The aim of the article is to illustrate concrete problems in the asymmetrical nurse–patient power relationship. It is an ethical demand that the nurse is faced with the challenges that the power in the relation is administered so that the patient's room for action is expanded and trust maintained. It is an essential message in care philosophy, but in clinical practice, success is not always achievable. A hidden and more or less unconscious restriction of the patient's room for action may (...) result in the excesses of care. Three selected aspects: dependence, trust, and power described by the Danish philosopher K.E. Løgstrup and the Norwegian nursing philosopher Kari Martinsen's care philosophy has inspired this empirically based examination of some current barriers in the asymmetrical nurse–patient relationship. On the basis of qualitative interviews with six patients and six nurses, the research thus provides an identifying and problem‐exploratory examination of some current obstacles in which the handling of trust and power reflects the excesses of care. The findings develop three themes. ‘Being a burden’ acknowledges that the balance of power will always tip to the nurse's advantage. The second theme, ‘Doing only what's absolutely necessary’, shows how a fixation with ‘technicalism’ creates a distance between people that may constrain the patient's room for action. The last theme is concerning the nurse's ability to navigate between closeness and distance is essential in avoiding ‘the excesses of care’, paternalism, and overprotectiveness. A situation in which distance takes the upper hand and care turns into paternalism. A different situation would arise if the nurse's emotions became sentimental or intimate with the result that closeness gets the upper hand. To avoid a harmful exercise of power and the excesses of care, the findings have demonstrated that a relationship‐based caring is a demand for situation‐specific sensitive attention skills. (shrink)

Patients have to be respected with dignity as the masters of their own lives. The problem, however, is that autonomy may become so dominant and the fundamental value of caring in professional nursing that the patient’s dignity is affected. The aim of this article is to point out some of the issues with the interplay between autonomy, also called self-management and dignity. Given voice to the patient perspective the background is provided by cases from research conducted through qualitative interviews with (...) patients and expanded by summarizing empirical research concerning the interplay between autonomy and dignity. The search strategy and the research question gave five empirical research papers and three theoretical studies and concept analyses. A concise overview of the relevant research contains information about all the major elements of the studies. The background research and an interpretative summary address new issues to be taken into account in dignity conserving care. (shrink)

This paper extracts the findings of the impact study on the Learning Facilitator programme’s study, a 6-month blended learning professional programme accredited by the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (Germany) and delivered by Jesuit Worldwide Learning to teachers in context of marginalisation. Focused on elucidating how the Learning Facilitator programme nurtures graduates' soft skills in teaching and fosters their servant-leadership, this paper underscores how the programme redefines the temporal horizons for its participants, enabling them to transcend established frames of reference and (...) cultivate inclusive and conducive learning environments both within and beyond the confines of traditional classrooms. This contribution seeks to bring the seldom heard voices at the centre of the discussion on “time for education”, echoing graduates’ critical exploration in reevaluating conventional frames of reference in pedagogical contexts. (shrink)

This article is about nursing theories, the development of nursing knowledge and the underlying, hidden epistemology. The current technical–economical rationality in society and health care calls for a specific kind of knowledge based on a traditional Western, Socratic view of science. This has an immense influence on the development of nursing knowledge. The purpose of the article was therefore to discuss the hidden epistemology of nursing knowledge and theories seen in a broad historical context and point to an alternative epistemology (...) for a future context. It is a question about which nursing theories and what nursing knowledge should be developed in order to benefit patients and relatives of the future. We suggest that future knowledge development in nursing be developed in an interchange between theory and practice and guided by philosophy like a kind of pendulum where all three elements are treated as equals. We suggest a framework for the development of nursing knowledge based on a caring‐ethical practice, a theory on life phenomena in suffering and relationship‐based nursing, and thereby, we may be able to help patients to be cured, to recover, to be alleviated or comforted when suffering. (shrink)

Against the background of the recent debate on the atlantic republican tradition initiated by John G. Pocock and Quentin Skinner the essay tries to reconstruct the republican discourse in the German Empire of the 1790s. It claims that we find there the innovation of a cosmopolitan republicanism which becomes radicalized on its way from Kant to Schlegel, and that Georg Forster is the decisive catalyst for this radicalization.

Die Untersuchungen betreffen die Rezeption von kantischem Denken in der Hispanidad. Es handelt sich um Akten eines Kongresses, der 1983 an der Universitat zu Koln stattfand. Die verschiedenen Reaktionen (positive wie auch kritische) auf das kantische Denken von Autoren wie M. Nieto Serrano, J.M. Rey y Heredia, K.C.F. Krause, J. Sanz del Rio, J. Zubiri und R. Torretti werden thematisiert.".

In the present study, we have demonstrated hysteresis phenomena in the excitability of single, enzymatically dissociated guinea pig ventricular myocytes. Membrane potentials were recorded with patch pipettes in the whole-cell current clamp configuration. Repetitive stimulation with depolarizing current pulses of constant cycle length and duration but varying strength led to predictable excitation (1:l) and non-excitation (1:0) patterns depending on current strength. In addition, transition between patterns depended on the direction of current intensity change and stable hysteresis loops were obtained in (...) stimulus:response pattern vs. current intensity plots in 14 cells. Increase of pulse duration and decrease of stimulation rate contributed to a reduction in hysteresis loop areas. Changes in amplitude and shape of the subthreshold responses during the transitions from one stable pattern to the other, suggested that activity led to an increase in membrane resistance, particularly in the voltage domain between resting potential, and threshold. Therefore, we modelled the dynamic behaviour of the single cells as a function of diastolic membrane resistance, using previously published analytical solutions. Numerical iteration of the analytical model equations closely reproduced the experimental hysteresis loops in both qualitative and quantitative ways. In particular, the effect of stimulation frequency on the model was similar to the experimental findings. The overall study suggests that the excitability pattern of guinea pig ventricular myocytes accounts for hysteresis and bistabilities when current intensity is allowed to fluctuate around threshold levels. (shrink)

In the context of health care the aim of the article is to bring another meaning to the concept “need” that goes beyond the human activity; the drive to satisfy needs. Another meaning incorporates an ethical and existential nature of life phenomena. An example from empirical research on living with a chronic disease as seen from the patient’s point of view provides the basis for arguing another meaning of the concept “need”. The meanings and nuances in the life phenomena of (...) hope, doubt and life courage are exemplified in qualitative interviews with chronic sufferers. A combination of empirical research and Danish life philosophy. Research has shown that the interaction between the professional health care provider and the patient and family may lead to a more or less unconscious and inappropriate administration of power. Research also indicates that by overlooking or ignoring the existential qualities in human life and suffering, the professional health care provider may deprive the patient and family of their room for action. To add a deeper understanding of the existential meaning of being a person with an illness, the article shows the different human dimensions concerning life phenomena and needs. Developing sensitive, situation-specific attention offers a response to the challenge faced by health care providers in collaboration with the patient: How can we open our eyes to the most significant features of the situation which arise on the onset of illness. (shrink)

Die moderne Philosophie hat seit Descartes und Kant und vollends seit dem Ausgang des 19. Jahrhunderts ihre Grundlegung in der Subjekttheorie gesucht. Unter Verdrängung von Metaphysik und Ontologie hat bevorzugt die Anthropologie den Platz der "ersten Philosophie" eingenommen. Hans Heinz Holz möchte demgegenüber die Anthropologie in den Rahmen einer allgemeinen Ontologie und Naturphilosophie zurückführen. Er greift dabei Ansätze auf, die sich aus dem Werk Helmuth Plessners ergeben, und die er im Sinne einer Dialektik der Natur weiterentwickelt.

Die moderne Philosophie hat seit Descartes und Kant und vollends seit dem Ausgang des 19. Jahrhunderts ihre Grundlegung in der Subjekttheorie gesucht. Unter Verdrängung von Metaphysik und Ontologie hat bevorzugt die Anthropologie den Platz der "ersten Philosophie" eingenommen. Hans Heinz Holz möchte demgegenüber die Anthropologie in den Rahmen einer allgemeinen Ontologie und Naturphilosophie zurückführen. Er greift dabei Ansätze auf, die sich aus dem Werk Helmuth Plessners ergeben, und die er im Sinne einer Dialektik der Natur weiterentwickelt.

Self-, collective, and participative efficacy are strong predictors of sustainability action. Yet, few studies have investigated the dynamics and variability of efficacy beliefs. In this transdisciplinary study, we tested such factors in the context of a peer-to-peer coaching program for sustainability volunteers, embedded in a structured-educational context. Over weekends, 2 qualified coaches trained 36 German bottom-up, student-led sustainability initiatives. These coaches instructed students in team building, envisioning, project planning, and on-campus sustainability practice. While 317 participants completed our pre-questionnaire, N = (...) 165 completed both the pre- and post-questionnaire. As hypothesized, after having participated in the coaching weekend, action skills, collaboration skills, group identification, and self-, collective, and participative efficacy all increased. The latter of these increased, to our knowledge, for the first time in environmental psychology research. Group identification and having a vision emerged as important efficacy predictors, and participative efficacy beliefs in turn predicted volunteering. Moreover, we took initial steps in investigating the interaction of psychological and structural factors from a multilevel perspective. Our analyses revealed that efficacy beliefs on the individual level were higher when the university had a green office and when the student initiative was at a small university. We conclude by proposing an empowerment model for sustainability volunteers and by discussing the practical implications of our findings. (shrink)

Background:Background: In general, qualitative research design often involves merging together various data collection strategies, and researcher’s may need to be prepared to spend longer periods i...

Die Reihe des Potsdamer Zentrum Europäische Aufklärung macht Ergebnisse mehrjähriger Forschungsarbeit bekannt. Aus vergleichender Perspektive werden Grundlagen der europäischen Kulturgeschichte und damit des kulturellen Europa der Gegenwart untersucht. Die Ausprägung der Aufklärung im Spannungsfeld von Text und Bild, Systematik und Kritik, Programmatik und Pragmatik, Liberalität und rechtlicher Fixierung, Publizistik und Sozietätswesen wird aus dem Blickwinkel unterschiedlichster Fachdisziplinen erschlossen. Einzeluntersuchungen führen in die verschiedensten Regionen der geistigen Rezeptionsprozesse in Europa. Quellenerschließungen gelten der Begegnung der deutschen und französischen Aufklärung in der Preußischen (...) Akademie. Das Verhältnis der Aufklärung zur Visualisierung ihrer Botschaften in der bildenden Kunst, der Architektur, Raumordnung und den technischen Wissenschaften wird untersucht. (shrink)

Bd. 1. Sein und Werden -- Bd. 2. Gott und Welt -- Bd. 3. Einheit und Widerspruch I -- Bd. 4. Einheit und Widerspruch II -- Bd. 5. Einheit und Widerspruch III.