the Inner Ch...

'Anthropological mutilation' and the reordering of Cameroonian ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

I argue in this article that the postcolonial existential wound, otherwise referred to by Eboussi Boulaga as the anthropological mutilation, represents the intertextual nexus that bridges the generational gap in Francophone Cameroonian literature. The tragic malaise, rooted in absurdity and the dire state of the postcolonial ...

Humanistic Approaches to the Understanding and Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa.

Science.gov (United States)

Dittmar, Helga; Bates, Brian

1987-01-01

Summarizes some attempts to understand the causes and consequent treatments of anorexia nervosa from the viewpoints of psychoanalytically informed, family, existential and feminist psychology. These perspectives, which focus on the individual experience of the anorexic, leave many questions unanswered, but provide fresh frameworks from which to…

Post-traumatic growth among elderly women with breast cancer compared to breast cancer-free women

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brix, Sofie Andersen; Bidstrup, Pernille Envold; Christensen, Jane

2013-01-01

Although breast cancer (BC) may have negative psychological sequelae, it may also be experienced as an existential challenge, which can derive personal growth. Only one study has been conducted, however, on whether women with BC experience more post-traumatic growth (PTG) than BC-free women. We...

Psychological experiment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boven, Martijn; Emmanuel, Steven M.; McDonald, William; Stewart, Jon

2015-01-01

For Kierkegaard the ‘psychological experiment’ is a literary strategy. It enables him to dramatize an existential conflict in an experimental mode. Kierkegaard’s aim is to study the source of movement that animates the existing individual (this is the psychological part). However, he is not

Wild FJ

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Torgersen, Mads; Ernst, Erik; Hansen, Christian Plesner

2005-01-01

this by quantifying over parameterized types with different type arguments. Wildcards take inspiration from several sources including use-site variance, and they could be considered as a way to introduce a syntactically light-weight and not fully general kind of existential types into a main-stream language...

Structuring the self: Moral implications of getting an ADHD diagnosis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Mikka

2018-01-01

: In this article, I examine experiences of getting an ADHD diagnosis in adulthood. I illustrate how getting an ADHD diagnosis is a process in which existential questions are raised; judgements and choices are made; and everyday practices are scrutinized, evaluated and changed. Inspired by an ana...

The Globalisation of Fear and the Construction of the Intercultural Imagination

Science.gov (United States)

Bash, Leslie

2014-01-01

Intercultural education concerns the destruction of boundaries between people and their replacement by what Jurgen Habermas has called communicative action. It is a difficult task that raises various forms of existential fear: consciousness of individual mortality, communal insecurity, collective anxiety and distrust. In order to confront this…

Jean Paul Sartre and the concept of determinism | Odesanmi ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Existentialism lays stress on the existence of humans and Sartre believes that human existence is the result of chance or accident. There is no meaning or ... Such elements include among others; psychological factors, aggressive drives, instinctive drives, environmental factors, historical factor etc. This position establishes ...

The Riddle Of The Sphinx Answered

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brier, Søren

2014-01-01

is to construct an ontology and anthropology that can argue in a consistent way for how true knowledge of the world is possible. This is done by combining phenomenology and realism through a semiotic pragmaticist wholeness philosophy. It also includes existential and spiritual aspects of human reality...

Listening to the voices: refugees as co-authors of practical theology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lorensen, Marlene Ringgaard; Buch-Hansen, Gitte

2018-01-01

of living ‘underground’ which tends to leave most asylum seekers speechless. Through a revision of Bourdieu’s theory of social capital, we illustrate how conversion can become a means of existential survival in a situation of social marginalisation and psychological liminality. We regard the Iranian woman...

Ruimtelijke variaties in fysisch-chemische bodemkarakteristieken in de Nuenen-groep nabij Best

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gerringa; L.; Obdam; A.

1985-01-01

Ten noorden van Best is een onderzoek uitgevoerd naar de ruimtelijke variatie in fysisch-chemische bodemkarakteristieken in de Nuenen-groep. Doel van dit onderzoek was een methode te ontwikkelen om een beter inzicht te krijgen in de laterale existentie van lagen, die door hun eigenschappen, een

Logický čtverec a otázka existence

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Vlasáková, Marta

2015-01-01

Roč. 63, č. 1 (2015), s. 77-93 ISSN 0015-1831 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA13-21076S Institutional support: RVO:67985955 Keywords : Aristotelian logic * square of opposition * existential import * existence as a second-order property Subject RIV: AA - Philosophy ; Religion

Between Party, Parents and Peers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bregnbæk, Susanne

2012-01-01

This article explores the lived contradictions entailed in being a young member of the Chinese Communist Party (ccp) today. The focus is on how political and existential issues intersect. It explores party membership as a strategy for personal mobility among Beijing elite university students by p...

Ecological Metissage: Exploring the Third Space in Outdoor and Environmental Education

Science.gov (United States)

Lowan, Greg

2011-01-01

Metis scholar Catherine Richardson introduced the concept of the "Third Space" as the existentially blended territory of a Metis mentality. She compared this to the "First Space" of the dominant Euro-Canadian society and the "Second Space" of colonially subjugated Aboriginal peoples. However, during a recent…

IPJP 12(2) - Evidence.indb

African Journals Online (AJOL)

denise

... be found at www.ipjp.org. This work is licensed to the publisher under the Creative Commons Attributions License 3.0 ... Exploring the evidence-based nature of phenomeno- .... Smith is its balanced composition of logos, ethos, and pathos. ..... Life-world experience: Existential phenomenological research approaches in.

Economic Stress, Emotional Quality of Life, and Problem Behavior in Chinese Adolescents with and without Economic Disadvantage

Science.gov (United States)

Shek, Daniel T. L.

2005-01-01

The relationships between perceived economic stress (current economic hardship and future economic worry) and emotional quality of life (existential well-being, life satisfaction, self-esteem, sense of mastery, psychological morbidity) as well as problem behavior (substance abuse and delinquency) were examined in 1519 Chinese adolescents with and…

International Journal of Arts and Humanities(IJAH) Bahir Dar- Ethiopia

African Journals Online (AJOL)

DrNneka

Abstract. Literary theory is the apex of literary studies. We have various theoretical subdivisions of the literary theory that facilitate the teaching and learning of literature. For example, the university theory, socialism, modernism, feminism, existentialism, naturalism, romanticism, feminism, absurdity, etc. It is a truism that we ...

Education as life project: A strategy for educational psychotherapy and counseling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dræby, Anders

According to parts of the existential psychology and psychotherapy the individual's exploration and compliance of his or her life project is central to the experience of living a meaningful life. In many ways, becoming a fully adult individual is about identifying and taking responsibility for th...

The Rational-Emotive Approach: A Critique

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, G. Barry

1976-01-01

The critique of Rational-Emotive Therapy aims criticism at Ellis' concept of irrationality, analysis of human behavior and therapeutic techniques. Ellis suggests that his critic's claims lack the support of experimental evidence. He further suggests that an "existential" bias pervades which differs from his own brand of…

Japan’s National Interests in Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-01

the existential recognition of the power asymmetry at the core of the issue. C. PRC POWER ASYMMETRY: “COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL POWER” Dealing with a...technological strength. Japan needs a grand strategy consonant with its self-image as a humanistic , democratic and peaceful nation, and a strategy able

JPRS Report, Soviet Union, Sociological Studies, No. 6, November-December 1987

Science.gov (United States)

1988-08-02

values" but an attempt to discover all the diversity and polyphony of humanistic ideals common to mankind and bring them closer to daily life. The...independent existential value of demographic behavior and its results. Developed demographic self- consciousness also orients a person toward the world of

Gauging U.S.-Indian Strategic Cooperation

Science.gov (United States)

2007-03-01

Perkovich, arguing from what is unabashedly a Liberal- Humanist perspective, has concluded, deepened U.S.-Indian relations that have the effect of...lesson. This nuclear deal (rightly or wrongly) has been characterized as a means to resolve New Delhi’s existential problems with the United States

Joint Force Quarterly. Issue 76, 1st Quarter 2015

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

should be a humanist approach that emphasizes the importance of meeting the student’s full range of needs: emotional, spiritual, physical, and...always be calibrated against the Soviet Union’s existential threat. In contrast, the 21st century’s strategic context is much harder to define and

Human dignity and biomedical ethics from a Christian theological ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2011-07-11

Jul 11, 2011 ... Not only is there no Christian or humanistic idea of man. (because they do not .... ness which can be denied only at the cost of doing violence to the text. ... of an existential interpretation of the New Testament would not have to ...

Integration of total quality management in the management of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study was occasioned by the phenomenon that the existential environment calls for improved managerial effectiveness and a qualitative transformation of the academy. Hence the author set out to examine this stance at Makerere University, Mbarara University of Science and Technology and Uganda Martyrs University ...

Ontological problems of contemporary linguistics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

А В Бондаренко

2009-03-01

Full Text Available The article studies linguistic ontology problems such as evolution of essential-existential views of language, interrelation within Being-Language-Man triad, linguistics gnosiological principles, language essence localization, and «expression» as language metalinguistic unit as well as architectonics of language personality et alia.

The Great Recession and welfare state reform: Is retrenchment really the only game left in town?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Kersbergen, C.J.; Vis, B.; Hemerijck, A.C.

2014-01-01

By 2010, when the Greek sovereign debt crisis changed into an existential crisis of the euro, all developed democracies entered a phase in which they had to consolidate their budgets, typically implying a politics of austerity. The scholarly literature, as well as the popular press, suggests that -

Mental Health, Racism, and Sexism.

Science.gov (United States)

Willie, Charles V., Ed.; And Others

This volume, successor to the 1973 volume "Racism and Mental Health," presents a range of perspectives on mental health, prejudice, and discrimination. Contributors are of multiracial, multiethnic, and gender-diverse backgrounds. They use their existential experiences to analyze pressing mental health and mental illness issues. Contributions…

Re-Searching and Re-Storying the Complex and Complicated Relationship of "Biophilia" and "Bibliophilia"

Science.gov (United States)

Bai, Heesoon; Elza, Daniela; Kovacs, Peter; Romanycia, Serenna

2010-01-01

This article is a collaborative bricolage of poetry, autobiographical fragments, essay pieces, and images assembled together as a portrait of the authors' ongoing existential, psychological and epistemological struggles as educators and learners, parents and children. The article captures a reflective exploration and collective sharing of their…

‘Lived experiences’ of the love of God according to 1 John 4: A spirituality of love

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Dirk G. van der Merwe

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This article probes to enlighten this old truth of the revelation and experience of God’s love in a fresh, dynamic and different way, from the perspective of early Christian spirituality. How did the early Christians possibly experience the love of God existentially in their daily lives? Another question is, ‘What did they experience when they have read this text of 1 John 4:7–21? This article looks briefly at how the author of 1 John understands the character of God which is necessary for understanding the love of God. The article continues to express how the ‘love’ of God (according to 1 Jn, was experienced by the Early Church through the following modes of lived faith experiences that emerged from the text and existential life situations: faith experience, relational experience and mystical experience. The article shows how the contemplative reading of sacred texts can contribute to a deeper understanding and lived faith experience of God.

Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in dementia: A qualitative study of the views of former dementia carers.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomlinson, Emily; Spector, Aimee; Nurock, Shirley; Stott, Joshua

2015-09-01

Despite media and academic interest on assisted dying in dementia, little is known of the views of those directly affected. This study explored the views of former carers on assisted dying in dementia. This was a qualitative study using thematic analysis. A total of 16 former carers of people with dementia were recruited through national dementia charities and participated in semi-structured interviews. While many supported the individual's right to die, the complexity of assisted dying in dementia was emphasized. Existential, physical, psychological and psychosocial aspects of suffering were identified as potential reasons to desire an assisted death. Most believed it would help to talk with a trained health professional if contemplating an assisted death. Health workers should be mindful of the holistic experience of dementia at the end of life. The psychological and existential aspects of suffering should be addressed, as well as relief of physical pain. Further research is required. © The Author(s) 2015.

Factor Structure of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale: Cross-Cultural Comparisons Between Jordanian Arab and Malaysian Muslim University Students in Jordan.

Science.gov (United States)

Musa, Ahmad S

2016-03-01

This study reported the differences in factor structure of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) among Jordanian Arab and Malaysian Muslim participants and further examined its validity and reliability. A convenience sample of 553 Jordanian Arab and 183 Malaysian Malay Muslim university students was recruited from governmental universities in northern Jordan. The findings of this study revealed that this scale consists of two factors for the Jordanian Arab group, representing the "Religious Well-Being" and the "Existential Well-Being" subscales, and consists of three factors for the Malaysian group, representing the "Affiliation/Meaning and Purpose," "Positive Existential Well-Being/God Caring and Love," and "Alienation/Despair" subscales. In conclusion, the factor structure of the SWBS for both groups in this study was psychometrically sound with evidence of acceptable to good validity and reliability. Furthermore, this study supported the multidimensional nature of the SWBS and the earlier notion that ethnicity shapes responses to this scale. © The Author(s) 2014.

Demand present: Traduzir-se, by Ferreira Gullar

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Sandro Adriano da Silva

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The poem "Translate to" by Gullar, can be taken as lyrical existential exercise where the preparation is divided into aesthetic metaphor-symptom of a split subjectivity. The aesthetic economy of the poem rehearses an architecture of desire to "translate" that expresses perplexity of the lyrical subject before the overthrow of this experience of "vertigo" and puts suspicion on his translation possible in art. In this article, we bet on an interpretation that considers an approximation profitable between literature and some assumptions of psychoanalysis and the theory of poetry and criticism, to launch a horizon of understanding that this is touted as one of the most iconic poems Gullar. The poem alludes to a self-referentiality of the lyrical self and its brands narcisistic, outlines a horizon of intersubjective order, in which one sees a potential altering the lyrical subject, the emergence of a subjectivity that foreshadows hybrid conflict: the self is gestated poetic and is outlined in existential drama language. Always contemporary “translation”.

Using Phenomenology to Study how Junior and Senior High School Students in Japan Perceive their Volunteer Efforts

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Kayoko Ueda

2009-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods used in a phenomenological study aimed at understanding students' perceptions of volunteer experiences from the viewpoint of their existential meanings. In Japan, as volunteer activities have just been recently introduced to youth education, it is necessary to verify the effect of the activity on the students. The authors present phenomenological reduction, which is a fundamental concept in phenomenology, as a health care research method to elucidate the essence of people's lived experiences. The 22 statements presented from volunteer students' group discussion after their practices were redescribed by phenomenological reduction, a method of valid interpretation based on their embodiment and desire. The phenomenological approach allows us to understand the essence of students' perceptions in terms of their purpose in life, which suggests that educators could inspire the students to realize existential growth by participating in volunteer activities through practical communications with others.

Spiritual Needs in Patients Suffering from Fibromyalgia

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M. Offenbaecher

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to assess spiritual needs of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS and to evaluate correlations with disease and health associated variables. Using a set of standardized questionnaires (i.e., Spiritual Needs Questionnaire, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, SF-36's Quality of Life, Brief Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Scale, etc., we enrolled 141 patients (95% women, mean age 58 ± 10 years. Here, needs for inner peace and giving/generativity scored the highest, while existential needs and religious needs scored lowest. Particularly inner peace needs and existential needs correlated with different domains of reduced mental health, particularly with anxiety, the intention to escape from illness, and psychosocial restrictions. Thirty-eight percent of the patients stated needs to be forgiven and nearly half to forgive someone from their past life. Therefore, the specific spiritual needs of patients with chronic diseases should be addressed in clinical care in order to identify potential therapeutic avenues to support and stabilize their psychoemotional situation.

Terminating a Child’s Life? Religious, Moral, Cognitive, and Emotional Factors Underlying Non-Acceptance of Child Euthanasia

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Csilla Deak

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Is opposition to child euthanasia motivated only by ideology, or also by other personality characteristics and individual differences? In Belgium, the first country to legalize child euthanasia (in 2014, we investigated religious, moral, emotional, and cognitive factors underlying the (disapproval of this legalization ('N' = 213. Disapproval was associated with religiousness, collectivistic morality (loyalty and purity, and prosocial dispositions, in terms of emotional empathy and behavioral generosity, but not values (care and fairness. It was also associated with low flexibility in existential issues and a high endorsement of slippery slope arguments, but not necessarily low openness to experience. A regression analysis showed that in addition to religiousness, low flexibility in existential issues and high empathy and generosity distinctly predicted opposition to child euthanasia. Whereas most of the findings parallel those previously reported for adult euthanasia, the role of prosocial inclinations in predicting moral opposition seems to be specific to child euthanasia.

Objectivity, abstraction, and the individual: the influence of Søren Kierkegaard on Paul Feyerabend.

Science.gov (United States)

Kidd, Ian James

2011-03-01

This paper explores the influence of Søren Kierkegaard upon Paul Feyerabend by examining their common criticisms of totalising accounts of human nature. Both complained that philosophical and scientific theories of human nature which were methodologically committed to objectivity and abstraction failed to capture the richness of human experience. Kierkegaard and Feyerabend argued that philosophy and the science were threatening to become obstacles to human development by imposing abstract theories of human nature and reality which denied the complexities of both. In both cases, this took the form of asserting an 'existential' criterion for the assessment of philosophical and scientific theories. Kierkegaard also made remarks upon the inappropriateness of applying natural scientific methods to human beings which Feyerabend later expanded and developed in his criticisms of the inability of the 'scientific world-view' to accommodate the values necessary to a flourishing human life. I conclude by noting some differences between Kierkegaard and Feyerabend's positions and by affirming the value of existential criticisms of scientific knowledge.

Educational Philosophies Adhered by Filipino Preservice Teachers: Basis for Proposing Initiatives for 21st Century Teacher Education Preparation Program

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Gilbert C. Magulod Jr.

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The study endeavoured to ascertain the educational philosophies adhered by Filipino preservice teachers. Descriptive survey research method was employed. The participants of the study were the 76 fourth year Bachelor in Elementary Education (BEED and Bachelor in Secondary Education (BSED of the College of Teacher Education in one state university in the Philippines. Data were gathered with the use of standardized research tool. Research findings showed that the Filipino preservice teachers espoused a very high adherence to progressivism educational philosophy and high orientation to existentialism and reconstructionism. They also showed a moderate adherence to perennialism and existentialism philosophies. These imply that they espoused a high student-centred teaching belief with partial acceptance to teacher-centred teaching belief. Test of difference and Post hoc analysis revealed that course, residence and scholastic standing in high school spelled differences on the educational philosophies of the Filipino preservice teachers. Findings of the study present initiatives for 21st century teacher education preparation program.

Where Times Meet

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Theodore R. Schatzki

2005-01-01

Full Text Available This essay pursues two goals: (1 to argue that two fundamental types of time—the time of objective reality and “the time of the soul”—meet in human activity and history and (2 to defend the legitimacy of calling a particular version of the second type a kind of time. The essay begins by criticizing Paul Ricoeur’s version of the claim that times of these two sorts meet in history. It then presents an account of human activity based on Heidegger’s Being and Time, according to which certain times of the two types—existential temporality and succession—meet in human activity. The legitimacy of calling existential temporality a kind of time is then defended via an expanded analysis of activity that examines where the two times meet there. The concluding section briefly considers a conception of historical time due to David Carr before showing why history is a broader domain encompassing human activity where the two times meet.

Wat is die Woord van God - Skrif, belydenis, prediking?

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G. C. Velthuysen

1985-01-01

Full Text Available What is the Word of God: Holy Scripture? The preaching of the Gospel? The Confession? This article argues that while Holy Scripture and preaching may become the Word of God, although never in an unqualified manner, the same can never apply to the Confession. The Confession is the result of theological reflections on the Word and indicative of the parameters v/ithin which the preaching should remain without, however, curtailing the prophetic freedom of the preacher in proclaiming the Word. Its function is that of rule of speech for the preaching. Preaching, on the other hand, becomes a proclamation of the Word in an unsurpassable and existentially qualifying manner. Holy Scripture, a human book in more senses than one, is at the same time the Word of God, in that it qualifies its reader existentially - confronting him with the most fundamental questions on the human state and providing the final answers to these.

Dasein, o entendimento de Heidegger sobre o modo de ser humano

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Marcelo Vial Roehe

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time is one of the major influences on existential-phenomenological psychology’s development due to its new approach to the understanding of the human being. The German philosopher called Dasein the particular human mode of being in order to rethink the western metaphysical (ontological tradition. According to Heidegger, Dasein is always a relationship to one’s own being, the characteristics of which are called existentials. In Being and Time Dasein is described in its everydayness as a being-in-the-world that is always already projecting itself upon possibilities of being which constitute one’s own being. As a beingin-the-world Dasein does not show itself primarily as an individualized subject to whom the world is a mental object, on the contrary, it loses itself in the anonymity of The One and it establishes practical dealings with the surroundings. Individuation is something it has to achieve through the fundamental mood of anxiety.

Bringing the Meaning Back In: Exploring Existentially Motivated Terrorism

Science.gov (United States)

2016-06-01

and even tourism and sport studies offer significant contributions to our understandings of meaning-in-life, its importance, and its development...meaning. Activities as varied as quilting circles, parenting, extreme sports , high-stakes wall street trading, and enlistment in the military all...creation with modernity’s individual and societal influences is at its most visible in the growing industry of extreme sports . Situated within the

The Death Penalty and Human Dignity: An Existential Fallacy

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Susan Nagelsen

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Proponents of capital punishment in the United States frequently cite the evolution from electrocution and hanging to lethal injection as an indication that the evolving standards of decency exhibited by such a transition demonstrate a respect for human dignity. This essay examines that claim by evaluating two standards for assessing whether an act comports with accepted definitions of human dignity: a personal-achievement model, based on work by economist Amartya Sen of Harvard University, and a universal and intrinsic approach to human dignity articulated by criminologist Robert Johnson of the American University. We evaluate Sen’s capabilities model through the lens of a condemned prisoner’s ability to achieve self-defined goals. We then assess Johnson’s claim that preserving human dignity requires an elimination of the death penalty, irrespective of any prisoner’s ability to lead a restricted, albeit goal-directed, existence.

Existential and psychological problems connected with Threat Predicting Process

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Mamcarz Piotr

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the article is to present a very important phenomenon affecting human integrity and homeostasis that is Threat Prediction Process. This process can be defined as “experiencing apprehension concerning results of potential/ actual dangers,” (Mamcarz, 2015 oscillating in terminological area of anxiety, fear, stress, restlessness. Moreover, it highlights a cognitive process distinctive for listed phenomenon’s. The process accompanied with technological and organization changes increases number of health problems affecting many populations. Hard work conditions; changing life style; or many social and political threats have influence on people’s quality of life that are even greater and more dangerous than physical and psychological factors, which, in turn, have much more consequences for human normal functioning. The present article is based on chosen case studies of a qualitative analysis of threat prediction process

Healing relationships and the existential philosophy of Martin Buber

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, John G; Scott, Rebecca G; Miller, William L; Stange, Kurt C; Crabtree, Benjamin F

2009-01-01

The dominant unspoken philosophical basis of medical care in the United States is a form of Cartesian reductionism that views the body as a machine and medical professionals as technicians whose job is to repair that machine. The purpose of this paper is to advocate for an alternative philosophy of medicine based on the concept of healing relationships between clinicians and patients. This is accomplished first by exploring the ethical and philosophical work of Pellegrino and Thomasma and then by connecting Martin Buber's philosophical work on the nature of relationships to an empirically derived model of the medical healing relationship. The Healing Relationship Model was developed by the authors through qualitative analysis of interviews of physicians and patients. Clinician-patient healing relationships are a special form of what Buber calls I-Thou relationships, characterized by dialog and mutuality, but a mutuality limited by the inherent asymmetry of the clinician-patient relationship. The Healing Relationship Model identifies three processes necessary for such relationships to develop and be sustained: Valuing, Appreciating Power and Abiding. We explore in detail how these processes, as well as other components of the model resonate with Buber's concepts of I-Thou and I-It relationships. The resulting combined conceptual model illuminates the wholeness underlying the dual roles of clinicians as healers and providers of technical biomedicine. On the basis of our analysis, we argue that health care should be focused on healing, with I-Thou relationships at its core. PMID:19678950

Healing relationships and the existential philosophy of Martin Buber

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stange Kurt C

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract The dominant unspoken philosophical basis of medical care in the United States is a form of Cartesian reductionism that views the body as a machine and medical professionals as technicians whose job is to repair that machine. The purpose of this paper is to advocate for an alternative philosophy of medicine based on the concept of healing relationships between clinicians and patients. This is accomplished first by exploring the ethical and philosophical work of Pellegrino and Thomasma and then by connecting Martin Buber's philosophical work on the nature of relationships to an empirically derived model of the medical healing relationship. The Healing Relationship Model was developed by the authors through qualitative analysis of interviews of physicians and patients. Clinician-patient healing relationships are a special form of what Buber calls I-Thou relationships, characterized by dialog and mutuality, but a mutuality limited by the inherent asymmetry of the clinician-patient relationship. The Healing Relationship Model identifies three processes necessary for such relationships to develop and be sustained: Valuing, Appreciating Power and Abiding. We explore in detail how these processes, as well as other components of the model resonate with Buber's concepts of I-Thou and I-It relationships. The resulting combined conceptual model illuminates the wholeness underlying the dual roles of clinicians as healers and providers of technical biomedicine. On the basis of our analysis, we argue that health care should be focused on healing, with I-Thou relationships at its core.

Existential autonomy: why patients should make their own choices.

Science.gov (United States)

Madder, H

1997-08-01

Savulescu has recently introduced the "rational non-interventional paternalist" model of the patient-doctor relationship. This paper addresses objections to such a model from the perspective of an anaesthetist. Patients need to make their own decisions if they are to be fully autonomous. Rational non-interventional paternalism undermines the importance of patient choice and so threatens autonomy. Doctors should provide an evaluative judgment of the best medical course of action, but ought to restrict themselves to helping patients to make their own choices rather than making such choices for them.

Existential autonomy: why patients should make their own choices.

OpenAIRE

Madder, H

1997-01-01

Savulescu has recently introduced the "rational non-interventional paternalist" model of the patient-doctor relationship. This paper addresses objections to such a model from the perspective of an anaesthetist. Patients need to make their own decisions if they are to be fully autonomous. Rational non-interventional paternalism undermines the importance of patient choice and so threatens autonomy. Doctors should provide an evaluative judgment of the best medical course of action, but ought to ...

humour as an aesthetico existential strategy in third generation ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

DR AKPAN

GLOBAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES VOL 11, NO. ... by the dominant standards of powerful precursors, there have been doubts about the .... Wracked with anger and depression, Ofeimun's ... dispossession, victimhood and anxiety.

Historical consciousness and existential awareness in Karl Barth\\'s ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Karl Barth's hermeneutic legacy prolonged Western Christian tradition, especially influenced by Hegelian philosophy of history. This led to Barth's “theological exegesis” instead of a historic-critical exegesis. In a preceding article Barth's understanding of the notion “hermeneutic circle” is discussed against the background of ...

Dealing with existential anxiety in exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Simonÿ, Charlotte; Pedersen, Birthe D; Dreyer, Pia

2015-01-01

rehabilitation. Focus group interviews were conducted at the programme end, and individual interviews were performed one to two months later. The interpretation comprised three methodological steps: naïve reading, structural analysis, and comprehensive interpretation and discussion. Findings Although both......Aims and objectives To investigate patients' lived experiences of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation. Background Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation is used to enable patients with cardiac problems to move forward to lead satisfying lives. However, knowledge of patients' concerns while...... it requires specific care. Recognising this anxiety also highlights how participating in the programme can be very demanding, which can help us understand aspects of adherence problems. Of greatest importance is that exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation enables patients to find a new foothold, which...

Cognition 2035: Surviving a Complex Environment Through Unprecedented Intelligence

Science.gov (United States)

2009-02-12

challenge yet, competing with her generation’s elite in her fancy new law school. 14 … How does she explain what the enhanced kids are like...super goal” of philanthropy into the core logic of the artificial intelligence.48 Lower magnitude, non- existential threats to safety are more likely

Exploring the Impact of Culture- and Language-Influenced Physics on Science Attitude Enhancement

Science.gov (United States)

Morales, Marie Paz E.

2016-01-01

"Culture," a set of principles that trace and familiarize human beings within their existential realities, may provide an invisible lens through which reality could be discerned. Critically explored in this study is how culture- and language-sensitive curriculum materials in physics improve Pangasinan learners' attitude toward science.…

Narrating the Good Life: Illuminations.

Science.gov (United States)

Suoranta, Juha

2000-01-01

The conception of the good life in theoretical texts and adult learners' written narratives depicts well-being in terms of aesthetic experiences, values, existential experiences, autonomy, and significant others. Future prospects for adult education as legislative practice, as therapy and as commitment are derived from the discussion. (SK)

Levitikus as agtergrond van Markus 5:25–34, geïnterpreteer in terme ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article investigated whether Mark 5:25–34 proposes a radical discontinuity with the Jewish purity codes and subsequently, holds drastic liberating implications for women as far as access to the temple is concerned and more existentially speaking, access to Yahweh. It determined whether Leviticus speaks about ...

The Complexity of Survival: Asylum Seekers, Resilience and Religion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buch-Hansen, Gitte; Lorensen, Marlene Ringgaard

to a simple instrument to obtain asylum. In this article, we show how his recommendation ignores the complexity of motives involved in the change of religious affiliation. By our adjustment of Bourdieu’s theory of social capital, we demonstrate how conversion is also a way of existential survival...

Human-Centred Design Projects and Co-Design in/outside the Turkish Classroom: Responses and Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Emmanouil, Marina

2015-01-01

Perhaps more than any other professional group in modern history, designers have felt compelled to undertake the responsibility of addressing and engaging with societal problems in their practice. Initially, this liability involved concerns of form and production methods during the industrial revolution era, and developed into existential, ethical…

Editorial

African Journals Online (AJOL)

denise

Editorial by Christopher R. Stones. Editor-in-Chief ... The first paper in this current edition, “The Essentials of Existential ... fathers experienced being-a-father through their relationship with their newborn child. This paper confirms previous accounts of new fathers' experiences but, additionally, reveals a patterned ebbing and ...

“Darkness Overcomes You”

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansen, Martin Blok

2015-01-01

This article analyses Shaun Tan’s picturebook The Red Tree using some of the central concepts of existentialism developed by the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard argued that being a person entails a coming-to-be [tilblivelse], and for the person this coming-to-be manifests itself...

Spiritual Exchange in Pluralistic Contexts: Sharing Narratives across Worldview Differences

Science.gov (United States)

Rockenbach, Alyssa Bryant; Bachenheimer, Aaron; Conley, Abigail Holland; Grays, Shaefny

2014-01-01

Grounded in narrative inquiry, this study explored the ways in which graduate and undergraduate students representing different worldview identities come together in dyads to share stories that reflect their existential and spiritual development. The study revealed two contrasting types of exchange: (1) deep, personal exchanges that involved a…

Facing Life after Facing Death

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knox, Jeanette Bresson Ladegaard

2016-01-01

For most people the experience of illness uproots the existential and moral foundation they stand on. But if the illness narrative can be understood as a moral occasion for the care of the self, cancer rehabilitation can greatly benefit from philosophical practice. In a recent research project I ...

A Study of Spiritual Intelligence of the Pre-Service Teachers at the Secondary Stage in Relation to Self Esteem and Emotional Maturity

Science.gov (United States)

Vibha, Keerti

2011-01-01

The study was conducted on a sample of 500 B.Ed. teacher trainees from School of Education, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara. Spiritual Intelligence and its dimensions of Transcendence, Interconnectedness, Expansion of Self, Extrasensory Perception and Existential Enquiry were taken up as dependent variables and whereas Self Esteem and…

Naturalness as an educational value

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frølund, Sune

2016-01-01

Existentialism and postmodernism have both abandoned the idea of a human nature. Also, the idea of naturalness as a value for education has been targeted as a blind for conservative ideology. There are, however, good reasons to re-establish a sound concept of human naturalness. First of all...

How to Add Philosophy Dimensions in Your Basic International Business Course

Science.gov (United States)

Thanopoulos, John

2010-01-01

This article aims to assist professors in introducing concepts of self, philosophy, religions, the universe, existential dilemmas, etc., in their basic international business classes. Using active learning and five-member student teams, a student organized and administered conference adds a very useful dimension of knowledge sacrificing only one…

Images of death as perspectives in a life crisis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scherer-Rath, M.; Ven, J.A. van der; Felling, A.J.A.

2001-01-01

Images of death are reflections of one's own attitude to life, and in existential crises such as a suicide crisis, their meaning should therefore not be underestimated. This article describes the results of a research that has attempted to discuss attitudes, which people adopt towards death in times

Promoting Psychological Resilience in the U.S. Military

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Trauma: Treatment from a Mystical/Spiritual Perspective,” Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 2007. 47(30). #38 Deuster, P.A., et al., “Human Performance...207. Kobasa, S.C., and S.R. Maddi, “ Existential Personality Theory,” in R.J. Corsini (Ed.), Current Personality Theories, Illinois: Peacock, 1977, pp

De religieuze anamnese

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Glas, G.

2009-01-01

This article gives an overview of the questions that might be put to explore religious issues in the life and present situation of psychiatric patients. These questions are directed at the spiritual sources of the patient, sources that may provide the strength to face the existential turmoil and the

The Igbo notion of the living dead as a critique of death in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... overcomes the problem of nothingless of death as conceived in Heidegger's existentialism and therefore provides not only psychological assurance for the individual but also enhances social control and progress since man would always continue to be part of his community either as an ancestor or in a reincarnated form.

From Theatre Improvisation To Video Scenes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Henry; Hvidt, Niels Christian; Friis, Preben

2018-01-01

At Sygehus Lillebaelt, a Danish hospital, there has been a focus for several years on patient communi- cation. This paper reflects on a course focusing on engaging with the patient’s existential themes in particular the negotiations around the creation of video scenes. In the initial workshops, w...

Bringing the Biosphere Home.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomashow, Mitchell

2002-01-01

Discusses an orientation to the local environment as the lens through which to detect global change. Discusses how students can relate to a structure that includes the intertemporal, interspatial, intergenerational, and interspecies realities of place leading to a comprehensive view of biology. Discusses the existential tensions intrinsic to…

Development as obligation and the obligation of development: a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The problem of the relevance of African philosophy to development in Africa arises from the fact that the modern African philosopher faces problems from within and outside his discipline. Specifically how do we build up a social order that can effectively confront Africa's existential challenges.? How does development ...

Philosophy as Pharmakon : Towards the hermeneutics of healing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The history of philosophy gives us an insight into what good life portends. Plato, Aristotle and other ancient classics developed guiding principles on the ethical basis for behavioural cognition and existential logic. Hence, the interest of philosophy in other disciplines such as medicine and psychology is well known.

Ethics and the Primacy of the Other: A Levinasian Foundation for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

denise

Levinas's ethics might influence existential phenomenological research methodology, pointing to the ethical ... the extent to which the ethical demands of Levinas's phenomenology are met by the special place .... seminal work, ethics is not a topic that Heidegger sets ...... (1997) see the CR as Other to the R while running.

Loss of Trust as Disconnection in John Updike’s Trust Me

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brian DUFFY

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Tandis que le titre du recueil de nouvelles de John Updike, Trust Me (1987, et le thème de la confiance trahie dans la première nouvelle, éponyme, donnent au recueil sa cohérence thématique, une lecture des textes qui se limiterait au seul sujet de la confiance trahie menant à l’affaiblissement des liens humains serait restrictive. Le recueil donne une expression plus large au thème de la confiance, celle d’un mode de rapport des êtres humains au monde, à leur vie et aux autres. Les protagonistes des nouvelles “The City” and “The Wallet” subissent la perte de confiance comme la perte d’un tel rapport, ce qui engendre, dans les deux cas, un malaise existentiel. Cet article étudie la nature de ces crises existentielles dans le cadre de l’utilisation par Updike du motif de la chute. L’article examine ensuite la manière dont le malaise existentiel récurrent chez John Updike lui-même influence le thème de la crise existentielle dans ces deux nouvelles, une démarche qui se justifie par la dimension autobiographique avouée des nouvelles d’Updike.   While the title of John Updike’s short-story collection, Trust Me (1987, and the theme of betrayed trust of the first story (“Trust Me” offer a thematic coherence to the collection, it would be restrictive to read the stories through the simple thematic filter of betrayed trust leading to weakened human attachments. Trust is given a wider articulation in the collection, that of a mode of connection for human beings to their world, their lives, and to others. The loss of trust for the protagonists in the stories, “The City” and “The Wallet,” is undergone as just such a loss of connection, engendering in both cases an existential disquiet. The article explores the nature of these existential crises, situating them within Updike’s wider deployment of the motif of the fall in his collection. The article goes on to consider the manner in which the existential

Une sociologie de l’existence est-elle possible ?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danilo Martuccelli

2011-10-01

Full Text Available En partant du diagnostic d’une affirmation croissante des questions existentielles dans les sociétés contemporaines, l’article interroge les manières dont la sociologie peut les aborder. Il revient dans une première partie sur les grands principes de la philosophie de l’existence, mais surtout sur l’œuvre de Jean-Paul Sartre qui a, plus que tout autre, explicitement marqué les principaux essais d’une sociologie existentialiste et les impasses de ces tentatives. Dans la seconde partie, en s’appuyant sur les conclusions précédentes, l’article développe les raisons d’une montée des thèmes socio-existentiels dans la modernité et répond à la question de savoir pourquoi, et surtout comment, l’analyse sociologique peut et doit étudier les questions existentielles.Is a sociology of existence possible?Starting from the diagnosis of an increasing assertion of existential questions in contemporary societies, this article interrogates ways that sociology can address them. In the first part, it comes back to the great principles of existential philosophy particularly on Sartre’s work, that has, more than anyone else, explicitly marked the major essays of an existentialist sociology as well as the dead ends of these attempts. In the second part, relying on the previous conclusions, this article will develop the reasons of the rise of socio-existential themes in modernity, and it will answer the question of why, and especially how, sociological analysis can and must study existential questions.¿Es posible una sociología de la existencia?A partir del diagnóstico según el cual emergen en la sociedad actual cuestiones de índole existencial, en este artículo se expone como la sociología puede abordarlas. Parte en la primera parte de los grandes principios de la filosofía existencial, especialmente de Sartre que más que ningún otro ha introducido una aproximación sociológico-existencialista y ha subrayado sus l