Faith and Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Faith and Philosophy - Essay Example Likewise with Hegel, the notion of 'death' or 'is not' is always associated with its opposite, namely, 'being' or what is. To maintain that 'god is not' as Nietzsche argues, supposes too that she also is. Where some individuals are willing to risk their lives – to be 'what is not'', they must have faith in the reasonableness of this assumption. This parallel between Kierkegaard and Hegel will be kept in mind in the following analysis. What will be outlined first, is his notion of the truth of subjectivity in Kierkegaard. This is an important consideration for what will follow, given that it is an argument which best describes what existence ‘does not mean’, so to speak. It will be argued that his notion of subjectivity is born out of a sense of alienation from ‘traditional’ Christianity, and from Platonism, and that ‘faith’ itself is coextensive with ‘subjectivity’. Following this analysis of the truth of subjectivity, and wh at he means by subjectivity and the ‘form’ of isolation associated with the ‘knight of faith’. ... subject’, and it constitutes a theory concerning the meaning of existence – that is, what it means to exist, and moreover, it represents the activity of faith itself. In this respect, faith is not so much a concept as it is an activity or form of praxis. It is 'extra' philosophical or beyond philosophy in contrast with faith, as a form of praxis. The nature or essence of existence, is for Kierkegaard, ‘paradoxical’ [Kierkegaard 32]. It is paradoxical, because it can be described in two contradictory modes, namely, the finite and the infinite. And, implied by the notion of the infinite, are a number of similar or identical concepts. For examples, concepts such as the ‘eternal’, or ‘continuity’, ‘identity’ the ‘absolute’, ‘god’, and so forth. This paper will first give an analysis of a fragment in Kierkegaard’s within the context of his work titled Fear and Trembling, a work which recount s the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac taken from the Torah or the Old Testament (Genesis), and in brief, it concerns a father (Abraham) who is called upon by Yahweh or God to make a sacrifice of his only son Isaac, which is in turn, a parable which on the surface, concerns God’s testing Abraham’s convictions, courage, faith, obedience, and sense of obligation toward himself or herself. What transpires in this story, is that God calls upon Abraham to sacrifice his only son, and so he proceeds to carry out the task, only to have God or Jehweh stop him at the last moment and tell him that he has proven his ‘faith’ to him. In turn, God blesses Abraham for his faith. Before remarking on Kierkegaard, a brief remark will be made about the biblical story, and that is that it is quite short, and in the Revised Standard Edition (and not the Hebrew), there

Preparing Facilitators Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Preparing Facilitators - Essay Example Facilitative training is a closely controlled information passing technique with defined participant roles (facilitator and trainees). Training sessions are typically held in a seminar format with multiple participants guided by a succinct agenda under the direction of a facilitator. This method is most effective for introducing new material to learners operating from the same knowledge base - for example, reviewing workplace policies with newly hired employees. Facilitative training begins with an overview of its purpose and a clarification of the training goals. The subject matter is then presented to participants and includes opportunities for discussion or question and answer periods which validate learning and goal achievement at an established pace. The role of the facilitator, who may or may not be a subject matter expert, is to clarify and attain learning goals, maintain order, create a comfortable environment that encourages open communication, ensure accuracy of information provided, gather information from learners and provide closure on punchlist items (those issues that arise which cannot be addressed during the session). Unlike facilitation, coaching is generally a more informal, individual and hands-on method, which involves a learner and a mentor. Research by Eraut et al (1998, p.48) has shown the importance of informal learning in the workplace and highlights that knowledge is "held by individuals" from whom other people need to learn. The coaching process entails defined goals, explicit step-by-step instructions given by the coach to the learner, technique demonstration by both coach and learner, review of the instructions followed by organized practice and concludes with feedback from the coach regarding learner's goal attainment. The role of the coach, who is likely to be a subject matter expert, is to ensure that each learner grasps both the subjective and objective aspects of the training. This ensures that when necessary, critical methods are employed by the learner (for example, patient case records are accurately completed) but individual work preferences can be recognized (for example, patient records may be completed during the course of treatment or after treatment is concluded). Behavioral rehearsal training is designed to be a simple, short, structured and skill-specific process that applies Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory through peer observation, feedback and practice. Social learning Theory focuses on the learning that occurs within a social context and considers that people learn from one another, including such concepts as observational learning, imitation, and modeling. (Ormrod, 1999) That is to say, people can learn by observing the behaviors of others and the outcomes of those behaviors. The process of behavioral rehearsal entails: stating a purpose, describing a skill and scenario,