Hospitality and the ethics of religious diversity

As the discipline of philosophy of religion stretches to become a global, cross-cultural discipline, it takes on ethical questions about how one should treat those who participate in religious forms of life one does not share. This article offers a typology of possible ethical positions in a context of religious diversity and argues that the strongest position is one of conditional hospitality. That is, the moral ideal proposed here is one of welcome to the religious other that is conditional on an accurate moral judgement of their practices, beliefs, and institutions.

Social psychology as a developmental discipline in the dynamics of practical life: Gustav Jahoda’s pioneering studies on children’s social thinking

Gustav Jahoda’s research on children’s development of ideas and concepts constitutes a fundamental contribution to social psychology as a developmental and cultural discipline. Jahoda conceived humans in their interdependent relations with socio-cultural and historical environments in which they live, attain knowledge and act. Jahoda’s research on the diversities of thought and agency in children was the subject of meticulous conceptual and methodological rigour. His scholarly work crossed several social and human sciences. This tribute focuses on Jahoda’s early studies of children’s ‘social thinking’ about nationality and economic systems that he carried out in Glasgow. Later in his life Jahoda pursued his ideas on children’s thinking in a close dialogue with other scholars among whom Jean Piaget, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl and Serge Moscovici assumed particular relevance.

Appreciating Faith and Culture in an Age of Scientific Reasoning: On Constructive-Critical Realism

Given its societal influence today, science is often thought to be more than just a technical approach to establish empirical observations that work. Although interpretations may vary, what generally is at stake since Galilei is the question of truth, of revealing the way the world we live in really is. Are science and theology hence dealing with the same question? Are they competing on the same territory or can they complement each other? The idea of critical realism assumes a fruitful relation and even parallelism between the two. It needs to be modified to constructive-critical realism to give the domain of culture its due weight in the concert of disciplines. This is important for theology as a cultural discipline.

Applying offshore safety case principles to onshore construction

The Australian resources industry’s safety statistics lag behind other parts of the world, although a step change is underway as contractors look to deliver the outstanding performance clients and the broader public expect. Clough is embedding a TQM, or top-to-bottom risk management strategy, through all levels of the organisation. This starts with identifying the legislative requirements, assessing the inherent hazards of specific scopes of work, and establishing the minimum controls to support safe and reliable behaviour in the field. These hazard assessments are then cascaded down through each project team, which applies them to the various stages of the project lifecycle. This results in a holistic approach to safety and ultimately ensures the critical risks and controls are understood and followed at the worksite. This extended abstract shares Clough’s experience in developing its TQM system and it looks at how the Australian resources industry can adopt a common approach to safety risk management so it becomes a tangible part of daily business. Successful implementation requires strong cultural discipline, clear values, and alignment between clients and contractors. In Clough’s experience, success relies on training and development coupled with accountability and empowerment of staff and contractors. This promotes ongoing engagement in the process and a commitment to safety learning in everything they do.

Researching Knowledge Management and Cultural Innovation of Chinese Traditional Color-Culture for the Purpose of Computer Design

Chinese traditional color-culture (CTCC) is the important foundation to build the human color cultural discipline. In order to carry on the knowledge management and cultural innovation, the introduction of management principles to CTCC is imperative. Firstly, based on computer technology and interdisciplinary knowledge, the paper uses game theory to analyze the necessity of carrying on the knowledge management and cultural innovation for CTCC. Secondly, the management principles are used to form the sub-systems of CTCC, and to carry on its knowledge management. Finally, we explain the culture innovative ways of the seven sub-systems of CTCC. By carrying on knowledge management and cultural innovation, it can be used in the design-education and the computer design, and in establishing a good foundation for the color-cultural discipline.

Educational Reform of Importing Chinese Traditional Color Culture into the Design Education after Cultural Innovation

Chinese traditional color culture (CTCC) is an essential foundation of building the human color cultural discipline, also is an important direction of educational reform for perfectly training design talents. Based on interdisciplinary methods, firstly, the paper uses Game theory to analyze the necessity of the knowledge management and cultural innovation for CTCC. Secondly, the paper utilizes the management principles to carry on knowledge management of CTCC, and explains culture innovative ways for it. Finally, we discuss methods of application CTCC and color education reform. Through cultural innovation research of CTCC and the introduction of it into universities design education, it can not only surmount the malpractice of that just has a single modern chromatics without any element of national color culture, but also greatly improve the situation of that the designer has not any principles to abide by.

Challenges of Online Teacher Professional Development Communities

With so many educators needing either initial preparation or ongoing professional development to build and sustain expertise in their discipline, online professional development arises as a viable, effective, and timely vehicle for teacher training. Online learning technologies have the potential to transform the professional development of teachers; penetrate cultural, discipline, and other barriers; bring educators together to learn, share successes and challenges; and co-construct and transfer learning. This chapter presents examples of success and challenges associated with a large-scale U.S. statewide online teacher professional development community. It also makes the case for implementing a systematic approach to investigating the effectiveness of online teacher professional development communities through ongoing assessment and responsive evaluation.