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Pornography consumption remains a common media behavior despite the ever-increasing proliferation of digital media options. A recent meta-analysis found evidence that higher rates of pornography consumption are associated with heightened perceptions of pornography's realism, but the potential downstream effects of perceiving pornography as realistic have yet to receive a meta-analytic treatment. The present paper describes our efforts to conduct such a meta-analysis. To our surprise, there was a dearth of literature available. And yet, the extant research base suggests that perceived pornography realism may be associated with a number of sociologically, relationally, and personally impactful sexual beliefs and behaviors. Discussion centers on how interested scholars can move this important line of sexuality and culture research forward in the years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a modified approach to subject-matter didactics, in which the focus is not on the content itself, but on the students' view of the content. The introduction deals with an overview of subject-matter didactics and the notion of beliefs used in this paper. The main portion of the paper deals with presenting the concepts of a book and a seminar based on the student-centered subject-matter didactics approach. For the first qualitative evaluation, selected reflections of students are analyzed. Finally, initial findings are summarized and an outlook is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question "what connection is there between our answer to the question of what we are, and the question, what our actions are?" Suppose that actions are reflexive changes of agents. On that supposition, there would be a direct connection between the answers to those two questions. An action of mine will be a reflexive change of me, and what I am will fix the nature of those changes. I hold that supposition to be true and consider reasons in favor of believing it. However, the paper is not primarily aimed at defense of that thesis. It rather concerned with exploring what consequences accepting it has for the competing notions of what we are, given what we ordinarily think actions are, and bringing to light a tension between thinking of actions as reflexive changes of agents in this way, and a kind of causal understanding of actions that is prevalent. What emerges is that we should shift where we start our theorizing: we cannot assume that action theory primarily involves the task of characterizing the relation between an agent and changes caused, rather than a characterization of a particular kind of relation between the agent and herself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to understand coalition building between national and international actors in the context of an emerging subsystem. In applying the Advocacy Coalition Framework to the case of Uruguay, where a new field of social policy – the National Care System – was introduced in 2015 after a process involving different national actors from academia, civil society, politics, and administration, but also United Nations agencies, the paper explores the role of these international organizations in coalition building, and examines how a dominant coalition of national and international actors shaped the development of the new system. Using interview data and documents, the findings suggest that the involvement of international organizations in the coalition was based on shared beliefs and personal and institutional relationships. While powerful opposing coalitions were absent due to the nascent nature of the subsystem, the dominant coalition was able to influence the policy's introduction based on their beliefs regarding gender equality and rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional settlements are often associated with residences that still hold customary and cultural values that are closely related to the beliefs or religions of a particular community rooted in a particular place beyond historical determinations. Such is the case of the traditional settlement of the Ata Krowe community in Romanduru Village, Sikka Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. The Ata Krowe community speaks the Sikka language and lives in the mountains. This research examines the characteristics of the settlement of the Ata Krowe community in Romanduru village. It employs a cultural landscape approach. Findings show that the Ata Krowe community in Romanduru village has a centralized settlement concept and consists of several components including watu mahang, wisung wangar, wua mahe, and Ai Tali. The paper concludes that, as an old village, Romanduru village has a distinctive residential pattern: a sedentary concept based on the presence of springs. The existence of Romanduru village is inseparable from the existence of the Buang Baling clan, which is a tribe/clan that opened the land first and is honored as Tana Pu'an. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate over practices of physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia and other end-of-life questions is still ongoing in many countries around the world. At least, as of 2024, only 15 countries had varyingly legalised it under very specific, regulated conditions, while many more still view it as an extremely complex issue that, amongst other things, conflicts with their deeply held religious beliefs. Premised on their belief in the image of God as the source of human life, most monotheistic religions, but Christians in particular believe in the preservation of human life to its natural end. However, the unquestionable reality of this traditionally-held Christian belief does not preclude the rare reality where terminally ill Christians themselves, upon suffering excruciating pain, begin either to desire some form of a hastened death overtly or covertly. Under such conditions, however, pastoral therapists in particular lack the aptitude to openly initiate practical dialogues with patients, be it in the spirit of Ubuntu or to concretise the Christian position. That being said, the purpose of this article is to prepare Christian pastoral therapists in particular and the counselling profession in general to openly handle cases where agonising human suffering leads to suicidal thoughts or actions. In order to achieve this, the paper, through the use of literature reviews and desktop studies, draws on literature encompassing specific biblical instances in which not only physical suffering, but also mental suffering somehow led to suicidal events. The African concept of Ubuntu is then integrated into Christian humanism to promote pastoral therapeutic dialogue which may enrich Christian self-knowledge about the sacredness of human life, despite the urge of suicide or euthanasia. As per Christian humanism framework, Christian self-knowledge is inspired by the excruciating suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross. All things considered, pastoral therapy is endowed with the ability to present the image of God in human suffering while rejecting the urge for euthanasia or suicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that Pynchon's portrayal of technology and the Internet in Bleeding Edge (2013) should be read as an example of the monstrous since it embodies its two key features: the ability to terrorize and transform. The paper shows that the Internet in Bleeding Edge is not only monstrous, as it can devour the life essence of its users, but also transformative, as it shocks them to such an extent that they can reassess their beliefs and can thus address new looming realities in productive ways. The paper shows this finding to be at odds with most research on the role of technology in Pynchon's work and identifies a key benefit of Pynchon's complex portrayal of the Internet in Bleeding Edge, which can enable better handling of the increasing presence of technology in the 21st century and making its presence and the accompanying transformations less terrifying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimistic beliefs have been criticized by philosophers as being irrational or epistemically deficient. This paper argues for the possibility of a rational optimism. We propose a novel four-fold taxonomy of optimistic beliefs and argue that people may hold optimistic beliefs rationally for at least two of the four types (resourced optimism and agentive optimism). These forms of rational optimism are grounded in facts about one's resources and agency and may be epistemically justified under certain conditions. We argue that the fourth type of optimism in our taxonomy (perspectival optimism) is not subject to epistemic scrutiny in the same way. It is better evaluated on practical and moral grounds. This paper advances the discussion of optimism within both the philosophical and psychological literatures by providing a compelling and philosophically rich taxonomy of optimism that clarifies the sometimes-competing forms of optimism identified by psychologists. This advances the field by putting forward cases of epistemically justified optimism, in contrast with unrealistic optimism, that is sometimes justified for its instrumental or adaptive characteristics, and also by highlighting a form of optimism, perspectival optimism, that is not being considered in the mainstream optimism literature in psychology. The paper concludes by suggesting several avenues for future empirical and philosophical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kierkegaard's pseudonym Johannes Climacus famously defines faith as a risky "venture" that requires "holding fast" to "objective uncertainty." Yet puzzlingly, he emphasizes that faith requires resolute conviction and certainty. Moreover, Climacus claims that all beliefs about contingent propositions about the external world "exclude doubt" and "nullify uncertainty," but also that uncertainty is "continually present" in these very same beliefs. This paper argues that these apparent contradictions can be resolved by interpreting Climacus as a belief‐credence dualist. That is, Climacus holds that beliefs and credences (i.e., degrees of belief) are two irreducibly distinct types of mental states. Beliefs are resolutions that close inquiry, thereby excluding doubt and reflecting subjective certainty by disregarding the possibility of error. Credences, by contrast, reflect assessments of evidential probabilities, thereby encoding a recognition of "objective uncertainty" by acknowledging the possibility of error. In addition to solving a vexing interpretive puzzle and showing how Kierkegaard anticipates contemporary views about the nature of belief and credence, this paper demonstrates that Kierkegaard developed a sophisticated account of the nature of belief, doubt, and certainty that merits serious philosophical consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the case of Higgs v Farmor's School, a decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal concerning unlawful discrimination on the basis of the manifestation of protected philosophical beliefs. It discusses the relationship between human rights standards and discrimination law standards in the interpretation of direct discrimination on grounds of religion or belief. While this decision goes a long way towards providing guidance on how this interaction is to be parsed out in the context of discrimination law, it nevertheless leaves certain important questions open. Finally, the paper argues that much of the discussion of proportionality around the censorship of protected belief manifestation is misconstrued. It is commonly accepted without question that the legitimate aim pursued by censorship is the protection of the rights of others. Yet in the cases dealing with manifestation such as this, there is an extremely remote threat to rights, if one exists at all. The expression of views that some take offense to is not a human rights violation. Rather, censorship of such views is better described as aimed at the protection of morals; the enforcement of speech codes or workplace standards in order to maintain a particular ethos or atmosphere of professionalism. There is then an interesting question which arises: would the choice of justification grounded in protecting morals over the rights of others affect the intensity of the proportionality assessment? There is a plausible argument that attempts to justify infringement on the exercise of fundamental rights by reference to a desire to impose a moral code, unconnected to the rights of others, would attach more intensive scrutiny. If this is true, it is incumbent upon courts not to accept at face value that employment speech codes are necessary to protect the rights of others, certainly not without more searching analysis of which rights in particular are claimed to be infringed by a failure to mandate speech. This is of particular salience given that courts have repeatedly stressed that the right to freedom of expression includes the right to say things that are offensive, shocking or even disturbing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst teaching about the nature of science (NOS) is a significant goal of science education, there remains debate about specifying the NOS and appropriate pedagogies and approaches to researching the NOS. A neglected, but conceptually and practically significant, problem is the proliferation of NOS-related learning goals such as NOS beliefs, views, understandings and knowledge. In this theoretical paper, we argue that such goals are often poorly defined, and different goals cohere with different pedagogical and research strategies. We propose a novel three-part taxonomy of NOS learning goals (as NOS beliefs, knowledge and understandings) and contend that different approaches are appropriate for teaching and assessing NOS beliefs, views and knowledge. An NOS belief refers to a positive attitudinal stance towards some proposition that lacks justificatory support or cannot easily be judged true or false. NOS knowledge indicates justified true beliefs related to the NOS. NOS understanding denotes a grasping of how a collection of NOS knowledge is related. The goals vary by the extent to which they can be judged true or false and the degree of justification they require. For NOS beliefs, a range of stances is acceptable; NOS knowledge must be a true and justified belief; in the case of NOS understanding, teaching and assessment should focus on the appreciation of relationships between justified true beliefs. The novel taxonomy brings needed clarity to a confused aspect of NOS research and may lead to the development of NOS pedagogies and assessment tools more precisely targeted to well-defined learning goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) for Australian presents a holistic view of early childhood education that recognises the dimensions of learning and development as being interwoven and interrelated. Spiritual development, spiritual wellbeing and spiritual identity are outlined in this document as essential components of early childhood education. However, enacting a spiritual pedagogy can be challenging for many early childhood teachers. Using an auto-ethnographical approach, this paper explores my journey as a teacher in realising my own epistemological stance, which draws on Bruner's phenomenon of 'self' as a framework for understanding children's being as it is positioned within the context of spirituality. Autoethnography allowed analysis of my lived experience, to provide an avenue for others to consider their own experiences in similar ways. The findings from this paper can support other early years educators to recognise ways that spirituality is already incorporated into their pedagogical practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the expression of mistaken beliefs – as in for example the boy mistakenly believes that the turtle is dead (whereas in fact it is alive) – in the Indigenous languages of Australia. It is shown that some mode of expressing this meaning is attested in around 40% of the languages in a selection of 149 language varieties. In over 90% of the languages showing some mode of expressing the target meaning, it is – or can be – achieved through grammatical morphemes or constructions more or less dedicated to the expression of mistaken beliefs. These include particles, enclitics and various types of complement construction involving verbs of thinking, that frequently also convey meanings of saying, doing and hearing, rarely that specify the thought as mistaken. In just four or five languages, however, the meaning is attested only as a pragmatic implicature of a general statement of belief. To the extent possible given the limitations of the sources, the paper examines the range of meanings and uses of the morphemes/constructions expressing mistaken beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper highlights the role of idioms in Boris Johnson's speeches on the beginning of the war in Ukraine in 2022. The total sample of phraseological turns identified during the analysis of the speeches of the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Boris Johnson, dedicated to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, includes 30 phraseological units. The main pragmatic function of the public speech is persuasion directed at influencing the listener or reader and shaping his views. Emotional information prevails in public speeches and relies on a wide range of language means reflecting it. Phraseological units belong to these means and their usage has its peculiarities. Since phraseological unit is one of the modes of reflecting thoughts, it is a clue to understanding speaker's values, ideas, intentions and beliefs. Johnson resorts to core usage of phraseological units, including biblical expressions, as well as violation of an idiom presented by the replacements, extension of the base form (by means of evaluative insertions), inversion of the base form and phraseological allusions. As the analysis of the data showed Boris Johnson's texts are dominated by neologisms, metaphorical comparisons, personifications, metaphors, epithets, hyperboles which are well-documented tropes in political discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new interpretation of Michel Foucault's critical project. It is well known that Foucault's genealogical critique does not focus on issues of justification, but instead tackles "aspectival captivity," that is, apparently inevitable limits of thought that constrain the subject's freedom but that, in fact, can be transformed. However, it has not been recognized that, according to Foucault, critique can proceed along two distinct paths. In a key passage of "What Is Critique?," Foucault states that critique is tasked with questioning truth about its effects of power and with questioning power about its discourses of truth. We show that this "double movement" organizes Foucault's critical project as a whole, giving it a significantly wider scope and a more complex structure than has been previously acknowledged. At the heart of the above‐mentioned bifurcation lies an apparent tension between two contrastive roles Foucault assigns to truth‐telling in the context of critique: on the one hand, truth‐telling (as avowal) is a target of critique; on the other, truth‐telling (as parrhesia) is one of critique's methods. We argue that combining these two dimensions in a unified account is crucial for understanding and re‐evaluating Foucault's critical project as a whole. By showing that truth‐telling remains an essential element of Foucauldian critique, this paper also rectifies some influential misinterpretations according to which Foucault's critical project seeks to eliminate truth from the picture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET), as developed by Albert Ellis, is based on the idea that Cognitive, Affective (Emotional) and Behavioral processes can be manipulated to reduce the effects of irrational beliefs and goals, which one sets upon themselves. Ellis' hypothesis moves from understanding how one's thoughts contribute to emotional and behavioral disturbances, while the Tantric traditions employ the understanding that the physical and mental disturbances originate from the imbalance in the emotions. Rasa Sadhana, as Peter Marchand notes ... is a tantric method of fasting on one's emotions. It helps one to overcome negative emotions so as to pursue better physical, mental and spiritual health. This paper explores the possibility of Rasa Sadhana as an intermediary step in RET to understand one's emotions in a better light, in helping the individual avoid the consequences of the negative emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Philosophy is often discounted as impractical and inequitably labelled as unpragmatic, but we cannot deny that it is the underpinning sustenance of all aspects of life. Everyone bases all their actions on their belief system which in turn formulates their identity, sense of morals and duties. Today, when we witness that the world is in a state of utter unrest, it will be helpful to seek remedy from Indian Philosophy along with its cultural traditions which aim at the holistic development of an individual and promotes universal brotherhood. India's spiritual wisdom is a source of guidance for anyone who wants to reach a mentally calm and spiritually satisfied state, which will not waver by the perplexities of life. The issues / objectives which shall be addressed in this paper are as follows: 1. How Philosophical Counselling is important and should be given in nascent stage of one's life, when the young minds are cultivated and taught the meaning of life. 2. What is the purpose of life and how can one achieve it? 3. Reflection on duties towards oneself and the others. 4. What is the influence of ego (ahamkāra) in self-reflection? 5. Analysis on the formation of one's belief-system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In my 1993 IJPS paper it was suggested that postmodernist verdicts on 'the death of philosophy' relied on a rejection of any 'substantive' or 'metaphysical' notion of truth. The present paper relates these verdicts to Wittgenstein's alleged 'philosophical quietism'. In both cases, for example, there is a rejection of 'depth'. Various characterisations of Wittgenstein's position are questioned, including the idea that his quietism consists in showing the impossibility of sceptical challenges to our 'hinge' propositions and beliefs. It is then argued, however, that recognition of the groundlessness of beliefs (and practices), far from curing 'vertigo' or 'Angst', is apt to inspire it. In a final section, I propose that the 'metaphysical horror' at the impossibility of articulating grounds for our beliefs can be allayed only by the thought that these answer to a reality that cannot be articulated and must therefore remain a mystery. One role for philosophy might be to cultivate a sense of this mystery and trace its implications for how we should live. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thomas Lanier Williams III, or better known by his Pen name, Tennessee Williams, was one of the most prominent American playwrights during the 20th century. Having written over 25 major plays throughout his lifetime, perhaps what stands out the most in those plays is the unclouded depiction of the contemporary American coming to terms with a society that was witnessing its belief systems eroding away during a time characterised by mass violence of the world wars, cold wars, and stood at the brink of what we call 'modernisation'. This paper attempts to explicate a further understanding of the inspiration and sources that drove Tennessee's characterisation in his critically acclaimed play titled A Streetcar Named Desire, wherein the representation of his cultural and psychological outlook has been subjected to multifaceted interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has two aims. One is to draw a distinction between two types of trust. The other is to argue for its applicability in academic discourse on educational policies. One of the two types of trust is ethical trust that rests on beliefs about others' ethical virtues. The other is institutional trust that typically depends on law enforcement and economic incentives. Ideas about a social order based primarily on institutional trust have haunted political thought since the time of Thomas Hobbes. Such ideas may seem realistic if we focus on business relations, where conformity to contractual terms suffices to meet the needs of all concerned. Intimate relationships rely more on ethical trust. In the first half of the paper the difference between these two types of trust is explained. In the final sections it is argued that successful schoolwork depends on ethical trust and that measures to make schools more reliable in the institutional sense, through supervision and accountability, need to be applied with caution. Such measures can undermine ethical trust because they, at least implicitly, question the moral integrity of teachers and school-heads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the desideratum identified by Törner (2018), that researchers' beliefs are rarely addressed in the research literature dealing with beliefs. For this purpose, firstly a suitable theoretical framework is outlined that links the concept of belief with the research perspectives of researchers. Secondly, examples are given of how beliefs were, can and should be addressed in corresponding research on beliefs. Finally, it is shown in which ways explicating beliefs of mathematics education researchers might made their research, as well as their teaching more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The twelfth-century narrative Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān by Ibn Ṭufayl recounts the life of Ḥayy, a feral man who teaches himself philosophy while living on a desert island. Ibn Ṭufayl gives two explanations of how Ḥayy came to the island. In one version, Ḥayy generates spontaneously on the island; in another, he washes up on the island as an infant. This paper attempts to resolve these contradictory narratives by appealing to a previously unexplored source text for Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān, Sarāʾir al-nutaqāʾ by Jaʿfar b. Manṣūr al-Yaman. Sarāʾir is an esoteric Ismāʿīlī text in which the author uses stories about Adam and other prophets to elaborate a Neoplatonist-inspired theology. Jaʿfar distinguishes between Adam as a symbol of the atemporal origination (ibdāʿ) of all natural forms, and the corporeal Adam of Ismāʿīlī history. Due to narrative and conceptual similarities between Jaʿfar's and Ibn Ṭufayl's treatment of their protagonists, I argue that the two versions of Ḥayy's nativity allegorize the duality of Neoplatonic cosmology. Spontaneous generation dramatizes the atemporal creation of the human form, whereas the infant Ḥayy's landing on the island reinforces the philosophical belief in the eternity of species. Both Jaʿfar and Ibn Ṭufayl appeal to the Neoplatonic doctrine of emanation to reconcile the eternity of the physical world with belief in God's creative agency. The resemblance of Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān to Sarāʾir prompts broader reconsideration of Ismāʿīlī influence on non-Ismāʿīlī intellectual culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper applies the account developed by Susanna Siegel in The Rationality of Perception to aesthetic cases and explores the implications of such an account for aesthetic engagement as well as curatorial and exhibitionary practices. It argues that one's prior outlook – expertise, beliefs, desires, fears, preferences, attitudes – can have both aesthetically good and bad influences on perceptual experiences, just as it can have both epistemically good and bad influences. Analysing these bad influences in cases of 'hijacked' aesthetic perception will reveal that, unless we recognize that our perception of high-level and low-level aesthetically relevant properties is norm-governed, we will be at a loss to explain what goes wrong in these cases. Just as perception can be rational or irrational, so too can it be apt or inapt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although abortion policy is often discussed as a black-and-white conflict characterized by polarization and a lack of compromise, this study explores the validity of such a presupposition by asking how advocates articulate their belief systems about abortion policy and in what ways—if at all—are those beliefs shared within and across coalitions and create fissures within and between coalitions? Applying the Advocacy Coalition Framework, we interviewed advocates, representing both pro-abortion-access and anti-abortion-access perspectives, about their beliefs, coalition allies, and opponents in Colorado. The result reveals nuanced belief systems that address competing conceptions of morality, gender, and life with a tendency toward deep core beliefs. This paper contributes to the ACF literature by highlighting a policy issue not often raised by ACF scholars, bridging morality policy and abortion policy literature with more mainstream policy process research, and surpassing simple "pro-life vs. pro-choice" dichotomies to reveal complex belief systems about abortion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper defends the avowal view of self-deception, according to which the self-deceived agent has been led by the evidence to believe that $\neg p$ ¬ p and yet is sincere in asserting that $p$ p. I argue that the agent qualifies as sincere in asserting the contrary of what they in the most basic sense believe in virtue of asserting what they are committed to believing. It is only by recognizing such commitments and distinguishing them from the more basic beliefs whose rational regulation is automatic that the tension between the self-deceived agent's actions and assertions can be explained in a core subset of cases of self-deception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When one communicates that they are in pain, it is often assumed that the speaker is providing an assertion or report. Call this the cognitivist stance of pain utterances. Nevertheless, many sentential pain utterances seem to have both assertive and imperatival communicative content in virtue of expressing both the speaker's pain belief and the pain experience, respectively. I call this view hybrid expressivism about pain. In this paper, I take the imperativist idea of pain seriously and show that, via an expression relation, pain utterances inherit the imperative and motivational force of the pain. A hybrid expressivist stance better explains why pain utterances often have the perlocutionary effect of eliciting care from others, and it can provide a new understanding of what it means to silence one's pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that Aristotelian practical wisdom (phronēsis) is a state of conviction (pistis) in the goodness of our goals based on proper grounds. This state of conviction can only be achieved if rational arguments and principles agree with how things appear to us. Since, for Aristotle, passions influence appearances, they can support or undermine our conviction in the goodness of ends. For this reason, we cannot be practically wise without virtuous dispositions to experience appropriate passions. Along the way, I argue that this reading allows us to explain the shortcomings of self‐controlled and akratic agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While growing empirical evidence suggests a continuity between human and non-human psychology, many philosophers still think that only humans can act and form beliefs rationally. In this paper, we challenge this claim. We first clarify the notion of rationality. We then focus on the rationality of beliefs and argue that, in the relevant sense , humans are not the only rational animals. We do so by first distinguishing between unreflective and reflective responsiveness to epistemic reasons in belief formation and revision. We argue that unreflective responsiveness is clearly within the reach of many animals. We then defend that a key demonstration of reflective responsiveness would be the ability to respond to undermining defeaters. We end by presenting some empirical evidence that suggests that some animal species are capable of processing these defeaters, which would entail that even by the strictest standards, humans are not the only rational animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How are justified belief and rational belief related? Some philosophers think that justified belief and rational belief come to the same thing. Others take it that justification is a matter of how well a particular belief is supported by the evidence, while rational belief is a matter of how well a belief coheres with a person's other beliefs. In this paper, I defend the view that justification is a dimension of rationality, a view that can make sense of both of these conflicting accounts. When it modifies belief, 'rational' is a multidimensional adjective, as there are multiple dimensions along which a belief can be rational. I will argue that one of these dimensions is justification, an account that can not only explain why philosophers give diverging theories of the relationship between justified belief and rational belief, but can also reveal why rational belief and justified belief are closely related despite being distinct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I will counter Hodgson's critique of Hanks' assertion that neutral predication is incoherent, which is premised on the belief that asking is a neutral act. My defense of Hanks will be two-pronged. Firstly, I will provide textual proof that Hanks is, or should be, of the opinion that asking is not neutral, but rather a committal act. Secondly, I will illustrate how Hanks' model can accommodate the committal aspect of asking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contains a new argument for evidentialism as an ethical rather than an epistemic doctrine. The argument relies on new developments in consequentialist thinking. The insights of the proponents of the moral encroachment thesis are used to show that we need higher standards of evidence, and to develop the concept of ethically sufficient evidence. It is demonstrated that prospectivism (subjective consequentialism) supports the contentions that we should not believe without ethically sufficient evidence, that we are permitted to believe when we have it, and that we are obligated to investigate to acquire it. It is argued that we do not have any obligations to believe. The ethical evidentialism argued for here is distinguishable from Clifford's ethics of belief. Developing the doctrine clarifies some of our moral obligations, makes a positive contribution to prospectivism, and shows that evidentialism is better construed as an ethical doctrine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article constitutes a 'reply and alternative' to two papers that appeared in a 2021 Special Issue of British Educational Research Journal. Both articles drew on theories of populism as a political logic to explain recent trends in England's education policy. I begin by highlighting how the contributors mobilise 'populist' political logics within their own 'anti‐populist' discourse. I then argue that the theory of epistemic communities, borrowed from the field of public policy analysis, offers an alternative interpretation of the dynamics described in (and exemplified by) the two articles. This alternative interpretation foregrounds the values, beliefs and policy enterprises of two rival communities that seek to influence education policy through the supply of expertise. I argue that attending to how these communities function helps explain how a new group of policy entrepreneurs has come to constitute an increasingly influential 'counter‐epistemic community' and established a mutually beneficial trade in legitimacy with English policy makers. To date, the theory of epistemic communities has been under‐utilised in the study of education policy, but applying the theory to education policy in England provides new insights into how these communities function when the nature of expertise is contested. England's educational policy context also exemplifies the importance of 'fit' between policy makers and experts' beliefs, and the role of policy makers in assembling and curating communities of experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are living in a time of earth systems breakdown. Humankind and other life on our planet are on the brink, most likely the brink of collapse in some form. The task before us as educators is great since this is a time of multiple and complex crises. However, humanity seems paralysed, unable to face the immensity and urgency of the combined challenges before us. At its heart, this paper considers Simone Weil's proposals regarding rootlessness in light of the present global crises and seeks to address her assertion that education is part of the problem. A religious education which can be concerned not only with matters of the world, but with human connectedness in and to the world is sought. It is proposed that an approach to teaching drawn from Weil, might be able to bring something restorative to education in the public sphere for these times. A practical example of this is included in the closing section. This is one which brings children to attend to, and discern from, what it is to live a religious way of life conceptualised in relation to existence and not only as belief and practice, raising questions for future research consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wounds teach us what we were vulnerable to and what vulnerabilities we may yet bear. But wounds are often met with doubt and disbelief, suggesting that their lessons may be hard to learn. Through an analysis of advocacy movements to believe victims of sexual assault set in conversation with Caravaggio's Incredulity of Thomas, this paper argues for an understanding of vulnerability as part of a process of learning from wounds that is sometimes marked by emotional incredulity, an expression of doubt or denial of what one knows to be true because of the way its realization feels. Emotional incredulity in these circumstances is not a denial of vulnerability that pretends to mastery, but one that expresses the challenge of learning, together, how much we do not know of ourselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against claims that cognitive science of religion undercuts belief in God, many defenders of theistic belief have invoked the Religious Reasons Reply: science cannot undercut belief in God if one has good independent reasons to believe. However, it is unclear whether this response helps salvage the god beliefs of most people. This paper considers four questions: (1) What reasons do Christians have for believing in God? (2) What kinds of beliefs about God can the reasons support? (3) Are the reasons rationalizations? (4) Can cognitive science undercut the reasons? Many Christians invoke everyday religious experiences (EREs)—such as experiences of divine presence, guidance, and communication—as reasons to believe. Unlike another popular reason to believe in God (the appearance of design and beauty in nature), EREs can support beliefs about a relational God who is present to me, who guides my life, and who speaks to me. EREs are not rationalizations since they seem to cause and sustain such beliefs. Nonetheless, EREs like experiences of hearing God speak are problematic reasons to believe. 'Soft' voice-hearing experiences are easily undercut. 'Hard' experiences of an external, audible voice are probably underpinned by similar cognitive processes as audio-verbal hallucinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Meno problem, asking for the surplus value of knowledge beyond the value of true justified belief, was recently much treated within reliabilist and virtue epistemologies. The answers from formal epistemology, by contrast, are quite poor. This paper attempts to improve the score of formal epistemology by precisely explicating Timothy Williamson's suggestion that 'present knowledge is less vulnerable than mere present true belief to rational undermining by future evidence'. It does so by combining Nozick's sensitivity analysis of knowledge with Spohn's fact‐asserting epistemic interpretation of conditionals. Accordingly, the surplus value of knowledge lies in a specific kind of stability of knowledge, which differs, though, from that claimed by other so‐called stability analyses of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At least some of your beliefs are commitments. When you believe that P as a commitment, your stance on P is such that you believe it on the basis of your considered judgement. Sometimes, you also believe that you believe P. Such self‐beliefs can also be commissive in a sense, as when they are reflective endorsements of your lower‐order commissive beliefs. In this paper I argue that one's commissive self‐beliefs ontologically constitute one's lower‐order commissive beliefs because one's commissive self‐beliefs instantiate the same inferential dispositions that are constitutive of one's lower‐order commissive beliefs. Constitutive relations between commissive self‐beliefs and first‐order commissive beliefs are maximally epistemically secure because they do not result from any epistemic procedure by which one must try (and possibly fail) to detect one's first‐order commissive beliefs. This maximal epistemic security suffices to warrant one's commissive self‐beliefs, such that one possesses commissive self‐knowledge of an especially privileged sort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that grieving a profound loss is a transformative experience, specifically an unchosen transformative experience, understood as an event‐based transformation not chosen by the agent. Grief transforms the self (i) cognitively, by forcing the agent to alter a large set of beliefs and desires, (ii) phenomenologically, by altering their experience in a diffuse or global manner, (iii) normatively, by requiring the agent to revise their practical identity, and (iv) existentially, by confronting the agent with a structuring condition of their life. Grief is a disruption to one's identity that an agent addresses by making sense of the world after the loss, remaking the practical significance of various situations in their lives through their activity. Transformative grief is both an "activity" and a "revelation" (Callard, 2020): Some parts of the grieving process are active (the agent must actively work to become a new kind of person), while others are irreducibly passive (the agent passively undergoes them). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critiques Stephen Mulhall's reading of Cavell's response to skepticism. In the first half of the article, I argue that Mulhall is mistaken in two respects: he elides differences Cavell notes between external world and other minds skepticism as well as conflates empathetic projection and acknowledgment. In the second half of the article, I argue for a novel reading of Cavell's account of acknowledgment, which addresses the concerns I raise for Mulhall. The paper closes by considering and responding to a worry that one's efforts at acknowledgment are more complicated projections of one's self onto the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The historic environment—comprising a palimpsest of landscapes, buildings and objects—carries meaning and plays a crucial role in giving people a sense of place, identity and belonging. It represents a repository of ever-accumulating collective and individually held values—shared perceptions, experiences, life histories, beliefs and traditions. These social or private values are mostly ascribed by people to familiar places within this environment based on the ontological security which this everyday heritage provides. However, these values are notoriously hard to capture and categorize. This makes it difficult to incorporate them into heritage-management strategies, which typically rely on objective, fact-based datasets. In this paper, we present a new methodology to capture those elusive values, by combining Topic Modelling with the principles of Grounded Theory. Results show that our novel approach is viable and replicable and that these important values can be effectively and meaningfully integrated, thus creating more inclusive approaches to heritage management than exist currently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to subject‐sensitive invariantism (SSI), whether S knows that p depends not only on the subject's epistemic position (the presence of a true belief, sufficient warrant, etc.) but also on non‐epistemic factors present in the subject's situation; such factors are seen as "encroaching" on the subject's epistemic standing. Not the only such non‐epistemic factor but the most prominent one consists in the subject's practical stakes. Stakes‐based SSI holds that two subjects can be in the same epistemic position with respect to some proposition but with different stakes for the two subjects so that one of them might know the proposition while the other might fail to know it. It is remarkable that the notion of stakes has not been discussed much in great detail at all so far. This paper takes a closer look at this notion and proposes a detailed, new analysis. It turns out that there is more than one kind of stakes, namely event‐stakes, knowledge‐stakes and action‐stakes. I discuss several issues that even plausible notions of stakes raise and propose solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shared belief systems are generally assumed to forge policy networks. Empirical evidence whether and to what extend shared policy core beliefs create ally networks and under which circumstances shared policy core beliefs are not necessary to form these networks, however, is limited. Based on a novel inferential network approach in combination with mediation analysis, this study investigates the role of belief systems as a link between interest group type and policy preference congruence, ultimately leading to ally networks in the European Union. In order to measure the intervening effect of policy core beliefs, automated text analysis is used. Our results suggest that shared policy core beliefs are a strong mediator for members of the same interest group. In addition, "strange bedfellow" networks between NGOs and businesses do, in fact, lack belief congruence and emerge on issues with low potential for intergroup conflict. This paper makes a contribution to our understanding of ally network formation and adds to the emerging line of research which combines quantitative text with inferential network analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An attractive picture of the world is that some features are metaphysically fundamental and others are derivative, with the derivative features grounded in the fundamental features. But how do we have justified beliefs about which features are fundamental? What is the epistemology of fundamentality? I sketch a response in this paper. The guiding idea is that the same properties cause the same experiences. I argue that a probabilistic connection between epistemic fundamentality and metaphysical fundamentality is sufficient for justified beliefs about the metaphysically fundamental. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I argue against recent modifications of the Knowledge Condition on intentional action that weaken the condition. My contention is that the condition is best understood in the context of Anscombe's Intention and, when so understood, can be maintained in its strongest form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial emissions of greenhouse gases are significant contributors to climate change, which poses a grave threat to social and economic systems. Our understanding of what might drive firms to reduce their emissions of these gases, however, is incomplete, and it is not clear that the knowledge gained from other environmental issues will readily apply to these emissions. We argue and find that indicators of environmental injustice previously shown to relate to toxic pollutants, for example, are poor predictors of greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, we show that the degree of belief in and concern about climate change in a local community is a significant predictor of the facility's rate of emission improvements. Furthermore, we find that beliefs at both the facility and headquarter communities influence emission reduction, and that those effects are substitutes for each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal in-service professional development programmes may help novice teachers or those new to a school adapt to targeted teaching approaches in their new workplace. However, the extent to which their practice changes in response to in-service learning may depend on prior beliefs. This longitudinal case study explored in-depth the personal epistemological beliefs of four pre-sessional English language teachers, international and national, in an English-medium university context in Turkey during a year-long, formal in-service teacher education course, and for 6 months after the course. It investigated changes in classroom practice and beliefs about knowledge and knowing, teaching and learning, and professional learning as a result of in-service learning. Interviews, classroom observations and reflective journals underpinned a hermeneutic analysis which compared informants' beliefs and classroom practice over time using an existing theoretical model. Underlying patterns of change in epistemological beliefs show belief type, depth, and sophistication, as well as context, as major factors in the uptake and sustainability of targeted teaching approaches in this context. In-service educators' knowledge of a teacher's epistemological beliefs profile can lead to more effective and sustainable uptake in formal in-service professional learning through differentiated, practice-based interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an analysis of Islamic jurisprudence, ethics, and theological frameworks, the research identifies key considerations and implications for Islamic broadcasters engaging with social media platforms. The study employed a qualitative approach, drawing upon Islamic texts, scholarly literature, and interviews with Islamic broadcasters. Analysis focused on identifying theological principles relevant to social media engagement and examining strategies used by broadcasters to navigate digital communication landscapes. One significant finding is the tension between the imperative to disseminate Islamic teachings widely and the need to maintain theological integrity in online interactions. The study highlights the nuanced approaches taken by Islamic broadcasters to navigate this tension, emphasizing the importance of upholding Islamic values such as tawhid (monotheism) and adab (etiquette) while leveraging the reach and accessibility of social media. Overall, the findings underscore the necessity for a theological reevaluation of Islamic broadcasting practices in the digital age. By synthesizing traditional Islamic teachings, which refer to the principles, beliefs, and practices that have been passed down in Islam since the time of the Prophet Muhammad SAW and his companions, with contemporary digital realities, this research advocates for an approach that balances the imperative of outreach with the necessity of maintaining theological integrity. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of aligning digital practices with core Islamic values to ensure ethical and responsible engagement with social media platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work placement has been regarded as one of the most effective ways of developing vocational teachers' occupational expertise. Guided by expectancy-value theory, we aim to explore how vocational teachers' motivation towards professional learning shapes to their engagement when on work placement. Two research questions were addressed: 1) What is the relationship between vocational teachers' motivational beliefs and engagement in work placement? 2) Does teaching experience have a moderating effect on this relationship? The data was collected from an online survey and analysed with a quantitative way. The participants were 426 Chinese secondary vocational teachers. Exploratory factor analysis identified four motivational beliefs: task value, self-efficacy, task effort, and emotional cost. Regression analysis revealed that vocational teachers' task value, self-efficacy, and task effort were positively related to their engagement. Teachers' emotional cost was negatively linked to their behavioural, cognitive, and emotional engagement, but positively linked to agentic engagement. Moreover, a negative moderation of teaching experience was seen. These findings facilitate the understanding of vocational teachers' professional learning in work site and provide suggestions on how to reinforce their engagement. The future research could examine the relationship between vocational teachers' motivational beliefs and engagement from a longitudinal perspective or within other learning contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]