As part of the social distancing measures for preventing the spread of COVID-19, many university courses were moved online. There is an assumption that online teaching limits opportunities for fostering interpersonal relationships and students’ satisfaction of the basic need for relatedness – reflected by experiencing meaningful interpersonal connections and belonging – which are considered important prerequisites for student motivation and vitality. In educational settings, an important factor affecting students’ relatedness satisfaction is the teachers’ behavior. Although research suggests that relatedness satisfaction (...) may be impaired in online education settings, to date no study has assessed how university lecturers’ relatedness support might be associated with student relatedness satisfaction and therefore, student motivation and vitality. This study tested this mediating relationship using data collected during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also investigated whether the relations were moderated by a high affiliation motive which reflects a dispositional wish for positive and warm relationships. The possible importance of the communication channel selected by the lecturers and the format of a class were also investigated. In a sample of N = 337 students, we tested our hypotheses using structural equation model. Results confirmed mediation, but not moderation. The use of video chat seems to facilitate the provision of relatedness support but our data did not show that the format of a class was associated with relatedness. Our findings indicate that both teaching behavior and the technical format used to deliver lectures play important roles in student experiences with online classes. The results are discussed in light of other research conducted during the pandemic. (shrink)

Beauchamp and Childress’ definition of autonomous decision‐making includes the conditions of intentionality, understanding, and non‐control. In genetics, however, a relational conception of autonomy has been increasingly recognized. This article aims to empirically assess aspects of social influence in genetic testing decision‐making and to connect these with principlist and relational theories of autonomy. We interviewed 18 adult genetic counsellees without capacity issues considering predictive genetic testing for cancer predisposition for themselves and two counselling physicians in Switzerland. We conducted a qualitative analysis, (...) building on a grounded theory study about predictive genetic testing decision‐making. We found that some participants agreed to predictive genetic testing predominantly because relatives wanted them to do it, with some even acting contrary to their own convictions. Others, in contrast, based their decision on purely individualistic reasons but expressed difficulties in explaining their decision to their social environment. Healthcare professionals had a critical influence on decision‐making in many cases without being manipulative, as perceived by counsellees. Still, cases of coercion and social pressure occurred within social relationships. In conclusion, predictive genetic testing decision‐making includes relational and individualistic aspects, and both are compatible with autonomous decision‐making. While the principlist and relational notions of autonomy compete on a theoretical level, they are two sides of the same coin when used as analytical lenses for genetic testing decision‐making. Social acceptance of refusal of testing should be improved to mitigate social pressure. Individuals should be encouraged to decide for themselves how much their social environment influences their decision regarding predictive genetic testing. (shrink)

Goal-setting theory states that challenging, specific, and concrete goals (i.e., subordinate goals) are powerful motivators and boost performance in goal pursuit more than vague or abstract goals (i.e., superordinate goals). Goal-setting theory predominantly focuses on single, short-term goals and less on broad, long-term challenges. This review article extends goal-setting theory and argues that superordinate goals also fulfill a crucial role in motivating behavior, particularly when addressing broad, long-term challenges. The purpose of this article is to show theoretically that people pursue (...) long-term goals more successfully when they focus on subordinate and superordinate goals simultaneously than when they focus on either subordinate or superordinate goals alone. (shrink)

The federal regulations of human research were written to permit the use of discretion so that research can fit the circumstances under which it is conducted. For example, the researcher and institutional review board could waive or alter some informed consent elements if they deem this the morally and scientifically best way to conduct the research. To do so, however, researchers and IRBs would first have to use mature moral and scientific judgment. They might also have to rely on empirical (...) research to discover the most effective way to act on their moral sense. On discovering the most ethical way to proceed, they would then need to look to the federal regulations of human research to discover how to document their decision and justify it within that somewhat flexible regulatory structure. Unfortunately, many IRBs and researchers fail to take these sensible steps to solve ethical problems and proceed immediately to a default requirement of the regulations that places science at odds with the regulations and, ostensibly, with ethics. The following articles in this special issue are about the process of learning to engage in ethical problem solving and using the flexibility permitted by the federal regulations. These articles extricate researchers from the mindset that has gotten them into trouble, and, ideally, provoke them to use mature common sense and moral judgment. (shrink)

The term ‘locked-in’ syndrome (LIS) describes a medical condition in which persons concerned are severely paralyzed and at the same time fully conscious and awake. The resulting anarthria makes it impossible for these patients to naturally communicate, which results in diagnostic as well as serious practical and ethical problems. Therefore, developing alternative, muscle-independent communication means is of prime importance. Such communication means can be realized via brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) circumventing the muscular system by using brain signals associated with preserved cognitive, (...) sensory, and emotional brain functions. Primarily, BCIs based on electrophysiological measures have been developed and applied with remarkable success. Recently, also blood flow–based neuroimaging methods, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), have been explored in this context. After reviewing recent literature on the development of especially hemodynamically based BCIs, we introduce a highly reliable and easy-to-apply communication procedure that enables untrained participants to motor-independently and relatively effortlessly answer multiple-choice questions based on intentionally generated single-trial fMRI signals that can be decoded online. Our technique takes advantage of the participants’ capability to voluntarily influence certain spatio-temporal aspects of the blood oxygenation level–dependent (BOLD) signal: source location (by using different mental tasks), signal onset and offset. We show that healthy participants are capable of hemodynamically encoding at least four distinct information units on a single-trial level without extensive pretraining and with little effort. Moreover, realtime data analysis based on simple multi-filter correlations allows for automated answer decoding with a high accuracy (94.9%) demonstrating the robustness of the presented method.. (shrink)

Is the way that kindergarteners view their willpower – as a limited or as a non-limited resource – related to their motivation and behavioral self-regulation? This study is the first to examine the structure of beliefs about willpower in relation to behavioral self-regulation by interviewing 147 kindergarteners aged 5 to 7 years. A new instrument was developed to assess implicit theories about willpower for this specific age group. Results indicated that kindergarteners who think of their willpower as a non-limited resource (...) showed better behavioral self-regulation than children who adopted a more limited theory, even when controlling for age and gender. This relation was especially pronounced in low achieving children. Mediation and moderation analyses showed that this relation was partly mediated through the children’s willingness to invest effort to reach a learning goal. Findings suggest that fostering metacognitive beliefs in children, such as the belief that willpower is a non-limited resource, may increase behavioral self-regulation for successful adjustment to the demands of kindergarten and school. (shrink)

Drawing on Heidegger's corpus, the work of historians and biblical specialists, and contemporary philosophers like Levinas and Derrida, Zarader brings to light the evolution of an _impensé_—or unthought thought—that bespeaks a complex debt at the core of Heidegger's hermeneutic ontology. Zarader argues forcefully that in his interpretation of Western thought and culture, Heidegger manages to recognize only two main lines of inheritance: the "Greek" line of philosophical thinking, and the Christian tradition of "faith." From this perspective, Heidegger systematically avoids any (...) explicit or meaningful recognition of the contribution made by the Hebraic biblical and exegetical traditions to Western thought and culture. Zarader argues that this avoidance is significant, not simply because it involves an inexcusable historical oversight, but more importantly because Heidegger's own philosophical project draws on and develops themes that appear first, and fundamentally, within the very Hebraic traditions that he avoids, betraying an "unthought debt" to Hebraic tradition. (shrink)

„Bitte nicht theoretische Philosophie, das ist viel zu abstrakt – wofür brauche ich das später?“ Solche oder ähnliche Gedankengänge sind in der Philosophie- und Ethikausbildung häufig zu hören. Und es liegt zunächst auch nicht auf der Hand, warum es wichtig sein könnte, sich mit den theoretischen Grundlagen von Wissen, Sprache, Denken oder Wissenschaft auseinanderzusetzen, wenn man in diesen Gebieten nicht selbst Akademiker*in werden will. Um Studierenden und Schüler*innen einen nachvollziehbaren Grund zu liefern, warum sie sich für theoretische Philosophie interessieren sollten, (...) braucht es mehr als Verweise auf Traditionen und Lehrpläne. (shrink)

Dürfen wir die Überzeugungen und Erfahrungen anderer einfach ignorieren oder bagatellisieren? In gewissen Fällen mag das plausibel sein. Aber Menschen ignorieren die Überzeugungen gewisser Personen und Gruppen oft ohne nachvollziehbaren Grund, indem sie sie aufgrund von Vorurteilen als Unwissende abstempeln. In solchen Fällen werden Personen ungerechterweise von der gesellschaftlichen Praxis der Wissensproduktion und Wissensweitergabe abgeschnitten. Die Philosophin Miranda Fricker bezeichnet dies als „epistemische Ungerechtigkeit“. In diesem Beitrag wird exemplarisch für das große Feld der sozialen Erkenntnistheorie die gesellschaftliche und philosophische Bedeutung (...) des Phänomens der epistemischen Ungerechtigkeit näher erklärt und anhand vieler Beispiele erläutert. Konkrete Unterrichtsimpulse werden in Form von drei Aufgabenblöcken angeboten. (shrink)

Anti-materialist thought experiments as, e.g., zombie arguments, have posed some of the most vexing problems for materialist accounts of phenomenal consciousness. I doubt, however, that arguments of this kind can refute the core thesis of materialism. Although I do not question that there is something very special about an adequate explanation of phenomenal consciousness, and although I accept the epistemic irreducibility of phenomenal consciousness, I deny that modal arguments reach far enough to establish essentialism about consciousness. I will draw upon (...) a relativistic conception of modal space and suggest to strictly separate between varieties of metaphysical possibility - depending on which world is considered as actual, and depending on accessibility relations. It is shown that the modal argument cannot endanger the reductive explanation of the mind-brain relation if one distinguishes carefully between possibility according to primary intensions and possibility according to secondary intensions . Modal arguments are strong enough to make an epistemological point but not an ontological one. (shrink)

The aim of this book is to understand and critically appraise science-based transgression dynamics in their whole complexity. It includes contributions from experts with different disciplinary backgrounds, such as philosophy, history and sociology. Thus, it is in itself an example of boundary transgression. Scientific disciplines and their objects have tended to be seen as permanent and distinct. However, science is better conceived as an activity that constantly surpasses, erases and rebuilds all kinds of boundaries, either disciplinary, socio-ethical or ecological. This (...) transgressive capacity, a characteristic trait of science and its applications, defines us as "knowledge societies." However, scientific and technological developments are also sources of serious environmental and social concerns. Contents Disciplinary Transgression of Boundaries - Extra-Disciplinary Transgression of Boundaries - Radical Transgression of Boundaries Target Groups Scientists and students of philosophy, sociology, history of science, and interdisciplinary fields such as technology assessment, sustainable development, science and technology studies - Practitioners in research management Editors Bettina-Johanna Krings (MA in sociology, political science and anthropology; PhD in sociology) is head of the research department "Knowledge Society and Knowledge Policy" at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Hannot Rodríguez (PhD in philosophy) is Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy of the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU. Anna Schleisiek (Dipl.-Soz.) is doing research on the role of economic principles in the scientific practice of research teams for her PhD project in sociology. <. (shrink)

Mhealth technology is mushrooming world-wide and, in a variety of forms, reaches increasing numbers of users in ever-widening contexts and virtually independent from standard medical evidence assessment. Yet, debate on the broader societal impact including in particular mapping and classification of ethical issues raised has been limited. This article, as part of an ongoing empirically informed ethical research project, provides an overview of ethical issues of mhealth applications with a specific focus on implications on autonomy as a key notion in (...) the debate. A multi-stage model of references to the potential of mhealth use for strengthening some or other form of self-determination will be proposed as a descriptive tool. It illustrates an assumed continuum of enhanced autonomy via mhealth broadly conceived: from patient to user autonomy, to improved health literacy, and finally to the vision of supra-individual empowerment and democratised, participatory health and medicine as a whole. On closer examination, however, these references are frequently ambivalent or vague, perpetuating the at times uncritical use of established autonomy concepts in medical ethics. The article suggests zooming in on the range of autonomy-related aspects against the backdrop of digital innovation and datafied health more generally, and on this basis add to existing frameworks for the ethical evaluation of mhealth more specifically. (shrink)

Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral - Leipzig) under the title: Seinsvergessenheit im Narrativismus. Zur Bedeutung sprachlicher Tiefenstrukturen im Geschichtsdenken von...

​Für die Wahrnehmung von Politik und die Beteiligung am politischen Leben einer Gesellschaft ist politisches Wissen notwendig. Der Band bündelt aktuelle Studien zur Bedeutung, zur Messung sowie zu den Bestimmungsfaktoren und Konsequenzen des politischen Wissens. Die Beiträge geben erste Antworten auf drängende Fragen und weisen auf Lücken in der Forschung zum politischen Wissen in Deutschland hin.

In transparent orthographies, persistent reading fluency difficulties are a major cause of poor reading skills in primary school. The purpose of the present study was to investigate effects of a syllable-based reading intervention on word reading fluency and reading comprehension among German-speaking poor readers in Grade 4. The 16-session intervention was based on analyzing the syllabic structure of words to strengthen the mental representations of syllables and words that consist of these syllables. The training materials were designed using the 500 (...) most frequent syllables typically read by fourth graders. The 75 poor readers were randomly allocated to the treatment or the control group. Results indicate a significant and strong effect on the fluency of recognizing single words, whereas text-level reading comprehension was not significantly improved by the training. The specific treatment effect provides evidence that a short syllable-based approach works even in older poor readers at the end of primary school. (shrink)

School psychologists are asked to systematically evaluate the effects of their work to ensure quality standards. Given the different types of methods applied to different users of school psychology measuring the effects of school psychological services is a complex task. Thus, the focus of our scoping review was to systematically investigate the state of past research on the measurement of the effects of school psychological services published between 1998 and 2018 in eight major school psychological journals. Of the 5,048 peer-reviewed (...) articles published within this period, 623 were coded by two independent raters as explicitly refering to school psychology or counseling in the school context in their titles or abstracts. However, only 22 included definitions of effects of school psychological services or described outcomes used to evaluate school psychological services based on full text screening. These findings revealed that measurement of the effects of school psychological services has not been a focus of research despite its' relevance in guidelines of school psychological practice. (shrink)

Indigenous people (IP) have faced multiple difficulties in education. Indigenous students often do worse academically than non-indigenous student peers. These stated the low enrollment rates showed a dropout rate, absenteeism, repetition rates, literacy rate, and thus the educational outcomes, with retention and completion being two significant issues. Further, this study explores the lived experiences and challenges faced by indigenous high school students amidst the new normal education. Employing the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, the findings of this study were: (1) The reason (...) why IP learners were not satisfied with their performance is that they cannot understand some of the lessons due to the language barrier. (2) IP learners are committed to finishing their studies, however, some of the students lack resources for studying, like gadgets for researching, and they do not have cell phones. And the other students may have gadgets or cellphones, but their internet connection is low or not accessible in some places at their location. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungIm vorliegenden Beitrag wird vor dem Hintergrund diskursiv verhandelter Topoi über Geflüchtete untersucht, inwiefern Sportlehrkräfte geflüchtete Schüler*innen als ‚Andere‘ wahrnehmen. Angesichts der binären Geschlechterordnung, die sowohl im Sport als auch im Diskurs um Geflüchtete reproduziert wird, liegt der Schwerpunkt hierbei auf der geschlechterbezogenen Konstruktion von ‚Anderssein‘. Dafür werden der Forschungsstand und konstruktivistische und postkoloniale Theoriebezüge skizziert sowie 31 Interviews mit Sportlehrkräften unter einem diskursanalytischen Fokus ausgewertet. Die Befunde legen nahe, dass der Umgang mit geflüchteten Schüler*innen mit dem Normalitätsverständnis der Interviewten (...) und der Institution Schule bricht. Darüber hinaus lassen sich fluchtbezogene Konstruktionsmuster erkennen, die durch die Körperzentrierung des Sportunterrichts besonders aktualisiert und von den Befragten geschlechtstypisierend und kulturell ausgedeutet werden. (shrink)

Contributed research papers presented at seminar.

Die Philosophiedidaktik ist eine herausfordernde Disziplin. In ihrer Aufgabe als Vermittlungs- und Reflexionswissenschaft muss sie Entwicklungen der aktuellen Philosophie berücksichtigen, auf die komplexen Veränderungen unserer Lebenswelt reagieren, die Herausforderungen des Lernorts Schule ernst nehmen und die Erkenntnisse wesentlicher Bezugsdisziplinen einbeziehen. Diese Vernetzungsaufgabe verlangt nach systematischen philosophiedidaktischen Untersuchungen für die Lehrkräfteausbildung. Ziel dieses Bandes ist die Analyse und Diskussion der philosophischen, fachdidaktischen und bildungstheoretischen Fragestellungen einer Reihe komplexer Herausforderungen, die für die Ausbildung an der Hochschule, im Referendariat sowie in der Fort- (...) und Weiterbildung wirksam werden: Welche Rolle kann und soll philosophische Bildung in inter- und transdisziplinären Bezügen spielen, wie z.B. bei der Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung oder in einem Bildungslabor? Wie kann und sollte Philosophieren mit Kindern praktiziert werden? Wie kann und sollte mit der Forderung nach Inklusion umgegangen werden? Ist problemorientierter Unterricht der Goldstandard philosophischen Unterrichtens oder nicht? Auf diese und weitere Fragen geben die Beiträge der Autor*innen Antworten und Lösungsvorschläge, in denen alte und neue Kontroversen sichtbar werden. Der Band versteht sich als Beitrag zu lebendigen Grundsatzdiskursen, die ein Fundament liefern für die Entwicklung eines zeitgemäßen Philosophie- und Ethikunterrichts. (shrink)

Die globalen Veränderungen fordern unser Wissen über die Welt und über uns selbst heraus. Der Klimawandel, die globale Covid-19-Pandemie und Konflikte um die Bedeutung wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse führen uns unweigerlich zu einer Vielzahl komplexer philosophischer Fragen. Dabei rücken verstärkt Themen der theoretischen Philosophie in den Vordergrund: Was ist eigentlich Wissen? Auf welche Informationen können wir uns verlassen? Ist die Wahrheit relativ? Was macht ExpertInnen aus? Was ist gute wissenschaftliche Praxis? Was bedeutet 'evidenzbasiert'? Welchen sozialen und globalen Einflüssen ist unser Wissenserwerb ausgesetzt? (...) In der Ausbildung von Philosophie- und Ethikstudierenden gibt es oft eine große Scheu, Disziplinen wie Erkenntnistheorie und Wissenschaftsphilosophie zu erlernen und zu unterrichten. Zu abstrakt und lebensweltlich irrelevant, sagen viele. Dieses Buch soll diese Berührungsängste beseitigen helfen, indem die theoretischen Grundlagen auf die Probleme der Gegenwart angewendet und mit vielseitigen Methoden erschlossen werden. Zwei Ziele stehen im Vordergrund: Zum einen soll deutlich werden, dass die Beschäftigung mit theoretischer Philosophie für das persönliche und das gesellschaftliche Zusammenleben von zentraler Bedeutung ist. Zum anderen zeigen eine Reihe didaktischer Tools, wie man Lernende dabei aktiv in den Lernprozess miteinbezieht. (shrink)