Throughout his works, the postmodern thinker Jaques Derrida explores a variety of thoughts around a wide variety of topics. While all writings present new understandings applicable not just in theory but in daily life, some of his writings most grounded in daily human experience are those he presents around his aporias, or puzzlements. Within these…
The “docile body” as conceived by Foucault is a person who, as a result of disciplinary power is molded into someone who does exactly what they are supposed to in exactly the way they are supposed to. This concept of a docile, malleable, body is applied originally to that of soldiers, where Foucault describes training…
The ‘prisoner’s dilemma’ is a hypothetical situation often used in the context of Hobbes’ Social Contract Theory. It is a seemingly simple situation which carries significant implications which add to the understanding of Hobbes’ conception of the state of nature as a “‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’” (Rachels, 2012, p. 83) state of war,…
Indigenous stories share common-sense understandings and moral teachings; they function as spiritual and mental medicine. Storytelling is a widely practiced and celebrated part of Indigenous culture for connecting Indigenous peoples to their culture and spiritual identities. It serves to heal traumas such as cultural genocide, racially motivated hate crimes, various types of substance abuse, and…
In 1789, a revolution swept across the land of Joan of Arc, which began the dechristianization of France. Throughout the revolution, the new revolutionary authorities suppressed the Catholic Church, abolished the Catholic monarchy, nationalized church property, exiled 30,000 priests, and killed hundreds more. When the revolution began, France had gone to war with Britain and…
The Trolley Problem, a thought experiment in which the individual determines the value of human life, deciding whether it is worth sacrificing an individual in order to save 5. In our growing world, a similar problem arises with the innovation of self-driving cars. In the case of an unavoidable accident, who does the car decide…
The term “person perception” is used in social psychology to describe the many mental processes that we utilize to develop impressions of other people. This encompasses not just how we generate these impressions, but also the various conclusions we draw about other individuals based on them. It looks at how these processes affect social judgment…
David Hume is known as one of the empiricists that argue that there are no innate ideas, and that all knowledge comes from experience. Hume’s focus on causation opened the discussion on how we can learn about cause and effect through our experiences. Hume begins the discussion by concluding that the reason humans perceive cause…
The word “psychoanalysis” is derived from the Greek word “psychoanalysis” (psyche – soul, analysis – to investigate). Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory that emphasizes the survival in the subconscious of natural urges suppressed by the consciousness. This term refers to a style of psychotherapy that arose from Sigmund Freud’s and Josef Breuer’s cathartic method. Psychoanalysis…
“She’s such a narcissist”, “That was so narcissistic of them!”, “God, he has such a narcissistic personality.” and so on. We all have heard these statements in our day-to-day lives. But not many of us understand what it means to have this personality disorder. And before you all dive in, no, having self-confidence or being…
Students mill through school grounds, all dressed in the latest fashions and trends. Although they may not think twice about their clothing, other than how fashionable they are, there is another factor that affects their dress for school, dress codes. Dress codes in North America have come under fire in recent years, amid arguments that…
The existential theory is a 20th-century philosophy that is concerned with the scrutiny of human existence in the world. The fundamental existentialist viewpoint is that humans exist first, and everyone spends their lives changing their nature and essence. Humans are conscious entities, and it is this consciousness that determines their existence. The second nature of the…
Gyn/ecology is the title for Mary Daly’s third book that is considered the most radical of all her publications. Daly characteristically redefined old words or coined new ones with the intention of undermining patriarchal attitudes. She creates such words because none are available in the ordinary language to help her relay the meaning of what…
Nietzsche’s opines that there are two different moralities; the master and slave morality that appears universally in society and are always in conflict with each other. According to the philosopher, people with a stronger will and more ambitions possess master morality. These individuals are also open-minded, risk-takers, influencers, and have high self-esteem. Master morality, stresses…
Since the recognition of psychology as a discipline, scholars have developed various theories to explain cognitive development in humans. While theorists unanimously agree that every human being is cognitively special and unique, they have recognized that the development follows some general pattern, which is documented in various theories. Among such models is Jean Piaget’s Theory…
Definition of sampling: “In research terms, a sample is a group of people, objects, or items that are taken from a larger population for measurement. The sample should be representative of the population to ensure that we can generalize the findings from the research sample to the population as a whole”. Type of sampling: There…
Generally, learning is defined as any relatively permanent change in knowledge, behavior and thinking skills, which comes through experience. Over the years psychology has played an important role in how learning and education take place, be it formulating the curriculum, instructional design, or policies related to education. Hence it is paramount to understand the learning…
The origins of the field of Educational Psychology can be traced back to the experimental and empirical work on association and sensory activity by the anthropologist Sir Francis Galton, and the American psychologist G. Stanley Hall, who wrote The Contents of Children’s Minds (1883). Other major theorists in the early history of the field include William James, John…
From reviewing social studies journals, there seems to be a regular occurrence of Kieran Egan, an educational theorist at Simon Fraser University. While he is employed in British Columbia, he has written numerous pieces that can be viewed by American social studies educators. In many of his articles, Egan expresses that educators would be “educationally…
Realism can be defined according to various disciplines but In International Relations, political realism is a tradition of analysis that stresses the imperatives states face to pursue a power politics of the national interest. Political realism or realpolitik is the one of the oldest and most frequently used theories in international relations when dealing with…