The paper addresses the methodology used by the teacher-KEYWORDS: facilitator to plan P4C sessions. The classic method consists of identifying the guidelines of the dialogue from a provisional mapping of the text, but this can be supplemented or replaced by other tools‡. GrupIREF and the Filosofía Lúdica movement§ use an approach that focuses on thinking skills. The P4C session is planned from the choice of the thinking skills to be trained - or possibly the attitudes and ethical values that appear (...) in the stimulus used. This article proposes an alternative to the classical planning approach, examining the basis of the model considered and offering a practical example. ITA_Focus dell’articolo è la modalità di pianificazione delle sessioni di Philosophy for Children, P4C, da parte del docente-facilitatore. Il metodo classico consiste nell’individuazione di linee-guida del dialogo a partire da una mappatura orientativa del testo-pretesto, ma ciò può essere integrato, o sostituito da altre modalità*. Il GrupIREF e il movimento della Filosofía Lúdica† utilizzano un approccio che privilegia le abilità di pensiero. La sessione P4C viene pianificata a partire dalla scelta dell’abilità di pensiero da allenare – o eventualmente dell’atteggiamento etico e dei valori legati al pre-testo utilizzato. Il presente lavoro suggerisce un’alternativa alla progettazione classica, attraverso una disamina delle basi del modello considerato, e ne offre un esempio pratico. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to clarify under what conditions a philosophical problem arises. I will describe two ways in which we might perceive a question as a problem. First, when we fnd ourselves inclined to believe in propositions that appear incompatible with each other. Second, when we fnd ourselves inclined to believe in propositions that seem incompatible with our desires. I will discuss both of these cases and articulate a didactic strategy – the Clash Strategy – which (...) can be used in order to plan and facilitate dialogic inquiry in the classroom. This strategy suggests introducing stimuli that will help students appreciate the clash that drives the philosophical question to be explored during the dialogue. In summary, this paper aims to ofer insights to all teachers interested in promoting dialogic inquiry, whether philosophical or otherwise, in education. (shrink)

School as counter-public" is the hermeneutic key with which Ralf Koerrenz interprets the school model of the Jena Plan. Similar to the Dalton-Plan or the Winnetka-Plan, the Jena Plan is one of the most important concepts of alternative schools developed in the first half of the 20th century as part of the international movement for alternative education, the?World Education Fellowship?. 0Peter Petersen's "Jena Plan" concept must be understood from his educational philosophical foundations. The didactic levels of action at school (...) (teaching, learning) as well as the reflection of theory in pedagogical practice are made understandable by "school as a counter-public". Not least with a view to the today's Jena Plan schools, the question is asked for a context-independent core of what makes a school a Jena Plan school. The opportunities and ambivalences of the model thus become equally visible. (shrink)

As part of a research conducted in the field of professional didactics for the design of video-based training for saddlers, we mobilize an iterative and collaborative analysis protocol with professionals. We compare the effects produced during a debate between experts mediated by the researcher, based sometimes on a confrontation with video traces of the activity, sometimes on the temporary diagrams of a conceptual structure of the situation. Using the argumentative trilogue analysis framework, we show how these methodologies are able to (...) foster the expression of a process of conceptualization depending on whether professionals are confronted with lived images or concep-tualizations produced by the researcher. (shrink)

Los docentes de los distintos conservatorios realizan las programaciones didácticas en base a la formación recibida. En este trabajo se realiza un análisis sobre la coherencia entre la legislación y las programaciones didácticas. También se estudia lo que dice la normativa vigente al respecto y qué cambios solicita la Unión Europea y la Unesco.La planificación es esencial para poder atender a la diversidad del alumnado y a que estos puedan conseguir todos los objetivos planteados de manera individual y a ritmos (...) distintos. (shrink)

The paper seeks to present a conception of the didactics of logic according to Jean Alexis Borrelly, the author of among others Plan de réformations des etudes élémentaires and a textbook for logic Elémens de l’art de penser, ou la logique, réduite à ce qu’elle a d’utile. The legacy of Borrelly summarises the tendencies typical of the Enlightenment with regard to 1) reforms of education, 2) redefining values in the didactics of philosophy, and 3) modification in the then logic. The (...) presentation has a twofold structure. In part one I present some specific characteristics of Borrelly’s didactic plan against the background of school reforms. Part two is devoted to the teaching of logic: 1) the nature of logic in the didactic curriculum, 2) its realization in Borrelly’s textbook for logic, and that against the background of modern tendencies in reforming a conception of this discipline. This is in particular with regards to the theory and practice of the didactics of logic in Polish school reforms contemporary to Borrelly’s accomplishments. It has been pointed out that both at the declarative level and in the textbooks Borrelly’s conception is an example of eclectic achievements typical of the Enlightenment. They come to terms with the radical solutions, hostile to formal logic, with school requirements, a fact that makes Borrelly’s solution to be one of the standards characteristic, for instance, of the popular Logic of Port-Royal by A. Arnauld and P. Nicole. (shrink)

This study intends to question the theoretical and epistemological basis of research practices that give rise to the production of spontaneous oral commentary by teachers watching their own teacher action. What clues can the researcher use to impart on these discourses their ability to reveal that which is related to the link between discourse, action and teacher thinking? To address this question, we propose to concentrate more specifically on planning incidents, challenging moments, dilemmas and regrets in which, according to (...) Schütz’s expression (1998), the teacher faces a world that is not self-evident. Here we will consider corpus sequences in which relationships to knowledge and opportunities - both missed and taken advantage of - play out. In these moments of fracture, hints of an evolving didactic repertoire seem to appear. This will bring us to question the discourses of self-confrontation as textual material, the study of which informs of the construction of professional knowledge and its evolution. (shrink)

In this empirical study, we investigate _what_ and _how_ teachers in Dutch universities of applied sciences (UAS) think they contribute to the development of students’ ethical compasses. Six focus groups were conducted with teachers across three programmes: Initial Teaching Education, Business Services, and Information and Communication Technology. This study revealed that teachers across the three different professional disciplines shared similar ideas about what should be addressed in the development of students’ ethical compasses. Their contributions were grouped into three core themes: (...) creating students’ moral awareness, developing students’ moral skills and promoting students’ moral professional behaviour. The majority of the teachers used a wide range of planned and unplanned pedagogic–didactic actions (reflecting individual learning and cooperative and group learning) to enhance the development of students’ ethical compasses. However, teachers’ strategies were mostly unstructured and unreflective and depended on the individual teacher’s ability and knowledge to address moral themes. Furthermore, the study revealed two incompatible ideals: as role models, the teachers aimed to exemplify explicitly how to be a professional with an ethical compass. However, they also wanted to adopt a neutral stance because they were afraid to manipulate the students’ ethical compasses. Therefore, they avoided promoting _the_ ethical compass that they believed to be the best. (shrink)

I am interested in the epistemological status of «project(ion)», that is, the «act» or «strategy» of project(ion) in relation to various didactic protocols usually associated with an «author» and her intention or production. What is a plan, program, plot, platform, concept, conception, or even «meta-project»? Is a project or projection necessarily an «architectural matter»? Is it a prototypically Western or European procedure of specific use of time and space (literally, throwing forth into space/time)? I will attempt to explain some (...) passages from Eisenman, Cacciari, as well as a theory recently put forth by Armando and Durbiano (Teoria del progetto architettonico). (shrink)

As is well known, Heinrich Scholz and his academic society maintained good scientific contacts with Polish logicians before, during, and after the Second World War. My interest here is to examine the details of their collaboration by presenting Scholz’s unpublished correspondence with Fr. Józef M. Bocheński. The following topics are discussed here: Polish logicians who survived the war and their current place of work; reorganization of the scholarly environment, didactic activities, duties, scholarly trips; current research topics, prospects for post-war (...) publications, and future publishing plans; information about Jan Łukasiewicz, Bolesław Sobociński, and Joachim Metallmann; personal matters. (shrink)

Most of the on-going debate is about “how” to protect archaeological ruins, whilst at the same time allowing the general public to enjoy them. Today it is clear how important it is, from the actual planning stages of excavations, to interact with experts from other disciplines, who are working on their own findings and offering them up for collective enjoyment. Whatever might be feasible for an indoor museum is not always feasible with an architectonic ruin, as regards both presenting (...) objects with explicative apparatus that determines their significance, and exploring them in a new way when interpretations change or new ideologies are introduced. First of all, conserving excavations is the not the same as conserving a transportable object. In the past many countries in Europe preferred to “present” Roman remains simply as “gardens of ruins”, often endeavouring to stand them in sharp contrast with a more recurrent evocation of the original contexts of local life. Recently, with regard to the Roman tradition, there has been a noticeable inversion of trend in musealization operations, according to which the mere “contemplation of ruins” should be replaced by emotional contact with history. The main consequence of these new tendencies is the replacement of an informatics-based and didactic approach to musealization, in favour of a more authentically interpretative approach. Back-up resulting from experimentation in the fields of restoration and conservation becomes indispensible in implementing these new strategies for the musealization of archaeology. Continuous research and the progressive advance of conservation techniques have meant that the need to transfer archaeological remains has been avoided and an improved in situ “presentation” of these remains, both movable and immovable, can now be guaranteed. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Philosophy of Music Education Review 13.1 (2005) 5-19 [Access article in PDF] Didactology as a Field of Theory and Research in Music Education Frede V. Nielsen Danish University of Education, Copenhagen Two problem areas which both concern the question of music pedagogy as a field of theory and research are addressed in this paper. The first one concerns the question of the normative and prescriptive versus the descriptive and (...) analytical aspects of music pedagogy. The second is about the theory of and the criteria for the selection of content in music education. In order to address these problems it is necessary to formulate certain preconditions, each of which comprises important distinctions. Preconditions and Problem Areas German pedagogical tradition features the term Didaktik, and when the area in question is placed in relation to an educational subject, such as music, the word and the concept of Fachdidaktik (subject-oriented Didaktik) arises. In Scandinavian countries corresponding concepts can be found.1Two features of the German concept of Didaktik should be emphasized. First, it denotes both the theory and science and the planning and decision-making of teaching and learning. Thus it refers to the theoretically oriented as well [End Page 5] as the practically directed concerns in pedagogy. Second, from the point of view of disciplines, Didaktik is part of the discipline of pedagogy, but there are diverging conceptions and theories of how it is to be delimited in relation to other subsections of pedagogy (such as teaching methodology). Roughly speaking, there exists a narrow or specific conception of Didaktik, which is first and foremost concerned with the question of the content, aim, and rationale of teaching and learning, together with the criteria for the selection of content, and a wide conception, according to which practically all problems regarding teaching and learning are viewed as didaktisch (including questions of teaching methods, forms of organization, and the choice of media).Significant arguments can be put forward in favor of the specific concept of Didaktik because it provides the opportunity (and actually the compulsion) to focus distinctly and separately on the fundamental issue of educational content and its selection. From this specific point of view, Didaktik can be defined as dealing with the theory and science, together with planning and decision-making, about the rationale, aim, and content of teaching and learning. The most central didactic question may then be formulated in this way: What is essential to learn, and therefore to teach, and why? In the present context it is important to note that this definition comprises both a descriptive/analytical and a prescriptive/normative determination of Didaktik. Hence arises the first of the problem areas I intend to address in greater detail, that is, the question of the normative and prescriptive character of pedagogy versus its descriptive, analytical, and scientific standing (in the present case that part of pedagogy which I have termed Didaktik).Several types of high-level rationale for the selection of teaching/learning content can be established. For general education in a subject like music (yet with application to other subjects as well) I have formulated four such types, which I also refer to as paradigms.2 Here I use the word "didactics" in the sense of the German Didaktik. The first type I call "basic subject didactics" in which the point of departure is the subject itself and its structure, in our case the subject of music. There is more on this point below. The second type is "ethno-didactics" in which the point of departure is pupil culture and the everyday experience of the pupils or criteria arising out of current local culture. It represents a micro-cultural position in post-modern style. The third type is "challenge didactics" in which the point of departure is the great social problems, such as environmental issues, global North-South relations, conditions of democracy, or for that matter terrorism. This position may be said to have a macro-cultural, problem-oriented, and inter-disciplinary bias. A theory of social criticism is a frequent theoretical anchoring point... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Response to Frede V. Nielsen, “Didactology as A Field of Theory and Research in Music Education”Marja HeimonenFrede Nielsen describes the two main aspects of music pedagogy as the normative (and prescriptive) and the descriptive (and analytical) aspects. As a precondition for his discussion, he explores some important concepts and terms such as Didaktik. He argues that it is impossible to translate and transfer certain concepts into English. The German (...) tradition, however, has influenced Scandinavian pedagogical discussion and the content of pedagogical terms and concepts in Denmark and Finland is usually congruent with German terminology. Therefore, Nielsen analyzes the German concepts carefully.An example from my own experience as a teacher of both pedagogy and didactics at the Helsinki Conservatory/Polytechnic may throw some light on this [End Page 98] matter from the Finnish perspective. The traditional title of the subject "piano pedagogy" (offered to students who aim to become instrumental teachers) was changed to "piano didactics" some years ago. The content of this course also changed in that alongside practical work (teaching) theoretical courses were also included. The reason for this change was expressed in the same terms that Nielsen presents in his paper: Didaktik (in Finnish didaktiikka) signifies both a theoretical and a practice-oriented approach to teaching.According to Nielsen, the principal question concerning Didaktik is What is the essential content in music education? This is a philosophical (as well as a legal) issue concerning the aims of education and the matter of who has the right to decide the content. These kinds of matters can also be drawn on a larger canvas: the education of human beings generally. Music education (especially in the context of general education) is not only concerned with the skills that will enable pupils to become competent musicians. On the contrary and more profoundly, it aims to broaden the mind and expand the possibilities of thought and feeling. According to several researchers (such as Estelle Jorgensen, Anthony E. Kemp, David Best, Matti Huttunen, and Heidi Westerlund) music teachers should cultivate a wide understanding of the meaning of education so that music education can relate to human experience and social practices.Nielsen has created four paradigms that might be used when the content of music teaching is formulated. The point of departure may be (a)the subject itself, music, (b)the pupil's culture (or the local culture); in other words, the micro-cultural level, (c)the social problems or conditions of democracy (the macro-cultural level), and/or (d)the fundamental existential condition of human beings. These paradigms do not exclude one another. I consider their function to resemble that of legal principles: they have to be weighed and balanced in a particular situation and context. One or several may, for some time, take priority and push the others into the background just as Nielsen argues. Legal principles are not used as legal rules, but they are "strong" as rules.Legal rules have been compared with rails: rules and regulations (just as rails) are either followed or not. This comparison to a train running on rails also clarifies the relationship between legal regulations and human behaviour: most of these rules are obeyed by habit without profound thinking about aims and principles (c.f. Nielsen's paradigms) behind the legal texts.The most important question Nielsen attempts to raise is the relationship between music and pedagogy (Didaktik). He points out that his aim is not to give normative regulations about what should or should not be taught. Raising questions is an important aim of philosophical research. However, this kind of research may also have normative implications. For instance, philosophical [End Page 99] questions regarding the aims and the content of a subject (such as music) are included in the planning of a National Curriculum (or the National Framework Curriculum formulated by the National Board of Education, as we used to have in Finland). This curriculum is normative: the regulations have to be obeyed when syllabi are formulated in schools at the local level. The Framework Curriculum includes several educational aims; for instance, "a good relationship to music" should be created between the pupil and music. The normative character of this kind of... (shrink)

This book presents a lively and accessible way to use the ancient figure of Socrates to teach modern psychology that avoids the didactic lecture and sterile textbook. In the online age, is a living teacher even needed? What can college students learn face-to-face from a teacher they cannot learn anywhere else? The answer is what most teachers already seek to do: help students think critically, clearly define concepts, logically reason from premises to conclusions, engage in thoughtful and persuasive communication, (...) and actively engage the franchise of democratic citizenship. But achieving these outcomes requires an intimate, interpersonal learning community. This book presents a plan for using the ancient figure of Socrates and his Method to realize humane learning outcomes in the context of psychology. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:278 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY What a revolution the past century has made in both the general idea of morality andin the practical attitudes of "moral sense"l The political and moral earthquakes that have cracked the solid ground of Wayland's "moral law" and "didactic" complacency have blown us all into a space whose air may be purer but whose endless visibility into the dark void is less assuring. HERBERT (...) W. SCHNEIDER Claremont, California Le Pluralisme Dramatique de Georges Sorel. By Georges Goriely. (Paris: Marcel Rivi~re et Cie, 1962. 244 pp. Price not given.) Professor Georges Goriely of the Free University of Brussels has made one more valiant attempt to rescue Sorel the thinker from the reputation fastened upon him by the title of his Rdflexions sur la Violence in 1906. For most readers he has been the author of that one book, which is seldom read in the light of his other works. It is significant that Goriely reaches it only upon his page 199, barely twenty pages before his study terminates. Also worthy of note is the fact that of the over one hundred critical books and articles about Sorel which are listed in his bibliography, only two are in English: Richard Humphrey's Georges Sorel: Prophet Without Honor (1954) and James M. Meisel's The Genesis of Georges Sorel (1951). In European discussions Sorel frequently shares the company of such names as Croce, Bergson, and Nietzsche. But in the Anglo-Saxon world he has had in general a bad press, or none at all. A far-from-systematic philosopher, his writings, most of them originally articles composed in the heat of European controversies, have seemed remote from transatIantic concerns. He has been reputed "the father of syndicalism" in a country where the adjective most often applied to syndicalism is "criminal." When Mussolini proclaimed at one time that the R~flexions was his favorite bedside book, Sorel seemed to add the paternity of Fascism to his list. All that was needed to complete his damnation by labels was the dread word "anti-intellectual," and that has been freely applied to him. Nevertheless, Professor Goriely finds it possible to take Sorel's ideas seriously, quite apart from the political misuses which have been made of them. He sees that Sorel was primarily a pragmatic moralist immersed in his times and intent upon finding some way to bring about a European ricorso, a rejuvenation of classic republican ethics. At the turn of the century he saw only mediocrity and decadence: democracy had become demagogy, and industrial capitalism a mess of corruption. Sorel's great search was for a moral lever, for something dynamic, some source of energy in men which could be tapped in order to restore virtue and dignity and morale in the common man. Being imbued with historical relativism, and played upon by vigorous and contradictory influences (Vico, Marx, Bergson, Nietzsche, P~guy), Sorel steadily revised his views. It is that fact which gives his contradiction-filled philosophy the character of a "dramatic pluralism." Of one thing, however, Sorel was always convinced: intellect alone could not re-invigorate European ethics. The feelings must be stirred by something which, as early as 1894, he called a "myth." He had no use for rationally planned utopias operated by savants in the manner of Saint-Simon or Comte (whom he constantly attacked). He groped for a moving, even an "infinite" goal to be generated from history by the creative activity of men, such as the famous "general strike." A Norman like Alexis de Tocqueville, his roots were in a mixed liberal-republican aristocracy on the classic model, calling for large numbers of "social heroes" adapted to the industrial age. This r corps has nothing in common with the BOOK REVIEWS 279 shirted gangsters of the totalitarian regimes. Only gradually did Sorel come to seek his paragons of virtue among the proletariat, partly because of his disillusionment with Jean Jaur~s over the Dreyfus case. Sorel had been one of the first to champion Dreyfus, but felt that demagogues had transformed the latter's cause into a new dogmatism and a new establishment. Sorel was genuinely concerned about some of the... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:In MemoriamFrede V. NielsenFrederik PioOne of the major figures in Scandinavian music education research is no longer among us. We lost Professor Frede V. Nielsen earlier this year. On March 21, he passed at the age of 70 after a long period of time with weakened health.Nielsen presented his retirement lecture on June 8, 2012. It was attended by a huge crowd of former and current students, colleagues, friends, (...) and collaborators. In spite of his declining health, Frede had many plans for the future as professor emeritus, a status that unfortunately turned out to be much too short.For more than forty years Nielsen was a leading thinker in music education research in Denmark. During this period he developed several master programs in music teacher education as well as research programs for music education. But his efforts extend beyond Scandinavia since he is well known in ISPME (International Symposium for Philosophy of Music Education) as well as in RAIME (Research Alliance for Institutes of Music Education) to which he contributed over many years.Nielsen was employed at Danmarks Lærerhøjskole in 1971, where he completed his doctoral degree in 1983. His dissertation was an empirical study entitled “Experience of musical tension.” This work was later elaborated in a US context by Clifford K. Madsen among others. For two decades Nielsen’s book, General Music Didactics, originally published in 1994, has been considered a [End Page 213] standard reference work. Today it is being widely used in multiple printings in teacher education institutions all over Scandinavia.Nielsen’s intellectual heritage was especially strong in relation to the German tradition of Musik Didaktik. He had strong connections to the German research tradition, and in this area of expertise he was always among the most well informed. When most people in Scandinavia were looking primarily towards the Anglo-Saxon research tradition, Nielsen looked to Germany. Thus his ability to explore off the beaten track (at a time when he felt that it was needed in Scandinavia) was a part of his originality.For Nielsen the educational concept of Didaktik never became a technical category but was firmly anchored to a philosophical foundation by means of phenomenology. His didactical theory of “music as a multispectral universe of meaning” was shaped in close alliance with existential phenomenological insights. He insisted on the necessity for all educational thinking to be grounded in ongoing philosophical reflection. Very predictably this focus would eventually lead him into a role as co-chair together with Estelle Jorgenson when ISPME was founded at Lake Forest, Illinois, in June, 2003.Nielsen was cofounder of the Nordic Network of Research in Music Education in 1992, which has since gone on to become a significant resource and an important platform both for established researchers in music education as well as upcoming talent from all over Scandinavia. In 1995, Nielsen was also co-founder of the yearbook Nordic Research in Music Education that is still among the best publications of its type. He served as chief editor for this important series for many years. Right up to the very end he was doing research, supervising doctoral projects, editing forthcoming issues of the “MPS series” which he also founded.Frede V. Nielsen was an outstanding scholar in his field. His career and life were dedicated to serve and study music in teaching and education. He leaves behind a great spiritual vacuum in Copenhagen where he taught and researched for more than forty years. [End Page 214]Frederik [email protected] © 2013 Philosophy of Music Education Review... (shrink)

Amongst the people who pester Peisthetaerus with unwanted help and advice in the latter part of the Birds is Meton, famous astronomer and mathematician, who produces and demonstrates with instruments a method of laying out the plan of the new town. Peisthetaerus makes no attempt to follow him and quickly bundles him out again without much ceremony. Commentators and readers with few exceptions treat him in a similar way. ʹΕπίτηδες δανόητα, δόλου νοηταίνε, παίζε—such are the comments of the scholiast, and (...) editors are mostly content with that. Van Leeuwen says, ‘Metonis haec verba intellegere velle, id est operam dare ut suo ioco frustretur cbtnicus.’ The passage is of course highly comical; to make it didactic and attribute to Aristophanes a serious excursion into geometry and town-planning would be perverse and pedantic; but in Aristophanes more than in most comic writers there is commonly a grain or two of truth among the chaff. These grains, though of little or no importance for the appreciation of the play as comedy, may still have some possible value in other ways, and should be carefully sifted. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Diacritics 31.2 (2001) 85-97 [Access article in PDF] Reading's Reason Iain Morland [W]e must first of all recognize [...] how modes of reasoning that were once necessary can spring out of particular situations and be put to new tasks. —Michel de Certeau, Culture in the Plural Introduction: Reading after Reason? Reading is unreasonable. If, as Theodor Adorno has contended, to write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric, then surely reading—whether (...) of poetry, philosophy, or newsprint—is doubly obscene ["Cultural Criticism" 34]. For Adorno, such barbarism means inattentiveness to barbaric historical truths; it is the misuse of rhetorical reflexivity for the perpetuation, rather than the critique, of social conditions. In other words: to write poetry after Auschwitz is to reproduce, and thereby implicitly condone, a contradictory society within which lyric verse and mass murder are coexistent. By extension, reading—as a pastime within the culture industry—appears to achieve nothing but the expression of such cultural reification. Reading is, as Adorno has written of criticism, "self-satisfied contemplation" in the face of systematized dissatisfaction ["Cultural Criticism" 34]. The Enlightenment had characterized reading as a process of educational reasoning, a dialogue with professional intellectuals about progress and truth. Although this idea carries a rather didactic undertone, as Michel de Certeau has pointed out ["Reading" 166-67], its representation of the book as a mobile repository of thought and criticism seems reasonable enough. Yet, in the face of such barbarism as Auschwitz, the practice of reading appears shamefully futile—a blindfolded refusal of historical truth, rather than an informed response to its implications.Reading is not alone in its unreasonableness: reason too has become unreasonable, Max Horkheimer has argued in Eclipse of Reason. Consequently, Horkheimer proposes that the "denunciation of what is currently called reason is the greatest service reason can render" [187]. Objective reason, Horkheimer suggests, has been eclipsed by its insipid, subjective counterpart, rationality. Rationality defines what is reasonable as what is useful; it does not seek truth as an end in itself. Reason has thus become merely a mental tool with which one can make effective plans in neocapitalist society. In short, rationality privileges means over ends. This subjective pastiche of reason, like poetry after Auschwitz, dumbly reiterates the status quo through devising ever more efficient procedures by which tasks may be carried out. It does not criticize the objective ends that are actually furthered by such procedures. Similarly, poetry (for example, that of James Fenton) invents ornate and affective representations of modern barbarism without removing the conditions within which barbarism thrives. In this regard, reading is [End Page 85] the negative counterpart of Adorno's "dialectical critic of culture," who "both participate[s] in culture and [does] not participate" ["Cultural Criticism" 33]: reading seems to be uncritical for the same reasons that a cultural commentator is critical.The valorization of procedure, of means over ends, is why the practice of reading seems complacently to ignore the demands of society and culture. Insofar as rationality considers reasonable only those procedures that have instant, efficient results, reading remains in essence unreasonable. Reading is not a procedure whereby certain tasks may be accomplished—whether ethical demands for political change, or capitalist invitations to unlimited consumerism. Put differently, although reading has consequences, there is no procedural connection between the practice of reading and its consequences. Consider the case of ethical demands: reading may certainly serve as a preparation or grounding for future political activity. However, such preparatory reading is inevitably superseded by the activity that it incites. It is not itself a procedure for political change, but simply part of the means to a political end. This situation is mirrored in the opposite case, that of capitalist enticement: reading interrupts bookselling. A consumer's reading time extends indeterminably beyond the moment of expenditure, unlike their usage of a product with a predetermined life span.Likewise, when I wrote in the opening paragraph that it "seems reasonable enough" that a book ought to be a repository of thought and criticism, I too have employed reason in merely a rational sense. I have defined the process of reading a book as reasonable only if... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Philosophy of Music Education Review 13.1 (2005) 95-98 [Access article in PDF] Response to Frede V. Nielsen's "Didactology as a Field of Theory and Research in Music Education" Sophie Haroutunian-Gordon Northwestern University Let me begin by acknowledging what is about to become obvious: I am not a musicologist, music educator, or a philosopher of music education. I am, however, a philosopher of education and a devoted student of music, (...) so I found Frede Nielsen's paper both intriguing and rewarding. It is intriguing because it positions the theoretical study of music education—what he calls "didactology"—in relation to the practice of teaching music and exemplifies, if you will, the practice of didactology. As a philosopher, and one who has worked at philosophy of science as well as philosophy of education, I became intrigued by the conceptual ground-clearing and ground-construction that Nielsen undertakes in his paper.I found the paper rewarding for two reasons. First, it is about music—at least I think it is about music, and music is about my favorite topic. Like many good works on aesthetic subjects, it seems to offer another way into a beloved yet ultimately mystifying domain and, thus, another glimpse into the unfathomable. Second, the paper offers a complex and rigorous analysis. I had fun wading through its parts and beginning to view them in relation to one another. I think that I have begun to understand not only the difference between didactics and didactology but also something about the contribution the latter might make.So to begin these remarks, let me offer a brief overview of some key points in the paper. I will then go on to raise a question or two with the hope that these will prompt Nielsen to further elaborate his ideas.To begin, Nielsen separates the topic of music pedagogy into two parts—the [End Page 95] normative and the descriptive. He defends both the study of theory and the study of practice as useful for understanding the subject of music pedagogy. He then defines the term "didactology" as "the theory of didactics, especially the theory of the content, aim, and rationale of education," and he defines "didactics" as planning and decision-making related to the practice of teaching. He tells us that didactology, though theoretical, is related to practice, that while it is descriptive rather than prescriptive it assumes values, that it "implies a view of science and the subject—the subject of music and the music itself." A didactological statement is a scientific statement and its truth is judged according to criteria for scientific truth. In summary, according to Nielsen: It is the task of and the object area of didactology in relation to the subject of music to describe, analyze, problematize, and develop intended, actual, or possible issues concerning music education as well as its conditions with special regard to the content, aims, and rationale of the education. Can the didactology of music be an independent science? The answer seems to be yes. As an illustration of the claim, Neilsen presents us with four levels of didactological reflection. The four levels, from top to bottom, are, fourth, reality (natura)—the "inner" and "outer" aspects—which refers to the experiences of hearing/understanding and performing the music; third, the musical phenomena (ars)—the music itself (the musical phenomena include, it seems, the social and existential contexts in which the music occurs); second, the theory that offers a disciplined or systematic explanation of the musical phenomena (scientia), that is, musicology (the theory envisions the musicology—the explanation of the musical phenomena—in relation to, for example, the theory and practice of teaching the music itself); and first, the didactic practices and didactological principles (didactica) that serve as the basis for determining "the content, aim, and rationale of teaching and learning music."Now despite the elegance of the typology here, I find myself wondering about two things. First, what is the subject of Nielsen's analysis? He tells us that... (shrink)

En este artículo queremos ofrecer algunas conclusiones obtenidas de nuestra experiencia en estos primeros años de aplicación del Plan Bolonia y la formación por competencias en la enseñanza de grado en Medicina, desde la privilegiada visión docente en nuestro Centro de Simulación Médica. Seguiremos un método descriptivo y trataremos de exponer cómo el establecimiento de objetivos para el logro de las diversas competencias establecidas en cada curso, se ven potenciados por el método de enseñanza por simulación y el impulso motivador (...) que dicho método ofrece como herramienta educativa. Otorgar el protagonismo del aprendizaje al alumno, exige al docente adquirir nuevas ha-bilidades y modificar viejas costumbres en su estilo educativo. Por otra parte, los medios de que se dispone en un Centro de Simulación obligan al docente a reconfigurar sus objetivos porque, ya desde 1º de Medicina, todas las actividades se enfocan a la mejora de la calidad asistencial y a la promoción de la seguridad en la atención del paciente. Algunas cualidades pedagógicas relevantes del Centro de Simulación son la alta participación del alumno, que propicia la aparición de los errores en las prácticas. También la reflexión continúa y la autoevaluación. Destaca el efecto que produce sobre la motivación del alumno y el ambiente de trabajo en el aula. Los escenarios de aprendizaje con simu-ladores avanzados convierten la simulación en una herramienta muy valiosa y de gran impacto en el proceso formativo del alumno. (shrink)

Se realizó un modelo de investigación cuantitativo y cualitativo, de formación y desarrollo de recursos humanos con el objetivo de diseñar y aplicar una estrategia para mejorar los resultados en el desempeño de los cuadros de la Dirección Provincial de Salud en Camagüey. La investigación se efectuó entre marzo del 2011 a marzo del 2012.El universo y muestra estuvo conformado por los 39 cuadros de la Dirección Provincial de Salud en Camagüey. Se utilizaron métodos teóricos, empíricos y estadísticos. Se diseñaron (...) acciones en el orden didáctico teórico, práctico e integrado, donde se partió de las necesidades individuales y colectivas y de los resultados de la aplicación de encuestas, entrevista, entrevistas a informantes claves, revisión documental de las evaluaciones y planes de desarrollo individual. Luego de la implementación de la estrategia se constataron cambios positivos en el trabajo de los cuadros objeto de estudio, así como un mejor desempeño y resultados en los controles internos y externos. Se realizó la validación de la estrategia utilizando el criterio de expertos y la validación en la práctica. A quantitave and qualitative investigative model of formation and development of human resources was performed with the objective of designing and applying a strategy to improve the results of the human resources in the performance of the executives at the Provincial Health Direction in Camaguey. This investigation took place from March 2011 to March 2012. The universe and the sample included the 39 executives of the Provincial Health Direction in Camaguey. Theoretical, empirical and statistic methods were used. Different actions in the didactic theoretic, practical and integrative levels were designed taking into consideration the individual and groupal needs as well as the results of the interviews, and surveys to key informants, documental revisión of the evaluations and plans of the individual development. After implementation of the strategy positive changes in the work of the executives in the study as well as better performance and results in the internal and external controls. Validation of the strategy according to the expert criterium and functional validation by the results of the strategy applied to the executives in the study were performed. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Response to Frede V. Nielsen, “Didactology as A Field of Theory and Research in Music Education”Marja HeimonenFrede Nielsen describes the two main aspects of music pedagogy as the normative (and prescriptive) and the descriptive (and analytical) aspects. As a precondition for his discussion, he explores some important concepts and terms such as Didaktik. He argues that it is impossible to translate and transfer certain concepts into English. The German (...) tradition, however, has influenced Scandinavian pedagogical discussion and the content of pedagogical terms and concepts in Denmark and Finland is usually congruent with German terminology. Therefore, Nielsen analyzes the German concepts carefully.An example from my own experience as a teacher of both pedagogy and didactics at the Helsinki Conservatory/Polytechnic may throw some light on this [End Page 98] matter from the Finnish perspective. The traditional title of the subject "piano pedagogy" (offered to students who aim to become instrumental teachers) was changed to "piano didactics" some years ago. The content of this course also changed in that alongside practical work (teaching) theoretical courses were also included. The reason for this change was expressed in the same terms that Nielsen presents in his paper: Didaktik (in Finnish didaktiikka) signifies both a theoretical and a practice-oriented approach to teaching.According to Nielsen, the principal question concerning Didaktik is What is the essential content in music education? This is a philosophical (as well as a legal) issue concerning the aims of education and the matter of who has the right to decide the content. These kinds of matters can also be drawn on a larger canvas: the education of human beings generally. Music education (especially in the context of general education) is not only concerned with the skills that will enable pupils to become competent musicians. On the contrary and more profoundly, it aims to broaden the mind and expand the possibilities of thought and feeling. According to several researchers (such as Estelle Jorgensen, Anthony E. Kemp, David Best, Matti Huttunen, and Heidi Westerlund) music teachers should cultivate a wide understanding of the meaning of education so that music education can relate to human experience and social practices.Nielsen has created four paradigms that might be used when the content of music teaching is formulated. The point of departure may be (a)the subject itself, music, (b)the pupil's culture (or the local culture); in other words, the micro-cultural level, (c)the social problems or conditions of democracy (the macro-cultural level), and/or (d)the fundamental existential condition of human beings. These paradigms do not exclude one another. I consider their function to resemble that of legal principles: they have to be weighed and balanced in a particular situation and context. One or several may, for some time, take priority and push the others into the background just as Nielsen argues. Legal principles are not used as legal rules, but they are "strong" as rules.Legal rules have been compared with rails: rules and regulations (just as rails) are either followed or not. This comparison to a train running on rails also clarifies the relationship between legal regulations and human behaviour: most of these rules are obeyed by habit without profound thinking about aims and principles (c.f. Nielsen's paradigms) behind the legal texts.The most important question Nielsen attempts to raise is the relationship between music and pedagogy (Didaktik). He points out that his aim is not to give normative regulations about what should or should not be taught. Raising questions is an important aim of philosophical research. However, this kind of research may also have normative implications. For instance, philosophical [End Page 99] questions regarding the aims and the content of a subject (such as music) are included in the planning of a National Curriculum (or the National Framework Curriculum formulated by the National Board of Education, as we used to have in Finland). This curriculum is normative: the regulations have to be obeyed when syllabi are formulated in schools at the local level. The Framework Curriculum includes several educational aims; for instance, "a good relationship to music" should be created between the pupil and music. The normative character of this kind of... (shrink)

In Chapter 1 I discuss the basic problem which made me undertake the issue of human death. That problem was the dualism in the depiction of human nature which has not been fully overcome yet, the dualism which leads to the emergence of new difficulties in contemporary attempts at adequately solving the problem of human death. They include the separation of soul from the body in the moment of death, and the borderline between the moment of death and the moment (...) of resurrection. Chapter 2 is devoted to the presentation of a new anthropological perspective, of an anthropology build “from the bottom up”, that is “from foundations”, and taking into account man’s rooting in the biological environment, and thus also in the genetic heritage taken over from our pre-human ancestors. That anthropology brings new aspects into traditional anthropology by extending it to include new ways of explaining the genesis of the human body and spirit, and new depictions of man’s death. In Chapter 2 I will also present the concept of evolution proposed by P.T. de Chardin, which I appreciate for its comprehensive evolutionary perception of the world. This concept has provoked various responses, but it certainly provides a creative inspiration for further attempts at applying the idea of evolution to various issues. The general framework of the evolutionary model proposed by the French researcher turns out to be useful also when applied to the evolutionary understanding of human death. Chapter 3 contains a discussion of the principal premises of the evolutionary concept of human death taken from analyses carried out by T. Wojciechowski concerning the issue of time, space, and the structure of variable material beings. A being is variable because it has a temporal structure, and the changes that occur are the derivatives of that structure. The temporal structure may be seen as endless, in which a being, even though its existence had a beginning, will exist for ever. Material substance should not be seen statically, but in dynamic and evolutionary terms. In evolution, time becomes a driver of development, an element shaping and directing the evolution of the entire cosmos. Man’s substance has been made capable of two levels of being and acting: the spatial and temporal level, and the endless and immanent level. Together, they form the one essence of man. Thus, the human person is partially immersed in the material cosmos, and partially elevated above it. Chapter 4 presents the evolutionary approach to the moment of man’s death. The views of T. Wojciechowski will be presented in which the moment of death is seen as a moment of transformation and perfection of the structure of the essence of human existence. Furthermore, the issue of the relationship existing, according to T. Wojciechowski, between man’s death and resurrection will be discussed. Understood in evolutionary terms, the moment of death is the time when the structure of human existence is transformed. Death transfers man fully into eternity and enables his life on a higher level of existential being. The element of flesh is retained, but changes its nature. Such view of death allows it to be understood as the moment of resurrection and the culmination of the evolutionary process of life. Death is therefore an “invention” of the evolution and should be seen as a natural and positive phenomenon. At this point, I also propose a solution to the question about reconciliation between temporal and endless existence. In Chapter 5 I take up the issue of consequences flowing from the postulated understanding of human death. They have been pointed to by T. Wojciechowski, but need to be further developed and clarified. He believed two lines in man’s development need to be recognized: that of natural and that of supernatural evolution. Both have the same direction, while occurring on different planes. In each of these lines, death is a natural element of life, pre-planned and, so to say, “encoded” in the cosmic matter. Therefore, the treatment of biological death as the consequence of sin is not only contrary to the evolutionary understanding of life, but in addition artificially combines that which is natural with that which is supernatural. Man’s authentic experience of his own present is a condition of his achieving full existential perfection in the moment of this death. Full engagement in the present is, in a way, a harbinger of the future; thus, the life “here” and “there” may not be inherently inconsistent. In the light of the evolutionary concept, death is not a punishment, but the most positive experience of man’s life in that it enables him to achieve full existential perfection. Chapter 6 is devoted to a substantiation of the possibility of evolutionary transformation of the structure of human existence in the moment of death. An adequate cause needs to be identified which could substantiate that transformation and achievement of perfection. I believe an appropriate substantiation can be found in God’s creative act, interpreted in evolutionary terms. The process of evolution, with its subsequent stages, is only a necessary condition for that “transformation” and “elevation”. The sufficient condition is fulfilled by the continuous creative intervention of God. The concept of God’s creative activity in the moment of man’s death finds its continuation in Chapter 7, where I present a detailed analysis of God’s activity at the time of man’s death. The concept of God’s creative activity extended over the entire process of evolution makes it possible to consider the moment of death as the moment of man’s resurrection. The moment of death is thus a moment of creation in evolutionary terms. Thus, as long as man is related to temporal and spatial elements, his development, or creation, continues. Death is only the completion of the final stage of creation, which may be painful and evoke fear, but in fact should give hope, for it involves resurrection. I also propose that the creative act in the moment of man’s death-resurrection be considered a basic action of God, which explains the manner in which God’s activity is contained within the framework of the creative act, encompassing also the moment of death-resurrection. The final Chapter 8 describes a didactic model illustrating the concept proposed here. I use the analogy of white light dispersion effect in the prism, and compare the incident ray to the creative act, and the dispersed rays going through the prism to the line of man’s natural and supernatural evolution. This model also shows the difference in the perspectives from which the phenomenon of death is seen by God and by man. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Philosophy of Music Education Review 13.1 (2005) 5-19 [Access article in PDF] Didactology as a Field of Theory and Research in Music Education Frede V. Nielsen Danish University of Education, Copenhagen Two problem areas which both concern the question of music pedagogy as a field of theory and research are addressed in this paper. The first one concerns the question of the normative and prescriptive versus the descriptive and (...) analytical aspects of music pedagogy. The second is about the theory of and the criteria for the selection of content in music education. In order to address these problems it is necessary to formulate certain preconditions, each of which comprises important distinctions. Preconditions and Problem Areas German pedagogical tradition features the term Didaktik, and when the area in question is placed in relation to an educational subject, such as music, the word and the concept of Fachdidaktik (subject-oriented Didaktik) arises. In Scandinavian countries corresponding concepts can be found.1Two features of the German concept of Didaktik should be emphasized. First, it denotes both the theory and science and the planning and decision-making of teaching and learning. Thus it refers to the theoretically oriented as well [End Page 5] as the practically directed concerns in pedagogy. Second, from the point of view of disciplines, Didaktik is part of the discipline of pedagogy, but there are diverging conceptions and theories of how it is to be delimited in relation to other subsections of pedagogy (such as teaching methodology). Roughly speaking, there exists a narrow or specific conception of Didaktik, which is first and foremost concerned with the question of the content, aim, and rationale of teaching and learning, together with the criteria for the selection of content, and a wide conception, according to which practically all problems regarding teaching and learning are viewed as didaktisch (including questions of teaching methods, forms of organization, and the choice of media).Significant arguments can be put forward in favor of the specific concept of Didaktik because it provides the opportunity (and actually the compulsion) to focus distinctly and separately on the fundamental issue of educational content and its selection. From this specific point of view, Didaktik can be defined as dealing with the theory and science, together with planning and decision-making, about the rationale, aim, and content of teaching and learning. The most central didactic question may then be formulated in this way: What is essential to learn, and therefore to teach, and why? In the present context it is important to note that this definition comprises both a descriptive/analytical and a prescriptive/normative determination of Didaktik. Hence arises the first of the problem areas I intend to address in greater detail, that is, the question of the normative and prescriptive character of pedagogy versus its descriptive, analytical, and scientific standing (in the present case that part of pedagogy which I have termed Didaktik).Several types of high-level rationale for the selection of teaching/learning content can be established. For general education in a subject like music (yet with application to other subjects as well) I have formulated four such types, which I also refer to as paradigms.2 Here I use the word "didactics" in the sense of the German Didaktik. The first type I call "basic subject didactics" in which the point of departure is the subject itself and its structure, in our case the subject of music. There is more on this point below. The second type is "ethno-didactics" in which the point of departure is pupil culture and the everyday experience of the pupils or criteria arising out of current local culture. It represents a micro-cultural position in post-modern style. The third type is "challenge didactics" in which the point of departure is the great social problems, such as environmental issues, global North-South relations, conditions of democracy, or for that matter terrorism. This position may be said to have a macro-cultural, problem-oriented, and inter-disciplinary bias. A theory of social criticism is a frequent theoretical anchoring point... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Causes of WarBertrand RussellRussell’s authorship of this anonymously published entry in An Encylopaedia of Pacifism (London: Chatto & Windus, 1937), pp. 12–13, has only just come to light, thanks to the recent sale at auction of a letter to him from Aldous Huxley. If this determination had been made earlier, the text would have featured in Papers 21. In acknowledging receipt of “Causes of War” on 14 December 1936, (...) Huxley, the volume’s editor, also wondered whether Russell would like to examine his subject “at greater length—say in 1,000 words” (internet print, ra3 1,850). The original editorial plan, to which Russell must have adhered, allocated a single page to each topic, which ranged alphabetically from “Armaments, Private Manufacture of”, to “Women in Modern War, Position of”. But as Huxley explained, such compression was “impossible” for some subjects. Russell evidently declined the offer (no reply is extant), for his published contribution amounted to 300 words only. It nevertheless lucidly distils a complex and contested issue. In the spirit of the publishing enterprise Russell had joined, “Causes of War” is also somewhat didactic. Yet there is little hint of either the psychological predispositions towards war he also regarded as crucial, or the absolute pacifist doctrines he had recently embraced and elaborated in Which Way to Peace? (1936). The latter ground, however, was well covered elsewhere, in entries on “Force” and “Non-Violence”, most explicitly, but also in those disparaging armed revolution, for example, or the use of sanctions to enforce international law.The two cross references at the end of Russell’s entry are probably not authorial. The text presented below is the only known version, from the cheap softcover edition of the Encyclopaedia (priced 6d ) published by Chatto & Windus under the auspices of the Peace Pledge Union—the British pacifist group of which both Huxley and Russell were sponsors, along with, in all likelihood, other of the work’s anonymous contributors. [End Page 83]CAUSES OF WARThe main causes of war are of three kinds (1) the pursuit of wealth, (2) the pursuit of glory, (3) the advocacy of a creed. Usually all three are combined in varying proportions, as, for example in the Book of Joshua. The economic motive has various forms:a. Occupation of fruitful territory—e.g. Whites and Indians in United States.b. Plunder—e.g. Romans in Asia Minor; Cortez and Pisarro.c. Trade—e.g. English and Dutch in seventeenth century.d. Markets and fields for investment—most modern imperialist wars.e. Raw materials—e.g. Japan in China, France and Germany as regards Lorraine.The notion of glory is usually dynastic or governmental—for example, the ancient Assyrians and Persians, and eighteenth-century wars so far as the Continent of Europe is concerned. But it can be made popular by propaganda, and always has been made so since the French Revolution.Creed wars may be religious or political; usually they are both. They almost always also have economic motives. The early Mohammedans, for example, had economic motives (a) and (b); the Protestants wished to secure church lands and revenues; and so on. The English Civil War combined religious and political motives in equal measure. The Albigensian crusade was, on the part of the instigators, more economic than political. The French revolutionary wars, the American Civil War, and the various civil wars since 1815, involved important politico-economic issues, and were all, in a greater or less degree, creed wars.The main causes predisposing to modern war are: first, the competition between States for markets and raw materials; secondly, the competition between classes as regards the distribution of the national wealth. These two causes are intertwined, because different governments stand for different economic systems. (See Economic Reform and Pacifism; Education and Peace.) [End Page 84]Bertrand RussellIntroduced by andrew g. bone Russell Research Centre / McMaster U. [email protected] © 2023 Bertrand Russell Research Centre, McMaster University... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Philosophy of Music Education Review 13.1 (2005) 95-98 [Access article in PDF] Response to Frede V. Nielsen's "Didactology as a Field of Theory and Research in Music Education" Sophie Haroutunian-Gordon Northwestern University Let me begin by acknowledging what is about to become obvious: I am not a musicologist, music educator, or a philosopher of music education. I am, however, a philosopher of education and a devoted student of music, (...) so I found Frede Nielsen's paper both intriguing and rewarding. It is intriguing because it positions the theoretical study of music education—what he calls "didactology"—in relation to the practice of teaching music and exemplifies, if you will, the practice of didactology. As a philosopher, and one who has worked at philosophy of science as well as philosophy of education, I became intrigued by the conceptual ground-clearing and ground-construction that Nielsen undertakes in his paper.I found the paper rewarding for two reasons. First, it is about music—at least I think it is about music, and music is about my favorite topic. Like many good works on aesthetic subjects, it seems to offer another way into a beloved yet ultimately mystifying domain and, thus, another glimpse into the unfathomable. Second, the paper offers a complex and rigorous analysis. I had fun wading through its parts and beginning to view them in relation to one another. I think that I have begun to understand not only the difference between didactics and didactology but also something about the contribution the latter might make.So to begin these remarks, let me offer a brief overview of some key points in the paper. I will then go on to raise a question or two with the hope that these will prompt Nielsen to further elaborate his ideas.To begin, Nielsen separates the topic of music pedagogy into two parts—the [End Page 95] normative and the descriptive. He defends both the study of theory and the study of practice as useful for understanding the subject of music pedagogy. He then defines the term "didactology" as "the theory of didactics, especially the theory of the content, aim, and rationale of education," and he defines "didactics" as planning and decision-making related to the practice of teaching. He tells us that didactology, though theoretical, is related to practice, that while it is descriptive rather than prescriptive it assumes values, that it "implies a view of science and the subject—the subject of music and the music itself." A didactological statement is a scientific statement and its truth is judged according to criteria for scientific truth. In summary, according to Nielsen: It is the task of and the object area of didactology in relation to the subject of music to describe, analyze, problematize, and develop intended, actual, or possible issues concerning music education as well as its conditions with special regard to the content, aims, and rationale of the education. Can the didactology of music be an independent science? The answer seems to be yes. As an illustration of the claim, Neilsen presents us with four levels of didactological reflection. The four levels, from top to bottom, are, fourth, reality (natura)—the "inner" and "outer" aspects—which refers to the experiences of hearing/understanding and performing the music; third, the musical phenomena (ars)—the music itself (the musical phenomena include, it seems, the social and existential contexts in which the music occurs); second, the theory that offers a disciplined or systematic explanation of the musical phenomena (scientia), that is, musicology (the theory envisions the musicology—the explanation of the musical phenomena—in relation to, for example, the theory and practice of teaching the music itself); and first, the didactic practices and didactological principles (didactica) that serve as the basis for determining "the content, aim, and rationale of teaching and learning music."Now despite the elegance of the typology here, I find myself wondering about two things. First, what is the subject of Nielsen's analysis? He tells us that... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Influence of Anxiety and Literature's Panglossian NoseMichael AustinIScheherazade may be the protagonist of The Thousand and One Nights, but her stories are the heroes. Her audience for these stories consists only of her sister and her husband, the great sultan Shahryar, who three years earlier had vowed to avenge his wife's infidelity by marrying a new woman each night and executing her the following morning. With the supply (...) of virgins in the kingdom running short, Scheherazade forces her father, the royal vizier, to allow her to marry the Sultan, assuring him that she has a plan to end his bloody practice. Her plan is simple: every night, Scheherazade tells Shahryar a piece of a story. Many of these stories are overtly didactic, and some are even thinly veiled allegories of Shahryar's own situation, but Scheherazade aims to do more than simply rehabilitate the sultan with pedagogically sound morality tales. She weaves her stories together, often using multiple frames and levels of embedded narrative, to make sure that the night always ends in the middle of at least one story, and, each morning, the Sultan postpones his sentence of death one day so he can hear the conclusion.Scheherazade's gambit succeeds—with the Sultan and with readers everywhere—because it taps into a very deep human need for literature, which, broadly defined, includes folk tales, songs, oral epics, and other forms of narrative expression. Stories have been a source of pleasure for human beings for a long time—much longer than there have been writing systems to record them. And, during all this time, as Paul Hernadi writes, "the pleasure of succumbing to literary seduction has long served as a psychological reward for what was once and perhaps still is [End Page 215] a biologically advantageous thing to do."1 Scheherazade's stories give Shahryar pleasure—more pleasure, arguably, than the sexual encounters that precede them. In more than a thousand marriages (assuming three full years since he began the practice), sexual pleasure never entices the sultan to suspend his vow. With an entire kingdom full of potential wives, of course, he need never fear an end to such pleasures. The pool of wives who can bring the pleasure of narrative to the marriage bed is much smaller indeed.But pleasure alone cannot explain Scheherazade's success; if it could, she would not have to end each night in the middle of a story. By doing so, she combines the pleasure of narrative with the anxiety of incompleteness. Scheherazade's cliffhangers work on Shahryar for the same reason that they work on us today: we expect to find out what happens in a story, and we experience anxiety when this expectation is frustrated. This anxiety is just as deeply rooted in biology and natural selection as the "pleasure of succumbing to literary seduction." Most of the things that produce great anxiety in people—such as snakes, spiders, fire, high places, large bodies of water, contaminated surfaces, and unknown social situations—constitute very real threats to our survival. Anxiety is nature's way of telling us to pay extra attention around potentially dangerous things or to take steps to avoid such things whenever possible. Pleasure and anxiety work hand in hand, as carrot and stick, to encourage, or discourage, the same fitness-enhancing behaviors. Eating when we are hungry gives us pleasure; wondering where our next meal is coming from gives us anxiety.The pleasure and anxiety that we experience in literature are neurologically indistinguishable from the same responses that we experience in the life-or-death situations for which they were designed. According to John Tooby and Leda Cosmides, "fictional worlds engage emotion systems while disengaging action systems.... An absorbing series of fictional events will draw out of our mental mechanisms a rich array of emotional responses—the same responses that would be appropriate to those same events and persons if they were real."2 The ability to respond in this way appears to be unique to human beings, but it also appears to be a universal element of human nature. People everywhere tell and respond to stories, and many people devote considerable... (shrink)

Background: Midwifery students are confronted with several ethical dilemmas and challenging situations during clinical midwifery care practice. Since ethical competence of midwifery students is under development, it is important to support the students’ learning progress of ethical issues from diverse viewpoints. Objective: From the perspective of didactics of caring science and the context of midwifery students, to explore how midwifery students’ experience supports for ethical competence in midwifery education and investigate how ethically challenging situations have been carried out during clinical (...) midwifery care practice. Design: Qualitative, explorative and descriptive design with inductive nature. Methods: Focus group interviews with nine Swedish midwifery students. Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics was applied to guide the interpretation. Ethical considerations: Ethical principles and scientific guidelines were followed. Informed consent was obtained from the participants. Confidentiality was respected and quotations anonymised. Results: Receiving support when ethically challenging situations occur in clinical midwifery practice is important and necessary. One main theme, such as support is a human and caring factor in the midwifery students’ Bildung process on ethical competence, and four subthemes, such as supporting through trust and responsibility; supporting through dignity and respect; supporting through truthfulness and justice; and supporting through dialogue and reflection, were created from the hermeneutical interpretation. Discussion: Teaching ethics should be carefully planned, consistent and continue throughout the midwifery education. There is dispersion in the pedagogy of ethical situations, the methods and perceptions associated with it, and in obtaining possible support for students. Developing well-experienced methods could benefit the support of midwifery students’ ethical competence when they experience ethically challenging situations in midwifery care practice. (shrink)

Every educational system requires some kind of management and control. This is particularly true in the case of occupational education and dual apprenticeship. Nevertheless, the didactical value and the overall success of such kind of educational systems can vary considerably. Any educational system, any system of apprenticeship requires either some kind of coordination or some kind of co-operation. In Germany, despite the fact that there is a lot of rumors about the importance of cooperation for over a decade by now, (...) the well-known dual system of vocational education is firmly grounded on the management principle of co-ordination. The control of the system ‘by plans’ apparently has proved to be the most adequate approach to its organization and management structures. Starting from the idea of a duality which is characterized by its didactical dimension, the set of qualities needed for this purpose can be illustrated by following the logic of different didactical approaches in vocational education. (shrink)

Danas su nastavnici suočeni s brojnim izazovima, posebice u Hrvatskoj u kojoj je u tijeku provođenje opsežne reforme obrazovanja. Reforma obrazovanja stavila je u prvi plan drugačiju paradigmu procesa podučavanja i učenja koja zahtijeva od nastavnika neka nova znanja i vještine. Studije i analize pokazale su kako su upravo nastavnici najvažniji faktor ostvarenja obrazovnih ciljeva učenika. Pored stručnih kompetencija, za razvoj znanja, umijeća i stavova učenika od velike su važnosti i pedagoško-psihološko-didaktičko-metodičke kompetencije nastavnika. U ovom se radu uz pomoć podataka (...) prikupljenih upitnikom na uzorku od 115 studenata željelo detektirati u kojoj su mjeri studenti dviju visokoškolskih institucija – Fakulteta hrvatskih studija i Hrvatskog katoličkog sveučilišta – zadovoljni inicijalnom nastavničkom naobrazbom te smatraju li je pogodnom i dovoljnom za izazove koje nosi njihovo buduće zanimanje. Rezultati provedenog istraživanja pokazuju da su studenti u prosjeku zadovoljni kvalitetom studija i nastavničke naobrazbe te da preferiraju postojeći model stjecanja pedagoških kompetencija uz predmetni studij. Rezultati istraživanja analizirani su u kontekstu ispitivanja potrebe za sadržajnim i praktičnim osmišljavanjem novog načina stjecanja nastavničkih kompetencija, odnosno dorađivanjem ili proširivanjem studija nastavničke naobrazbe. Today, teachers are faced with numerous challenges, especially in Croatia, where extensive educational reform is underway. Education reform has placed a new teaching and learning paradigm in the foreground that demands new knowledge and skills from teachers. Studies and analyses show that teachers are the most important factor in reaching pupils’ educational goals. In additional to professional competencies, pedagogical, psychological, didactic, and methodical teacher competencies are of great importance to the development of knowledge. Using survey data from a sample of 115 students, this paper examines the extent to which students of two institutions of higher education – the Faculty of Croatian Studies and the Catholic University of Croatia – are satisfied with their initial teacher education, and whether they consider it appropriate and sufficient for the challenges their future careers hold. The results of this research show that students are, on average, satisfied with the quality of their studies and teacher education, as well as that they prefer the existing pedagogical competency attainment model that is added to the regular subject study. The research results are analysed in the context of examining the need for a new design of such programmes, their refinement or expansion of teacher education study programmes. (shrink)

Izvanučionička nastava poveznica je života i škole i neizostavna sastavnica suvremenog odgoja i obrazovanja. Obzirom na njezinu iznimnu pedagošku vrijednost, cilj je ovoga rada analizom školskih kurikuluma dobiti uvid u zastupljenost i oblike provedbe izvanučioničke nastave u osnovnim školama. U tu svrhu analizirana su 73 školska kurikuluma osnovnih škola na području Osječko-baranjske županije. Analiza sadržaja kurikuluma obuhvatila je različite oblike provedbe izvanučioničke nastave, njihovu zastupljenost u okviru razredne i predmetne nastave i u odgojno-obrazovnim područjima propisanim Okvirom nacionalnog kurikuluma. Ovim se (...) radom ukazuje na prednosti i nedostatke različitih oblika izvanučioničke nastave koji se ostvaruju unutar pojedinih odgojno-obrazovnih područja. Detektirana su odgojno-obrazovna područja u kojima je potrebno unaprijediti planiranje i realizaciju izvanučioničke nastave. Zaključuje se kako je didaktičko-metodička rješenja za unaprjeđenje potrebno tražiti unutar pojedinih odgojno-obrazovnih područja u kojima su uočene različitosti u učestalosti integracije izvanučioničke nastave. Outdoor education is a link between life and school and an indispensable component of modern education. Considering its exceptional pedagogical value, the main goal of this research is to get an insight into the presence and form of outdoor education implementation in elementary schools. For that purpose, seventy-three school curricula from Osijek-Baranja County were analyzed. The analysis of curriculum content includes not only different forms of outdoor education, their presence in one teacher education and subject teaching but also education areas prescribed by the national curriculum. The thesis points out the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of outdoor education within particulars education areas. Also, education areas in which improvements in planning and realization of outdoor education were detected. It is necessary to look for didactic methodical solutions in education areas in which diversity of outdoor education integration is noticed. (shrink)

Outdoor education is a link between life and school and an indispensable component of modern education. Considering its exceptional pedagogical value, the main goal of this research is to get an insight into the presence and form of outdoor education implementation in elementary schools. For that purpose, seventy-three school curricula from Osijek-Baranja County were analyzed. The analysis of curriculum content includes not only different forms of outdoor education, their presence in one teacher education and subject teaching but also education areas (...) prescribed by the national curriculum. The thesis points out the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of outdoor education within particulars education areas. Also, education areas in which improvements in planning and realization of outdoor education were detected. It is necessary to look for didactic methodical solutions in education areas in which diversity of outdoor education integration is noticed. (shrink)

Entendemos que nenhuma sociedade constrói o presente e alicerça o futuro sem compreender sua cultura e sem conhecer o significado de sua história. O objetivo deste artigo consiste em apresentar uma metodologia aplicada na sala de aula das primeiras séries do ensino fundamental, cujo propósito foi despertar a imaginação simbólica dos alunos através do uso das lendas presentes nos livros didáticos do ensino religioso ministradas pelos docentes. Os temas estudados têm como base teórica a fenomenologia da religião, a antropologia e (...) a teoria geral do imaginário. Selecionamos para nosso estudo como fundamentação metodológica a pesquisa descritiva, de campo e a abordagem qualitativa para análise dos dados. Ponderamos que a pesquisa descritiva observa, registra, analisa e correlaciona fatos ou fenômenos sem manipulá-los, ela procura descobrir, com precisão possível, a frequência com que um fenômeno ocorre, sua relação e conexão com outros, sua natureza e característica. Nos primeiros resultados de nossa investigação cientifica foi identificado que as lendas trabalhadas na sala de aula potencializam o imaginário popular resguardando a identidade cultural de uma manifestação religiosa. Consideramos que esta metodologia de ensino proposta pode ser implantada pelos professores do ensino religioso no seu planejamento. Palavravas-chave : Lendas. Imaginação. Educação.No society is able to build the present and set the bases for the future without understanding its culture and without knowing the meaning of its history. The purpose of this article is to present the methodology put into practice in the classrooms of the first grades of the elementary school, which have the sole intention to wake up the symbolic imagination of the students through the use of the legends found in the didactic books of the religious teaching ministered by the faculty members. The topics studied are based upon the religious phenomenology, anthropology and the general theory of imaginary. For our study, we used the field research and the qualitative approach as a methodological foundation, to make the data analysis. We consider that the descriptive research observes, registers, analyses and co-relates facts or phenomena without manipulating them; such approach helps us to discover the frequency in which a phenomenon happens, the connection of the phenomenon with the others, and also its nature and characteristics. Since the first results of our scientific investigation we have identified that the legends seen by the students in their classroom have potentized the popular imaginary and have maintained the cultural identity of a religious manifestation. We consider that the teachers of religious teaching can introduce this teaching methodology proposed in their school plans. Keywords : Legends. Imagination. Education. (shrink)

La psiquiatría nace con el siglo XIX, la fenomenología con el XX. Desde el advenimiento de la segunda ha querido la primera ver en ella una vía para la superación del positivismo que la atenazaba desde su mismo origen. Uno de sus intentos más logrados fue el del psiquiatra Ludwig Binswanger a lo largo de los años veinte del pasado siglo. Recorrió en ese tiempo las Investigaciones lógicas de Husserl y ensayó su acercamiento a la psicología estructural. Proponemos que una (...) deficiente lectura de las posibilidades de la fenomenología ―comprensible en su prematuridad, desgraciada en su ímpetu anti-(neo)kantiano― impidió que reconociera su horizonte trascendental y así pudiera entrever caminos de acceso al mundo, a la persona y a su concreto sufrimiento. Para concluir presentamos el intento que supone el proyecto La mirada filosófica como mirada médica por recuperar aquella problematicidad y ahondar en una aproximación respetuosa al padecer, tal como aparece, sin violentarlo por el concepto. (shrink)

Se analiza el debate actual sobre el concepto de Escuela de Salamanca. Se muestran las nuevas propuestas de los estudiosos: su carácter global (no solo Salamanca); su alcance interdisciplinar (no solo teológico, también jurídico, económico, sociopolítico, etc); la cuestión de los miembros también experimenta una ampliación, aunque siempre se señala un cierto cordón umbilical con los Maestros salmantinos; todo ello dentro de un marco temporal que se extiende durante el siglo XVI y primera mitad del XVII. Estas nuevas perspectivas no (...) excluyen los elementos tradicionales, sino que amplían y desarrollan el concepto primitivo, pero con carácter inclusivo. Por último, se aborda el tema de las condiciones de posibilidad de la Escuela, que se contextualiza en un ámbito histórico que la hace posible. Al término del estudio se ofrece un posible nuevo concepto de la Escuela, todavía _in fieri_. (shrink)

This paper investigated the variation in the multidimensional competencies and professional development needs of kindergarten teachers using a cross-sectional research design. It involved 54 purposively selected kindergarten teachers and collected the data using the self-assessment tool adopted by the Department of Education from the National Research Center for Teacher Quality in the Philippines. These data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. As found, kindergarten teachers have a high level of competencies across dimensions. Also, they have a very high (...) extent of professional development needs in content knowledge and pedagogy and the learning environment and diversity of learners. Moreover, they have a high extent of professional needs in two dimensions. The reported high priorities for training imply more emphasis on providing them professional development activities. Results found no significant difference in the competencies of kindergarten teachers in terms of age, position, civil status, degree, and years of teaching. On the contrary, significant differences revealed in their competencies in content knowledge and pedagogy, learning environment and learners’ diversity, and curriculum and planning between those with masters and without a master’s degree. Lastly, results show no significant difference in their professional development needs. These results have implications for future research and planning for a more responsive and cost-effective professional development initiatives in the locale. (shrink)

"A fundamental feature of our individual, human agency is its organization over time. Think again about growing food in a garden, or taking a trip, or writing a book. A central idea is that our capacity for planning agency is at the heart of this cross-temporal organization of our individual, human agency. Appeal to this role of our capacity for planning agency both fits our commonsense self-understanding and, I conjecture, would be a part of an empirically informed psychological (...) theory that begins with-- but potentially adjusts--this commonsense self-understanding. The basic thought is that we are resource-limited agents who achieve cross-temporal organization in part by settling in advance on prior, partial plans. These somewhat stable partial plans help pose problems of means and preliminary steps, and in pursuit of needed coordination help filter potential options. They thereby provide a background framework for downstream thought and action"--. (shrink)

Uninhabited combat air vehicle path planning is a complicated, high-dimension optimization problem. To solve this problem, we present in this article an improved glowworm swarm optimization algorithm based on the particle swarm optimization algorithm, which we call the PGSO algorithm. In PGSO, the mechanism of a glowworm individual was modified via the individual generation mechanism of PSO. Meanwhile, to improve the presented algorithm’s convergence rate and computational accuracy, we reference the idea of parallel hybrid mutation and local search near (...) the global optimal location. To prove the performance of the proposed algorithm, PGSO was compared with 10 other population-based optimization methods. The experiment results show that the proposed approach is more effective in UCAV path planning than most of the other meta-heuristic algorithms. (shrink)

Should you care less about your distant future? What about events in your life that have already happened? How should the passage of time affect your planning and assessment of your life? Most of us think it is irrational to ignore the future but harmless to dismiss the past. But this book argues that rationality requires temporal neutrality.