Philosophy Commons^™

I'M Trying To Love Garbage (2021) By Bethany Barton, Peter Shea

Picture Books

Bethany Barton writes great books for kids about how minds change. In this one, the character’s arc is from thinking about garbage as just smelly icky stuff through empathizing (a little) with the creatures that feed on garbage, to eventually coming to see that all garbage is not equal; some needs special handling or it will clutter life up for a long time. The conclusion: I want to act like someone who thinks more about garbage, about what trash I create and where it ends up.”

How To Be A Nature Detective (1966) By Millicent E. Selsam, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Picture Books

Coming up with the most reasonable explanation of the available clues is something we all do on a daily basis. This book describes animal tracks as clues from which children can make inferences about what kind of animal left them and what they were doing when they did.

Grasshoppers, Ants, And Philosophical Fables, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Picture Books

Aesop contrasted the ant’s virtues of industry, forward planning, and group loyalty with the idleness of a cicada interested only in merry-making and music-making. That contrast is challenged in many picture book versions of his fable. What does it mean to work? What is the value of making music and art? Can finding delight in an occupation be as important as denying gratification? When is it right to refuse help to someone who asks for it? This review compares six picture books—Ant and Grasshopper by Luli Gray (2011), The Ant and the Grasshopper by Amy Lowry Poole (2000), The …

Sidewalk Flowers (2015) By Jonarno Lawson, Samantha Piede

Picture Books

JonArno Lawson's Sidewalk Flowers centers on a little girl accompanying her father on a morning walk across a grey landscape. On the way, she spots dandelions sprouting out of the pavement. The protagonist's attention to this tiny, beautiful detail catalyzes her expanding appreciation for the rest of her environment, spurring her to notice beauty in unexpected places. This review suggests that Sidewalk Flowers richly introduces children to the philosophical theme of attention not with words, but with color.

Buzzing With Questions: The Inquisitive Mind Of Charles Henry Turner (2019) By Janice N. Harrington, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Picture Books

Do insects have minds? Are they creative? Can they tell time? Can they learn from experience? As a young boy, Charles Henry Turner couldn’t stop asking such questions and his curiosity-fueled intellect led him to become the first African American admitted to the St. Louis Academy of Science and one of the first entomologist to study insect behavior. By designing ingenious experiments, Turner proved that bees see color, that spiders can spin webs around artificial obstacles, that cockroaches can learn to navigate a maze, and that moths can be trained to beat their wings when a whistle blows. This insightful …

What Is A River? (2021) By Monika Vaicenavičiene, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Picture Books

Monika Vaicenavičienė’s lush picture book What is a River? nudges us to contemplate our interconnection with living things and natural cycles, and with human history and culture. It relates a conversation between a grandmother and a young adult grandchild enjoying a picnic on a riverbank. Noticing that the river’s surface reflection of trees and flowers along its banks hides its lower depths (“Just like people”), the grandchild asks, “Grandma, what is a river?” The grandmother’s many responses do more than help her grandchild appreciate multiple meanings and values of rivers; they demonstrate how interesting some things become if we keep …

40 Years Passing By In (A) “Heartbeat”, Christopher Janney

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This article outlines the forty-year history go Christopher Janney’s iconic performance work “HeartBeat.” Trained as an architect and jazz musician, Janney combines these two disciplines to create large interactive light/sound installations and performances. On the one hand, he attempts to make architecture more like music, more “alive” using real-time sensing devices as on his “Harmonic Convergence” installation on the Miami International Airport. On the other hand, he attempts to make music more like architecture, more physical more visual. In his “HeartBeat” performance, a dancer wears a heartbeat device that amplifies his/her heartbeat in “real time.” Over this pulse, live musicians …

Yoga Sūtra Book Four And The Yogabindu, Christopher Key Chapple

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

Four themes from the fourth pāda of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra are examined here: karma (IV:2-13), individuality (IV:16), humility (IV:20-22), and freedom (IV:29-34). Affirmations and variant interpretations of these four are provided from Haribhadra Virahāṅka’s Yogabindu, most likely composed a century or two later.

Collective Karma: From The Yogasūtra To Taylor Swift, Zoë Slatoff

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The Indian knowledge traditions speak at length about karma, which is divided into three categories—accumulated (saṃcita), ripe (prārabdha), and future (kriyamāṇa). While much is said about our individual karma and how it affects our repeated reincarnation in cyclic existence, how does this affect others and how do others affect us? In other words, as this paper explores, what is our reciprocal and collective karma?

Painting Liberation: A Visual Ontology Of The Interplay Of Mind And Consciousness In Book Four Of The Yoga Sūtras, Melissa Townsend

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This presentation explores how artistic practice can illuminate philosophical questions about the nature of mind, consciousness, and liberation as articulated in Book Four of the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. Through a series of paintings that visually translate these sūtras, I propose that art offers a unique, experiential means of engaging with the complex relationship between citta (mind) and puruṣa (consciousness).

The paintings function as a form of “visual ontology,” inviting viewers to engage with abstract philosophical concepts in a sensory, tangible way. By depicting the interplay between the mutable processes of the mind and the unchanging awareness of consciousness, these …

Pancasila As The Philosophical Foundation Of The Indonesian Curriculum, Nurbaya Pulhehe, Babang Robandi

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

The philosophical foundation of Pancasila, comprised of five principles, plays a significant role in shaping Indonesia's education system. These principles guide curriculum design, implementation, and evaluation, reflecting the nation's educational goals and desired student outcomes. This paper examines the philosophical underpinnings of Pancasila, with a focus on content and graduate competence standards, examining their relationship with educational objectives and their implications for the national curriculum. Utilizing a literature review methodology, the research highlights the critical influence of Pancasila on curriculum development and educational planning in Indonesia. The findings indicate that Pancasila serves as a central philosophical framework guiding Indonesia's national …

A Vygotskian Perspective On Multicultural Education: A Social-Based Learning Process In The Minangkabau Community, West Sumatra, Indonesia, Isnarmi Moeis, Junaidi Indrawadi, Zaenuddin Hudi Prasojo, Fatmariza Fatmariza, Rika Febriani

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

Multicultural education and local wisdom function as crucial social assets in promoting unity within diverse societies. Indonesia, a country rich in ethnic diversity, possesses abundant local wisdom, particularly within the Minangkabau community of West Sumatra. This study examines the integration of Minangkabau local wisdom into the core elements of multicultural education, focusing on areas such as cultural awareness, sensitivity, cross-cultural communication, critical thinking, reflection, and cultural competence. Grounded in Vygotsky’s theory of learning as a process of social and cultural adaptation, this research adopts a qualitative methodology, utilizing in-depth interviews and focus group discussions for data collection. The analysis, carried …

Teaching Margaret Cavendish Through The Lens Of Scientific Anti-Realism, Kevin Lower

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673) only began receiving sustained attention by historians of philosophy in recent decades, but she is being rapidly integrated into the early modern philosophical canon. This essay explores one dimension of teaching Cavendish that presents difficulties for introductory philosophy students: her criticisms of experimental philosophy. Section one explains how I integrate Cavendish into the narrative of my course, identifying both historical and thematic strategies for including her in introductory philosophy courses. Section two describes methods for teaching Cavendish’s natural philosophy and identifies a pedagogical challenge to presenting her criticisms of experimental philosophy. In their first exposure to Cavendish, …

An Argumental Discourse Before All: An Approach To Teaching Cavendish, Jonathan L. Shaheen

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Cavendish directs readers of Observations upon Experimental Philosophy to begin engaging her work through "An Argumental Discourse." In this piece, I describe a way of thinking about the structure of that piece and how to understand two of its major moments in relationship to standardly taught material. The first moment is the dilemma about how inanimate matter is moved, with its response centered on treating a horse and its rider as a paradigm example of causation. The article shows how the argument involves Cavendish's conceptions of causation, minds, bodies, and mind-body interaction. The second moment has to do with the …

Jumping Pens And Historical Vertigo: Teaching Cavendish In The Twenty-First Century, Anne M. Thell

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

"Jumping Pens" considers "historical and epistemological vertigo" as a useful pedagogical rubric for teaching the works of Margaret Cavendish (1623-73) in contemporary university classrooms. Specifically, it looks back across more than a decade of teaching Cavendish in diverse settings in order to show how exciting this author can be for students who are just starting out in the discipline of literary studies. As this essay argues, Cavendish can make us all better, more self-aware instructors, while also developing critical and historical acumen in our students.

Laudate Deum: A Framework For Environmental Stewardship And Social Justice In The Philippines And Southeast Asia, Antonio Levy S. Ingles Jr.

CSID Journal of Infrastructure Development

This study explores the intersection of environmental initiatives and social justice movements in the Philippines, a nation rich in biodiversity but acutely vulnerable to climate change and ecological degradation. Using Laudate Deum as a guiding framework, the research examines how the principles of Immediate Action, Collective Responsibility, and Social Justice can inform collaborative strategies to address these challenges. Through an analysis of case studies, this paper highlights the socio-economic impacts of environmental crises, such as deforestation and pollution, and evaluates initiatives like mangrove reforestation and community-based waste management for their ecological and social benefits. The findings reveal that integrating Laudate …

Volume 7 (2024) Artificial Intelligence And Responsibility, Arwa Alnajashi, Danielle Derise, Philip L. Frana, David Mcgraw, Amanda Sawyer, Tatjana Titareva, Raafat Zaini, Allie Zombron

International Journal on Responsibility

The seventh volume of the International Journal on Responsibility (IJR) arrives at a crucial moment in the evolution of artificial intelligence and its integration into our academic and social fabric. As we witness the rapid advancement and deployment of AI systems across various domains, this special issue examines the multifaceted dimensions of responsibility surrounding AI technology, with a particular focus on its role in higher education and broader societal implications.

The articles in this volume contribute to our understanding of responsibility through diverse lenses, from classroom implementation to ethical design considerations. Together, they fulfill IJR’s central mission of exploring “Who …

Ettingerian Matrixial Theory Glossary For This Artizein Issue, R. Michael Fisher, Barbara Bickel

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

A glossary to assist the navigation and learning of Matrixial Theory especially for those new to it. It is based on the Ettingerian Matrixial terms found in this special issue. Definitions are in process and are a combination of different Artizein authors understandings of the terms as referred to in this issue as compiled by co-editors R. Michael Fisher and Barbara Bickel.

Teaching Ettingerian Matrixial Theory, R. Michael Fisher

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Utilizing an adapted scoping review of the literature on Bracha L. Ettinger and Education (2008-2024), the author reveals the specific ways that Ettingerian Matrixial Theory (EMT) and its pedagogies are taught and can be taught in the future. EMT is argued to be a new branch of Critical Theory. The current literature shows there is mostly engagement with EMT in academic settings. As well, the literature reviewed shows EMT is used readily in arts and with artists as teachers and teachings for adults. However, the author unveils diverse other possibilities of teaching EMT. A few major themes from the literature …

Gestating And Co-Becoming With Ettingerian Maxtrixial Pedagogy, Barbara Bickel

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

This article seeks to infuse and enrich the spheres of Arts and Education through a nascent introduction of Ettingerian Matrixial Pedagogy. To articulate this, I weave together the practices of Gestare Art Collective, which we describe as “matrixial infused education,” the “placental thinking” of Nané Jordan with my own thinking, art making and teaching. This article unfolds through interlacing theory and reflections on teachings found within art practices of Ma Poses, Womb Walking, Nap-Ins, and Spontaneous Creation-Making, along with examples of pedagogical artworkings: Metramorphosis and Muted Colours of Grief. The article closes with a poetic métissage inquiry that became—a Matrixial …

A Matrixial Museum: Education In Almost-Impossible Spaces, Valerie Oved Giovanini

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

This paper is meant to scaffold an imaginary space for what is currently an almost impossible museum. It would reside on a border between Gaza and Israel. Artists and participants would be able to enter from both sides of the border into a circular and cavernous space to make, share and experience art together. In artwork that values its relational capacity to affect another, the move from aesthetics to ethics recalls our mutual place of origin understood in Bracha L. Ettinger’s Matrixial Theory (EMT) as “the matrixial womb.” Griselda Pollock’s Virtual Feminist Museum, Gur-Ze’ev’s counter-education, feminist pedagogy, and Art-care activism …

She-Hero: A Memoir Of The Divine Feminine Within A Creation-Centred Paradigm, Darlene St.Georges

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

She-Hero: A Memoir of the Divine Feminine within a Creation-Centred Paradigm explores Ettinger’s matrixial borderspaces through an inter-woven theoretical | artistic | poetic métissage. An example of creation-centred research, this memoir is likened to Ettinger’s concept of metramorphosis—an active restoration of matrixial knowledge(s) and knowing. Embodying a creation-centred curriculum and pedagogy, She-Hero privileges non-dominant epistemologies to attend to the disruption of historical patterns of the hero—inviting readers to submerge and emerge in co-poesis within an intimate and aesthetic kaleidoscopic space of feminine affect and agency.

Her (Ettinger’S) Diotima, His (Levinas’) Diotima: On The Vitalness Of Eros In Education, Shiran Greenberg

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

No abstract provided.

Traces Of Communal Touch: Matrixial Encounters With Pre-Service Art Educators Across Two States, Kate L. Wurtzel, Laura L. Mccartney

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

The matrixial sphere, as put forth by artist and psychoanalyst Bracha L. Ettinger, is a shared and transsubjective space that is beneath the conscious, under the touchable and perceptible; it is a space where we encounter ourselves and one another in shared trauma, healing, art making, and the lived experience overall. This co-authored essay explores how a shared matrixial space and the matrixial gaze, which is not always visual, have been experienced through the square boxes of ZOOM as part of a collaborative, long-distance art exchange project. The project, focused on Spontaneous Creation-Making (SCM) sessions, as outlined in Barbara Bickel …

Aesthetic Wit(H)Nessing In Times Of Trouble: Propositions For Working Affirmatively With Difference Within Matrixial Pedagogical Practice., Nike Romano

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

This article explores how Bracha Ettinger’s notion of matrixial aesthetic wit(h)nessing fosters opportunities for dealing with memory and trauma in classroom encounters during times of trouble. Drawing on my experience of teaching a history of art and design curriculum at a University of Technology in South Africa, the intention is to highlight the crucial role that Ettingerian Matrixial Theory (EMT) plays in building trust in troubled educational spaces. Concerned with the ethical implications of surfacing and transforming traumas, the inquiry begins with a discussion on how South Africa (SA), and SA Higher Education (HE) in particular, are saturated with traumatic …

Artist-Theorist Invocation: Bracha Ettinger's Notebook Pages, Bracha L. Ettinger

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

[Editorial/Curatorial note] This special issue on Ettingerian Matrixial Theory, Education and the Arts opens with 10 pages of meta-feminist notes from Bracha Ettinger’s Notebooks, 2009-2011. Exhibited at Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy in 2021. All images © and courtesy of Bracha L. Ettinger.

Full Issue_ Artizein_2024, R. Michael Fisher, Barbara Bickel

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

This special issue, Ettingerian Matrixial Theory, Education and the Arts attunes with and brings together the cross-currents of creative and scholarly works that are emerging internationally between Ettingerian Matrixial Theory (EMT), Education and the Arts.

Writing In Philosophy: Pedagogy And Practice, Sarah K. Donovan, Renée Smith

Philosophy and Religious Studies

Even a cursory internet search of syllabi for philosophy courses shows that the tradition of assigning papers—five-page papers, ten-page papers, fifteen-page papers—is still thriving. Yet the schedule of topics, often listed on those same syllabi, very seldom reveals any course time devoted to teaching students how to write. Perhaps the assignments themselves reveal the process of writing papers, rubrics reveal the expectations, and feedback nudges students to improve their writing. But that kind of information is not transparent in many syllabi. Even if we suppose that philosophy faculty support the idea of Writing Across the Curriculum, in practice faculty across …

Demystifying Research Paradigms: Navigating Ontology, Epistemology, And Axiology In Research, Lynette Pretorius

The Qualitative Report

A sound understanding of research paradigms is crucial for developing coherent and philosophically grounded research designs, particularly in the humanities and social sciences. This paper offers an accessible overview of the most common research paradigms: positivism, post-positivism, constructivism, social constructionism, interpretivism, pragmatism, and critical realism. These paradigms differ in their approaches to ontology (the nature of reality), epistemology (the nature of knowledge), and axiology (the role of values in research). The paper also discusses the methodological and ethical implications of these paradigms. Reflexivity and ethical responsibility are emphasised, where researchers must account for how their own biases and values influence …