Bøger af Terry Hyland

Socrates' fundamental question about the nature of the good life and the best way for humans to live has been the subject of intense philosophical debate for over two millennia. Despite changes in terminology and conceptual styles, it remains the bedrock question in ethics and, in recent years, has been influenced by ideas regarding the possibility of providing objective, universal justifications for moral beliefs, judgments, and actions. The notion that moral values and judgments are susceptible to the procedures and methodology of the sciences has been proposed by several commentators. Sam Harris suggests that, since morality is about the well-being of conscious creatures, we now have enough knowledge about what promotes or hinders such well-being to make more or less objective judgments justified by the sciences. After examining some of the controversies surrounding the putative objective/subjective nature of the ethical life, the text makes a case for the objective side of the debate. This position is further supported by evolutionary perspectives and recent work on consciousness by thinkers such as Bernardo Kastrup, Donald Hoffman, Steve Taylor, and Iain McGilchrist.

Simulation arguments that the universe and our experience of it may be computer simulations constructed by advanced civilisations (either alien or our human/posthuman descendants) have been the subject of widespread debate since Bostrom¿s original philosophical formulation of the principal position in 2003. Since then the key elements of the argument ¿ boosted by ¿The Matrix¿ film and its sequels and spin-offs covering similar scenarios ¿ have been discussed critically by philosophers, psychologists, literary critics and scientists, and there is now a large body of literature on the topic. The principal theme of this monograph is that this simulation literature offers immense potential for learning and teaching in a wide range of domains. After examining the main claims of the argument ¿ and the key criticisms of simulation hypotheses ¿ the implications of this debate in the spheres of ethics, epistemology and metaphysics are examined with a view to offering practical recommendations for potentially fruitful philosophical and educational discussion topics.

Mindfulness and Learning argues that education can be rejuvenated by enhancing the impact it has on the emotional, social, moral and personal development of learners. Drawing on the Buddhist conception of mindfulness, the text examines the current imbalance by focusing on the affective domain of learning.

This book sets current policy and practice concerns against the backdrop of community education and employs case studies to chart the developments and changes that have taken place in FE.