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The core problems of sociological and philosophical theories of knowledge remain insoluble and unrelated as long as both theories start from static models. The problems can be solved, and the respective theories related to each other, without undue difficulties if the acquisition of knowledge is conceptualized as a long-term process which takes place within societies also considered as long-term processes. This approach has the added advantage of being in closer agreement with the evidence. The paper indicates what needs to be unlearned and what to be learned in order to prepare the way for such a unified theoretical framework which can serve as a guide to, and which can be in turn corrected by, empirical sociological studies of all types of knowledge, scientific and practical as well as non-scientific or ideological. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is philosophy an appropriate means for inducing the 'moral point of view' with respect to nature? The moral point of view involves a feeling for the inner reality of others, a feeling which, it is argued, is induced more by processes of synergistic interaction than by the kind of rational deliberation that classically constituted philosophy. But how are we to engage synergistically with other-than-human life forms and systems? While synergy with animals presents no in-principle difficulty, synergy with larger life systems takes us into epistemological realms explored only in the margins of the Western tradition, such as in Goethe's Romantic alternative to science. These 'alternative' epistemological realms are however the very province of the Daoist arts of China, and these arts accordingly furnish us with practices conducive to a moral consciousness of nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A framework for thinking about teacher empowerment is presented. Two important dimensions are used as a basis for highlighting some important similarities and differences emerging in the literature on empowerment. The first relates to the context in which the process occurs; some educators highlight the importance of the personal context (i.e., conversations with self), while others assume more of an outward perspective in their thinking about empowerment (i.e., conversations with settings). The second important dimension relates to the focus or agenda of the conversations. Here, a distinction is made between agendas that are more epistemological in nature and those that are more political. An illustration is provided of bow this framework can be used to better understand the dynamics involved in collaborative work with teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]