Philosophy is the project of seeking for answers to “the big questions” regarding the condition of man, the nature of Reality, and man’s place within its scheme of things. The philosopher tries, as best one can, to address this range of complex and difficult issues. Against this background, this book considers some major areas of philosophical concern: namely, humans and their interpersonal relations, reality and our knowledge thereof, and philosophizing itself. It presents various case studies that typify the philosopher’s approach to the issues.
Providing an overview of essential topics in multicultural psychology, Humanistic Approaches to Multiculturalism and Diversity focuses on the intersection of humanistic psychology and multiculturalism, including history, theory, research, and practice. The authors examine the unique contributions of humanistic psychology to multicultural psychology on topics often ignored, such as cultural empathy and indigenous psychology and diversity. The book critiques and rectifies previous failures to adequately engage multicultural issues by providing methods for integrating multicultural psychology and humanistic therapy. Readers will find that each chapter advances scholarship through a dialogue with multicultural perspectives and builds a foundation for future scholarship and clinical practice. This book will be of great interest to mental health professionals interested in humanistic and existential psychology.
As a sub-discipline, part of (general) Philosophy, Humanistic Philosophy is focused on, and brings in attention, especially, the category, the value-concept of Human Being, with the meaning of agency, individuality, subject, the person with the attribute of freedom and self-determination, the respect for the human as individual, as a Person, in opposition to the approaches that represent the individual human being as a simple statistical element into a social structure, system, mechanism, in history and/or society.In the second meaning, crucial concepts, syntagms, and ideas-values that are bring in attention, when we speak, therefore, of (general) philosophy as a humanistic discipline are Anthropo-Centrism and Person-Centered Approach in the general process of philosophical knowledge and investigation. Essentially, philosophy as a humanistic discipline, through all its branches, orientations, schools, and methods, is an ethics of the phenomenon, process and act of knowledge in general, and of the philosophical knowledge in particular, an ethics of the human, of the man, of humanity, and, especially, ultimately, a philosophy of the human as a goal, values, ideal, principle of all the processes, acts of knowledge and action, epistemologically and methodologically speaking. *** Regarding the Destination of this book, its design, content and bibliography are made in such a way that to be useful both to the academic/ scientific community, to students, teachers and researchers, and also to the professional community - artists, educators, managers, social workers, psychotherapists, health professionals, human rights activists, activists in the political sphere, etc.
The Humanistic Philosophy of Gandhi Gandhi’s great contribution to humanism consists in conceiving a religion that centres almost wholly around man and his life here in this world. Religion, according to him, should pervade all our activities, it cannot and ought not to be pursued in seclusion from one’s fellow beings and in separation from life’s other activities. The equivalent for Religion is “Dharma” in Sanskrit which means moral obligation and connotes individual’s integrity as well as social solidarity. Gandhi understood religion completely from that point of view. His Humanism is integral, discussing all the aspects of human life and has rationalist attitudes that differ from Romantic Humanism as well as Radical Humanism and yet synthesizes the two. Gandhian philosophy is not only simultaneously political, moral and religious, it is also traditional and modern, simple and complex. It embodies numerous Western influences to which Gandhi was exposed, but being rooted in ancient Indian culture and harnessing eternal and universal moral and religious principles, there is much in it that is not at all new. This is why Gandhi could say: “I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and nonviolence are as old as the hills.” Gandhi is concerned even more with the spirit than with the form. If the spirit is consistent with truth and nonviolence, the truthful and nonviolent form will automatically result. Despite its anti-Westernism, many hold its outlook to be ultra-modern, in fact ahead of its time - even far ahead. Perhaps the philosophy is best seen as a harmonious blend of the traditional and modern. The multifaceted nature of Gandhi’s thought also can easily lead to the view that it is extremely complex. The book is intended to assist students and teachers who are interested in knowing about Gandhian Philosophy. Contents: • Gandhian Ideas in Philosophy • World and God • Swaraj • Relevance of Gandhi in the Political World Today • Gandhian Philosophy in the 21 Century • The Essence of Gandhi • Is Gandhi Relevant Today • Immortality of Gandhian Philosophy • Rediscovering the Mahatma’s Way • Gandhi’s Dialogue on Civilization
This edition comprises, brings together, incorporates, synthesizes some of the author's works, books, articles, chapters, ideas, fragments, in print and electronic form, with themes, topics, ideas that address the relation between philosophy and social work/ welfare/ policy, with emphasis on the humanistic paradigm/ approach, published in academic format, between 2011 and 2023. No new sections were introduced, but the bibliography was partially updated, bringing to attention relevant titles that appeared after the previous edition. In the book it is analyzed the complex and delicate relationship between philosophy and social work/welfare, between the philosophical system of concepts and ideas and the theory/axiology of social work/welfare, especially from a humanistic perspective, bringing face to face, on the one hand, the great branches or sub-domains of philosophy, respectively ontology, ethics, social philosophy, personology, and, on the other hand, the great sub-domains or issues of social work/welfare, respectively the way of representation the client and the social problem (difficult situation, risk situation, vulnerability, resilience, etc.), the system of constitutive values and principles, the way of representation of the professional and the specific practice/methodology, etc. The relation between philosophy and social work is, no doubt, biunivocal. philosophy encompasses, in its purpose and history, the "social" issue/dimension, in its broader human sense, especially with the preoccupations in the sphere of ethics and social philosophy, but also of the existentialist-humanistic and humanistic-personalist philosophies, as the, social work, as general theory and axiology, cannot be conceived without a consistent philosophical representation. Both the system of fundamental values and the mission or methodology of social work/welfare are, most often, stated in the terms of an explicit applied social, ethical and humanistic philosophy, even if not always this aspect it is highlighted in an assumed way. An important observation that must to be done is that the author does not proposes in his book (and nor does it accomplish) an exhaustive, profound and complete approach and exposure of the relation, connection - from a humanistic point of view - between philosophy and social work/welfare, between their sub-domains, but only he brings into attention this subject, this theme, very little approached in the literature in relation to its indisputable importance. Regarding the destination of this paper, its design, content and bibliography are made in such a way that to be useful both to the academic community, to students and teachers in philosophy and social sciences and practices, and also to the professional community, to social workers, psychotherapists, educators, social managers, etc.
In this book it is brought to attention and is analyzed the complex and delicate relationship between philosophy and social work/welfare, between the philosophical system of concepts and ideas and the theory/axiology of social work/welfare, especially from a humanistic perspective, bringing face to face, on the one hand, the great branches or sub-domains of philosophy, respectively ontology, ethics, social philosophy, personology, and, on the other hand, the great sub-domains or issues of social work/welfare, respectively the way of representation of the client and of the social problem (difficult situation, risk situation, vulnerability, resilience, etc.), the system of constitutive values and principles, the way of representation of the professional and the specific practice/methodology, etc. The relation between philosophy and social work is, no doubt, biunivocal. philosophy encompasses, in its purpose and history, the "social" issue/dimension, in its broader human sense, especially with the preoccupations in the sphere of ethics and social philosophy, but also of the existentialist-humanistic and humanistic-personalist philosophies, as the, social work, as general theory and axiology, cannot be conceived without a consistent philosophical representation. Both the system of fundamental values and the mission or methodology of social work/welfare are, most often, stated in the terms of an explicit applied social, ethical and humanistic philosophy, even if not always this aspect it is highlighted in an assumed way. An important observation that must to be done is that the author does not proposes in his book (and nor does it accomplish) an exhaustive, profound and complete approach and exposure of the relation, connection - from a humanistic point of view - between philosophy and social work/welfare, between their sub-domains, but only he brings into attention this subject, this theme, very little approached in the literature in relation to its indisputable importance. Regarding the destination of this paper, its design, content and bibliography are made in such a way that to be useful both to the academic community, to students and teachers in philosophy and social sciences and practices, and also to the professional community, to social workers, psychotherapists, educators, social managers, etc.
This Festschrift contains numerous colorful and eclectic essays from well-known mathematicians, philosophers, logicians, and linguists celebrating the 90th birthday of Reuben Hersh. The essays offer, in part, attempts to answer the following questions set forth by Reuben himself as a focus for this volume: Can practicing mathematicians, as such, contribute anything to the philosophy of math? Can or should philosophers of math, as such, say anything to practicing mathematicians? Twenty or fifty years from now, what will be similar, and what will, or could, or should be altogether different: About the philosophy of math? About math education? About math research institutions? About data processing and scientific computing? The essays also offer glimpses into Reuben’s fertile mind and his lasting influence on the mathematical community, as well as revealing the diverse roots, obstacles and philosophical dispositions that characterize the working lives of mathematicians. With contributions from a veritable “who’s who” list of 20th century luminaries from mathematics and philosophy, as well as from Reuben himself, this volume will appeal to a wide variety of readers from curious undergraduates to prominent mathematicians.
This book collects a series of philosophical papers dedicated to the figure and work of Daisaku Ikeda. The author’s interest in studying Ikeda’s work is not to carry out a specialised or disciplinary study of his Buddhist exegesis, or to offer a critical synthesis from the point of view of its basic doctrinal contents and references, nor to examine his creed and religious teaching. Beyond the fact that Ikeda’s work has the double face of a construction founded on a Japanese philosophical-religious tradition with specific links to classical Chinese tradition, interfaced with the globe’s most representative literary, scientific and speculative cultural products, it was developed according to an intercultural design strongly marked by western rationality and a spiritual-speculative-pragmatic approach to life and the world. Throughout this book, the author proposes an agnostic suspension in order to leave a place for philosophy and its argumentative constructions.
This book considers the Chinese conception of beauty from a historical perspective with regard to its significant relation to human personality and human existence. It examines the etymological implications of the pictographic character mei, the totemic symbolism of beauty, the ferocious beauty of the bronzeware. Further on, it proceeds to look into the conceptual progression of beauty in such main schools of thought as Confucianism, Daoism and Chan Buddhism. Then, it goes on to illustrate through art and literature the leading principles of equilibriumharmony, spontaneous naturalness, subtle void and synthetic possibilities. It also offers a discussion of modern change and transcultural creation conducted with particular reference to the theory of the poetic state par excellence (yi jing shuo) and that of art as sedimentation (ji dian shuo).
