Language and the African Philosophical Traditions

Are there universal principles, categories, or forms of reasoning that apply to all aspects of human experience—irrespective of culture and epoch? Numerous scholars have explored this very question from Africana perspectives: Kwasi Wiredu (1996) explored the philosophical issue of whether there are culturally defined values and concepts; Hallen and Sodipo (1986) examined the question of whether there are unique African indigenous systems of knowledge; Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1994) evaluated the role of colonialism in the language of African literature; Oyerò nkẹ ́ ́ Oyěwumi (1997) argued that “gender” is a Western cultural invention that is foreign to Yorùbá systems of sociation; and Helen Veran (2001) argued that even though science, mathematics, and logic are not culturally relative, “certainty” is nonetheless derived from cultural practices and associations. Building on these and other works, this essay argues that: (i) incommensurability of “worldviews,” “perspectives,” “paradigms,” or “conceptual schemes” springs from deeper, more fundamental cognitive categories of logic that are coded into natural languages; and that (ii) consequently, as long as African reflective reasoning is expressed solely (or predominantly) in European languages, the authenticity of the “African” in African philosophy is questionable.

Multimedia Annotations for Practical Collaborative Reasoning

University education requires students to be trained both at university and at external internship centres. Because of Covid-19, the availability of multimedia resources and examples of practical contexts has become vital. Multimedia annotation can help students reflect on the professional world, collaborating and interacting with colleagues online. This study aims to encourage collaborative practical thinking by using new video annotation technologies. 274 students participated in an experiment of task design focusing on the analysis of a technology-based, award-winning educational innovation project. With mixed research design, qualitative and quantitative data exported from the video annotation platform used was collected and analysed. The results show differences in the quality and quantity of the answers: in the tasks with broad Folksonomy they are more numerous but more dispersed in their analysis, and vice versa. The quality of the answers given with narrow Folksonomy is also higher in both texts and videos modes. Producing multimedia annotations is a practical way to encourage students to practise reflective reasoning about the professional reality.

Of Tinfoil Hats and Thinking Caps: Reasoning is more strongly related to Implausible than Plausible Conspiracy Beliefs

People who strongly endorse conspiracy theories typically exhibit biases in domain-general reasoning. Previous studies, however, have mostly focused on less plausible conspiracy theories (e.g., the moon landing was faked), rather than more plausible ones (e.g., the Russian Federation orchestrated the attack on Sergei Skripal). Here we examine whether reasoning biases are associated with belief in all conspiracy theories or only with belief in less plausible conspiracy theories. In two pre-registered studies, we found that endorsement of implausible conspiracy theories, but not plausible ones, was associated with reduced information sampling in an information-foraging task and with less reflective reasoning. Thus, the relationship between belief in conspiracy theories and reasoning is not homogeneous, and reasoning is not linked specifically to the “conspiracy” in conspiracy theories, but to other factors (e.g., motivations towards sense making) that feature in many types of implausible belief (e.g., paranormal beliefs, delusions).

Auditory and visual category learning in musicians and non-musicians

We compare the ability of amateur musicians and non-musicians in learning artificial auditory and visual categories that can be described as either rule-based (RB) or information-integration (II) category structures. RB categories are optimally learned using a reflective reasoning process, whereas II categories are optimally learned by integrating information from two stimulus dimensions at a reflexive, pre-decisional processing stage. Across two experiments, we found that music experience was beneficial to learning auditory categories. In Experiment 1, musicians enrolled in a music college demonstrated advantages over non-musicians in learning RB auditory categories defined on pitch frequency and duration dimensions but did not demonstrate differences in learning II auditory categories or either RB or II visual categories. In Experiment 2, a broader online sample of musicians demonstrated advantages over non-musicians in learning both RB and II auditory categories defined on spectral and temporal modulation dimensions. Musicians’ category learning advantage is limited to their modality of expertise and is category-specific in a way that depends on the dimensions used to define the categories.

Your Health vs. My Liberty: Philosophical beliefs dominated reflection and identifiable victim effects when predicting public health recommendation compliance

Philosophers and scientists have emphasized how our responses to global crises are often alarmingly ineffective. For example, people often prioritize a few nearby victims over many victims abroad. We wanted to understand individual differences in responses to public health crises during the COVID19 pandemic. Two experiments investigated how compliance with public health recommendations depended on messaging, cognitive style, and prior philosophical beliefs (Total N = 998). One of the two experiments found that compliance with public health recommendations was slightly improved by messaging about individual victims compared to messaging about statistical victims—i.e., "flatten the curve" graphs. However, both experiments found that beliefs about morality were more potent predictors of compliance than strategic messaging or reflective reasoning. In the second experiment, religiosity and beliefs about science were similarly predictive. This suggests that non-compliance with public health recommendations may not be a matter of ineffective messaging or reasoning, but philosophical differences.

Teachers' Perceptions of Islamic Religious Education in Arab High Schools in Israel

In this multiple case study, the authors explore the purposes and significance of Islamic religious education as it is viewed and interpreted by Arab and Muslim teachers in Arab high schools in Israel. It interrogates how the Muslim teachers locate themselves and their pedagogy within a continuum of salafi (conservative) versus liberal conceptions of tarbiyya (the spiritual aspects of Islam) and ta`dib (the moral aspects of Islam) and why they do so. The results show that teachers support the salafi rather than the liberal conceptions of Islamic education. This means that they focus on the naql (the transmission of religious knowledge) rather than aql (rational thinking) in teaching the moral aspects of Islam. Also, teachers avoid the dealing with the intellectual diversity within Islam, the discussion of contemporary issues, and the tenets of other Abrahamic religions. They conclude that this may lead to religious illiteracy and argue that liberal Islamic education with critical and reflective reasoning is much appropriate for living in multicultural and multi-faith society.

Not All Who Ponder Count Costs: Arithmetic Reflection Predicts Utilitarian Tendencies, but Logical Reflection Predicts both Deontological and Utilitarian Tendencies

Conventional sacrificial moral dilemmas propose directly causing some harm to prevent greater harm. Theory suggests that accepting such actions (consistent with utilitarian philosophy) involves more reflective reasoning than rejecting such actions (consistent with deontological philosophy). However, past findings do not always replicate, confound different kinds of reflection, and employ conventional sacrificial dilemmas that treat utilitarian and deontological considerations as opposite. In two studies, we examined whether past findings would replicate when employing process dissociation to assess deontological and utilitarian inclinations independently. Findings suggested two categorically different impacts of reflection: measures of arithmetic reflection, such as the Cognitive Reflection Test, predicted only utilitarian, not deontological, response tendencies. However, measures of logical reflection, such as performance on logical syllogisms, positively predicted both utilitarian and deontological tendencies. These studies replicate some findings, clarify others, and reveal opportunity for additional nuance in dual process theorists’ claims about the link between reflection and dilemma judgments.

Efeito da simulação para a aprendizagem significativa

RESUMOObjetivo: investigar o efeito da simulação sobre a aprendizagem significativa em evidências científicas. Método: trata-se de um estudo bibliográfico, tipo revisão integrativa. Buscaram-se os artigos de 2013 a 2017 nas Bases de Dados MEDLINE, BDENF e LILACS. Realizou-se, para a avaliação dos estudos, a leitura integral de artigos e se adotou, para apresentação dos resultados, figura síntese. Resultados: compôs-se a amostra de 13 artigos, a maioria internacional (76,9%), observacional (76,9%) quantitativa e qualitativa. Constatou-se a importância da inserção da simulação no processo de ensino-aprendizagem como ferramenta capaz de melhorar o raciocínio crítico, clínico e reflexivo de estudantes de forma significativa. Conclusão: revelou-se positivamente a integração da simulação no processo de ensino para a aquisição da aprendizagem significativa favorecendo o ganho de diferentes competências, o aprimoramento de conhecimentos e o aumento da autoconfiança dos estudantes de Enfermagem. Destaca-se que a simulação pode ter alguma vantagem sobre outros métodos de ensino, dependendo do contexto de inserção, mas, ao mesmo tempo, a aprendizagem significativa pode ser comprometida pelo risco da ansiedade determinada por essa estratégia. Descritores: Simulação; Aprendizagem; Enfermagem; Educação; Desenvolvimento de Pessoal; Educação em Saúde. ABSTRACT Objective: to investigate the effect of simulation on meaningful learning in scientific evidence. Method: this is a bibliographical study, type integrative review. Articles from 2013 to 2017 were searched in the MEDLINE, BDENF and LILACS Databases. For the evaluation of the studies, the integral reading of articles was carried out and a synthesis figure was used to present the results. Results: the sample consisted of 13 articles, the majority international (76.9%), observational (76.9%) quantitative and qualitative. The importance of the insertion of the simulation in the teaching-learning process as a tool capable of improving the critical, clinical and reflective reasoning of students in a meaningful way was verified. Conclusion: the integration of the simulation in the teaching process was positive for the acquisition of meaningful learning favoring the gain of different skills, the improvement of knowledge and the increase of the self-confidence of Nursing students. It should be emphasized that the simulation may have some advantage over other teaching methods, depending on the context of insertion, but at the same time, meaningful learning can be compromised by the risk of anxiety determined by this strategy. Descriptors: Simulation; Learning; Nursing; Education; Development of Personnel; Health education. RESUMEN Objetivo: investigar el efecto de la simulación sobre el aprendizaje significativo en evidencias científicas. Método: se trata de un estudio bibliográfico, tipo revisión integrativa. Se buscaron los artículos de 2013 a 2017 en las Bases de Datos MEDLINE, BDENF y LILACS. Se realizó, para la evaluación de los estudios, la lectura integral de artículos y se adoptó, para presentación de los resultados, figura síntesis. Resultados: se compuso la muestra de 13 artículos, la mayoría internacional (76,9%), observacional (76,9%) cuantitativa y cualitativa. Se constató la importancia de la inserción de la simulación en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje como herramienta capaz de mejorar el raciocinio crítico, clínico y reflexivo de estudiantes de forma significativa. Conclusión: se reveló positivamente la integración de la simulación en el proceso de enseñanza para la adquisición del aprendizaje significativo favoreciendo la ganancia de diferentes competencias, el perfeccionamiento de conocimientos y el aumento de la autoconfianza de los estudiantes de Enfermería. Se destaca que la simulación puede tener alguna ventaja sobre otros métodos de enseñanza, dependiendo del contexto de inserción, pero al mismo tiempo, el aprendizaje significativo puede ser comprometido por el riesgo de la ansiedad determinada por esa estrategia. Descritores: Simulación; Aprendizaje; Enfermería; Educación; Desarrollo de Personal; Educación en Salud.