14th Annual International Conference on PsychologyProgram (Athens Local Time)(In the program presentations are included from all the subjects scheduled to be presented in parallel)
(Note: each presentation includes at least 10 minutes for questions and discussions if available)
Monday 25 May 2020
10.00-10.30 Registration
10.30-11.00 Opening and Welcoming Remarks:
Gregory T. Papanikos, President, ATINER.
Thanos Patelis, Research Scholar, Fordham University, USA. (Video)
11:00-11:30 Ana Cristina Silva, Assistant Teacher, ISPA – Instituto Universitário, Portugal. Title: The Impact of Revision and Interaction in Orthography Performance on Children from 3rd Grade.(PowerPoint)
Spelling acquisition does not imply only learning grapheme-phoneme correspondences. There are phonemes that can be represented by more than one grapheme and children have to learn in which contexts the same letter can have different phonetic values. Beyond phonology, children must also learn about other linguist dimensions such as morphology and morpho-syntact structures in order to learn the write down correctly. Consequently, the learning process must include metalinguistic reflection on word structure and orthographic rules. Children can not only reproduce orthographic rules, they must understand how rules work by representing their function on the written code, elaborate written code restrictions and making them explicit ( Bousquet, Cogis, Ducard, Massonet & Jaffré, 1999). The aim of this study is to analyse the impact of instructions oriented to the spelling revision through guidelines laid down in two different tables ( one regarding orthographic contextual rules and the other regarding morphologic rules). The participants were sixty 3th grade children , divided into 2 experimental groups and one control group, equivalent in terms of intellectual level and orthographic performance. Children from 3 groups were given a pre-test and a post-test dictation with 64 words intended to evaluate their orthographic performance. In order to write correctly these words children must have acquired contextual and morphological rules. For this study we only select children who had poor performance at pre-test. In order to provide the pupils with instruments to help them with their revision, they were given two tables, one specifying contextual rules and the other specifying some morphological rules. Between the pre and post-test the children had 6 intervention session in which 20 words were dictated. After giving them feedback about their mistakes, children from experimental group 1, were asked to correct their mistakes using the guidelines laid down on the tables. Children from experimental group 2 did the same task but in pairs, correcting the mistakes from each other and interacting between them. A significant moment x group interaction was found, which means that the effect of the training differed from group to group as far as spelling performance was concerned. At the moment of post-test, the data clearly indicate that the two experimental groups achieved far better orthographic performance than the control group.However, Experimental Group 2 seemed to be better than Exerimental Group 1.This pattern was found for the total of words and also when we analyse only words that imply contextual rules or words that imply morphological rules.
11:30-12:00 Nikos Theodoropoulos, PhD Student, The University of Edinburgh, UK. Title: Moral Belief Revision in a Micro-Social Network.(PowerPoint)
The liable of controversial conversations leading to infertile debates is usually morality. An important reason for this is that moral beliefs are resistant to change in light of new evidence (e.g., relevant numbers summarized in a graph). But how resistant are moral beliefs when facing evidence in form of social information, such as the beliefs of our social network peers? Do people adjust their moral beliefs based on the moral beliefs of their peers? Are people sensitive to statistical dependencies underlying their peers’ beliefs? In the present study, we investigate these questions formally, contrasting subjects’ moral belief change with the predictions of a Bayesian model. Using an interface allowing us to elicit full probabilistic beliefs from people, we investigated subjects’ ability to distinguish between the evidential value of social information across three conditions: integrating independent beliefs, dependent beliefs formed on the basis of the shared evidence, and dependent beliefs that result from sequential communication between sources. Overall, our findings showed that subjects did not distinguish the evidential value of dependent beliefs from independent beliefs and no social setup resulted in a change of people’s moral beliefs. The value of eliciting and visualising beliefs as probability densities and potential implications of the present work are discussed.
12:00-12:30 Mathilde Duflos, PhD Student, Université François Rabelais – Tours, France. Title: Effects of Affectionate Communication Received from Grandparents on Young Adults’ Depression.(PowerPoint)
The purpose of this study was to explore the role of affectionate communication received from their grandparents on young adults’ level of depression. Affection exchange theory (Floyd, 2006) posits that affection is associated with positivity and success of close relationships and may be beneficial to both senders’ and receivers’ social/relational, physiological and psychological health. Thus, we hypothesized that grandchildren who received less affection from their grandparents would show higher level of depression. A sample of 285 young adults (18-25 years old) completed a French version of the Grandchildren’s Received Affection Scale (Mansson, 2013) and of the Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D; Kohout et al., 1993 ; Radloff, 1977) as well as three complementary scales and demographic information. We determined different clusters of grandparents according to the scores attributed to them by their young adult grandchildren on the Grandchildren’s Received Affection Scale. Then, a one-way non-parametric ANOVA (Kruskal-Wallis Test) was used to test the relationship between affectionate communication received from grandparents and grandchildren’s self-reported depression. The results showed three different types of grandparents according to their affectionate communication with their grandchildren (very affective grandparents, affective grandparents and non-affective grandparents). The differences in young adults received affectionate communication was related to their level of depression. The results show that high level of received grandparental affectionate communication is related to less depressive symptoms in young adults. Thus, encouraging the use of affectionate communication in families, even when grandchildren become adults, may help to improve psychological health.
12:30-13:00 Suzanne Igier, PhD Student, Université François Rabelais – Tours, France. Title: Metacognitive Experiences, Coping Strategies on Severe People with Intellectual Disabilities.(PowerPoint)
With increasing life expectancy and better living conditions, the accompaniment of people with intellectual disabilities becomes an issue for current policies. However, few studies on adults, specially metacognition and coping strategies are still underused in research. Starting from the idea of an inefficiency and not a global deficit of the people with intellectual disability, we wanted to evaluate what dysfunction could impact their cognitive performances. So, in our study, the aim was to evaluate how coping strategies and metacognitive experiences could change their cognitive performances. In this study, adults were recruited from 23 to 70 years old, they have a moderate to severe intellectual disability and are institutionalized. The experiment is carried out in three stages. First, the participant evaluates his metacognitive experiences thanks to a form Efklides (2002a) and his coping strategies by the kidcope’s form (Spirito & al 1988). Secondarily, he has to answer to a categorization task (set of the 2005 Weschler test). Finally, retrospectively, the participant reevaluates his metacognitive experiences. We wondered if the metacognitive experiences before and after solving the task, were linked to the categories of performance as in previous resarches. Results showed that categorization performance was negatively linked to the feeling of familiarity only before solving the problem. The second hypothesis concerned links between coping strategies and categorization performance. In our study we noticed that participants used inappropriate strategies, especially the emotional outburst. Finally, the last hypothesis focused on the links between coping strategies and metacognitive experiences. So, self-criticism was the most significant predictor to explain metacognitive performance before the categorization’s task So, coping strategies and metacognitive experiences don’t help participant’s performances in categorization’s task, but worse them. In addition, people with intellectual disabilities have difficulties to adopt appropriate strategies to regulate their emotions according to the situation. Finally, they seem to have misperception about their performances and behaviors. To conclude, our results highlight the necessity to coach adults with intellectual disabilities about metacognitive experiences and emotional coping strategies before, and after a cognitive task.
13:00-13:30 Anita Robert, PhD Student, Université François Rabelais – Tours, France. Title: Study of Cognitive Distortion Profile on Mixed Anxiety-Depressive Disorder in Ordinary People.(PowerPoint)
Cognitive distortions contribute to the maintenance of inappropriate cognitive schemas and play a role in the emergence of pathologies such as anxiety and depression. These two disorders can be combined and are known as mixed anxiety-depressive disorder. This study aims to determine the cognitive distortions that define the existence of mixed anxiety-depressive disorder. The study involved 916 people (151 men and 765 women) aged 18 to 85-years. The subjects filled the adult cognitive distortion scale consisting of 42 mini scenarios with a daily life situation and a cognitive distortion proposition. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, consisting of 14 questions, accompanied the adult cognitive distortion scale. The whole protocol was put online, and the subjects were mainly recruited on the internet. The handover time was approximately 10 minutes. The utilization of negative cognitive distortion is more prevalent in mixed anxiety-depressive disorder than there was no association between anxiety and depression. we observe a greater use of minimization, requalification at the other pole, arbitrary focus and dichotomous reasoning. Mixed anxiety-depressive disorder is characterized by a greater presence of negative cognitive distortion. We can identify a cognitive distortion profile specific to the mixed anxiety-depressive disorder.
13:30-14:10 Elizabeth Mavroudi, Senior Lecturer, Loughborough University, UK. Title: Learning To Be Part of a Diaspora: Parental and Young People’s Perspectives from the Greek, Palestinian and Jewish Diasporas in the UK.(PowerPoint)
This paper will focus on a Leverhulme Trust funded, qualitative research project carried out with the Greek, Palestinian and Jewish diasporas in the UK. Young people aged between 11-25, their parents and also gatekeepers within these 3 communities were spoken to, mainly within the Midlands region of the UK. The paper is based on conceptualisations of diasporic identities as fluid and in-the-making, of young people as active agents with voices which need to be heard and of diasporas as diverse, dynamic and contested groups. This paper will be composed of two parts. The first part will examine how parents try to ‘teach’ their children how to be part of a diasporic community through such processes as: the social, religious, cultural and political activities they involve their children in, the languages they speak, the home environments they create, stories they tell their children about the group’s history, politics and struggles, the visits they take back to the homeland and other transnational connections they have with it, and the interaction their children have with grandparents and other family members. The paper will stress that this is an active and dynamic process that takes place over time and space and which requires work and effort on behalf of the parents: it is neither given, nor necessarily easy and some of the challenges will also be presented. The second part of the paper will examine how young people respond to such parental and wider family attempts to instill diasporic community and identity on them. It will stress how young people are indeed shaped and influenced by the processes outlined above but at the same time, how there is agency in how they construct, negotiate and practice their identities and lives in diaspora. It will demonstrate that the everyday spaces and in/exclusions they come into contact with such as school, friendship groups, virtual networks also play a role in helping them to articulate their identities differently across space and time. It will also outline how young people are finding their own unique ways to be, feel and participate in diaspora, which are often a mixture of here and there but also more globally oriented, and less tied to rigid ethno-national forms of belonging. Finally, it will stress how young people feel their voices, feelings and views are not being heard by those in positions of power, and that the distinct role that they can play in potentially creating more inclusive societies, nations and politics both in host and homeland contexts is not being utilised. The paper will go on to conclude by discussing how families in diaspora may have differing relationships with the homeland and with others in diaspora: nonetheless homeland and diasporic identities remain strong for all participating families even as these were articulated in flexible and broad ways and did sometimes create tensions and challenges. There are active choices to be made in terms of how individuals, families and communities in diaspora carve out and construct who they feel they are in relation to one another, their positonalities and the grounded and situated contexts they find themselves in.
14:10-14:40 Marios Theocharopoulos, PhD Student, The University of Edinburgh, UK. Title: The Social Power Motives and their Association with Moral Disengagement and Reasoning.(PowerPoint)
Unethical behaviour can have serious detrimental effects on oneself and others, such as in close relationships, reputations and in the finance world. A prime example of unethical behaviour is the case of powerful, influential individuals observed in the finance world and the political arena. But why do those who have aimed to or attained positions of power and status act unethically? Are there individuals who are more likely than others to punish acts of cheating? Research in the social hierarchy provides a strong theoretical framework to differentiate power motive components. Researchers have proposed that individuals can simultaneously be part of separate kinds of hierarchies, within which they are ranked according to different attributes. This clear taxonomy of different desires to obtain power, under the general power motive, provide us with the Social Power Motive (DoPL): Dominance (i.e. the desire for coercive power obtained through threats, intimidation or deception), Prestige (i.e. the desire for voluntary deference obtained through others’ admiration and respect particularly for one’s valued skills and knowledge) and Leadership (i.e. the desire for legitimized power granted by one’s group and obtained through taking responsibility in and for this group). In a series of experiments, we examined: (a) the unique relationships between the Dominance, Prestige, Leadership, Dark Triad (i.e. Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy) personality traits and Moral Disengagement. (b) whether DoPL Reasoners are likely to show cheater tolerance in a decision-making task. These results provide novel insights of how Dominance, Prestige, and the newest component Leadership, distinctively predict influential behaviour, regarding how our personal motives and personality affect how we think, how we act, and what values we hold.
14:40-15:10 Angela Princiotto, PhD Student, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Title: Fantasy upon Fantasy and the Love for Nostalgia.(PowerPoint)
“Fantasy upon fantasy and the love for nostalgia” is part of the PhD thesis We are both Italians of the opposite sides of the world, a comparative analysis of distance and diaspora, which is an enquiry about a migrant micro-community, coming from Sant’Angelo di Brolo (Sicily), studied in its aspect of trans-nationality. In fact, the different waves of migration that started at the end of the 19th century and have never stopped, brought people from the village to set in different parts of the world. The communities taken into consideration are two overseas ones (New York-Reading, Perth), two Europeans (Velbert, Canton Zurig), one in Northern Italy (Busto Arsizio). The aim is to understand the reasons why people left, as economic factors can’t be exhaustive in themselves Fantasy upon fantasy and the love for nostalgia is a paper about new forms of connection used by new diaspora generations to show their identity and their sense of belonging. In particular, this aspect has been contemplated in the young Sicilians in Perth, Western Australia, where the distance from the home-village, together with shared memories, feelings and experiences can play an important role in the creation of the mythology of the abandoned village. This imaginary is transmitted to the younger generations, who find different ways of connection to the homeland. One of these is through tattoos, which shows the same sense of attachment showed by the previous generations, while transformed in using different forms. Due to the generational gap, that becomes deeper in the diaspora environment, the attitude of young people can be perceived as disinterested while it can just express a different way to show their feelings of belonging. In fact, the recurrent themes of their tattoos are religion, family, lineage, ancestors, some of them all mixed together in the same one. Of course, in the choice of getting a tattoo, together with the influence of a global trend, a form of rite of passage can be seen, that introduces the subject to the tribe of the ethnic friends. Moreover, in this need to connect to a land most of them have never been to, a contribution is given by the imaginary created through the stories they have listened to and through the movies. A central role, especially for the males’ perception of belonging, is played by movies as The Godfather and The Sopranos. Some Italians identify themselves with their protagonists, for the sense of honor and pride they embody, getting to the point that they represent the quintessence of being Italian/Sicilian, creating in this way a fantasy upon fantasy.
15:10-15:40 Ralph Cash, Professor, Nova Southeastern University, USA. Corin Osborn, PhD Student, Nova Southeastern University, USA. Title: Effects of Broad Interview Training on Suicide, Threat, and Abuse Assessment.(PowerPoint)
As practitioners of a helping profession, it has always been a goal of psychologists to make sure their clients are safe, particularly from suicidal and abusive behavior. Yet mental health providers are often not provided sufficient training to assess suicidality (Schmitz et al., 2012), to feel confident enough to assess for abuse (Young, Read, Barker-Collo, & Harrison, 2001), or to be effective in responding to suicidal risk (Mackelprang, Karle, Reihl, & Cash, 2014). This is especially concerning, considering that in 2017, suicide was one of the top 10 leading causes of death across all ages, races, and sexes as well as the second leading cause of death for individuals between 10 and 34 years of age (CDC, 2017). In addition, United States estimates indicate that at least one in seven children have experienced abuse or neglect in the past year (CDC, 2019). The current study examines the efficacy of utilizing general interview training using simulated patients to increase clinician competency is assessing for suicidality, threat to others, and abuse. Data were collected from doctoral clinical psychology students at a large university in the southeastern United States. Participants were primarily 20-29 years old and identified as White or Hispanic/Latino(a). Surveys were completed as part of a four-month interviewing course in which participants were instructed and role-played diagnostic interviewing with simulated patients. These surveys were administered prior to course commencement as well as throughout the course. Variables regarding competency in assessing suicidality, threat to harm others, and risk of abuse were pulled from the surveys for the purpose of this study. Paired samples T-tests were used to determine differences in trainees’ skills in assessing for suicidality, threat to harm others, and abuse before broad interview training, twice during training, and at the end of the semester’s training. The test revealed significant increases in competence from pre-test to the first checkpoint for all skills (p<.001). Competency improvement from checkpoint one to checkpoint two was not significant for suicidality (p=.279) but significantly decreased between these checkpoints for threat and abuse assessment (p=.001, p=.021). Finally, competency significantly increased from checkpoint two to checkpoint three for suicidality and abuse assessment (p<.001 for both skills) and improved, but not significantly, for threat assessments (p=.057). The present findings suggest broad spectrum training in interviewing skills has significant implications for the efficacy of future clinicians. Suicidality, threat, and abuse assessments were each only discussed once during the course; yet, improvements continued throughout. In addition, the findings indicate that student “dips” in competency during training are not representative of final assessment of skills. The implications include a novel framework for psychology programs to train their students and for established clinicians to refresh their assessment and interviewing skills in a safe environment.
15:40-16:10 Melody Schmaltz, Clinical Psychology Student, Nova Southeastern University, USA. Title: Perfectionism as a Predictor of Clinical Interviewing Skills in Psychology Graduate Students.(PowerPoint)
Psychology trainees often report feeling incompetent in their therapeutic abilities prior to their first clinical encounter, which can lead to an increased focus on perfectionism. Socially Socially-prescribed perfectionism (SPP) is often associated with difficultie s in applying clinical skills. This study aims to explore whether SPP functions as a mediator of clinical interviewing skills acquisition in psychology trainees through practicing skills with simulated patients (SPs). First First-year clinical psychology train ees ( n=98) enrolled in an introductory interviewing skills lab and were randomly assigned to 10 course sections during the Winter 2020 semester. They completed a shortened form of the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale ( at the beginning and end of the 16 16-week semester. Trainees’ clinical interviewing skills were evaluated using Skills in Psychological Interviewing: Clinical Evaluation Scales (SPICES) SPICES), a 26 -item rating scale developed by faculty and advanced graduate stud ents . Trainees participated in a pre pre-test and post post-test consisting of a 15 consisting of a 15–minute, videotaped encounter with a SP, an actor trained to portray different diagnostic entities. minute, videotaped encounter with a SP, an actor trained to portray different diagnostic entities. Each Each session was evaluated by two facilitators (interns and/or postsession was evaluated by two facilitators (interns and/or post–doctoral residdoctoral residents) using ents) using SPICESSPICES. . Between preBetween pre–test and test and postpost–test, trainees attended 10 laboratory sessions during which they practiced clinical skills through a 15test, trainees attended 10 laboratory sessions during which they practiced clinical skills through a 15–minute minute encounter with a SP, followed by feedback from their peers and facilitators. encounter with a SP, followed by feedback from their peers and facilitators. A stepwise multiple A stepwise multiple regression analysis will be conducted to assess for SPP as a mediator of interviewing abilities with regression analysis will be conducted to assess for SPP as a mediator of interviewing abilities with SPICESSPICES scores serving as the dependent variable and the shortened scores serving as the dependent variable and the shortened MPSMPS serving as the independent variable. It is serving as the independent variable. It is hypothesized that those higher on SPP willhypothesized that those higher on SPP will evidence lower clinical interviewing abilities at both preevidence lower clinical interviewing abilities at both pre–test and posttest and post–test, test, with with SPICES SPICES change scores being lower in those higher on SPP. change scores being lower in those higher on SPP. This study will determine if SPP is a hindrance to trainees’ abilities to succeed in acquiring clinical intervie This study will determine if SPP is a hindrance to trainees’ abilities to succeed in acquiring clinical interviewing skills, wing skills, allowing trainers of psychologists to understand this relationship and provide intervention to enhance trainees’ allowing trainers of psychologists to understand this relationship and provide intervention to enhance trainees’ opportunities to succeed.opportunities to succeed.
16:10-16:40 Thanos Patelis, Research Scholar, Fordham University, USA. Title: Responsibilities of Psychologists to Ensure the Quality of Assessments(PowerPoint)
21:30-23:00 Greek Night (The event did not take place due to the limited number of attendance. Those who paid and were not able to attend will be offered a free voucher according to our policy: https://www.atiner.gr/coronavirus)
Tuesday 26 May 2020
09:00-12:00 Urban Walk (The event did not take place due to the limited number of attendance. Those who paid and were not able to attend will be offered a free voucher according to our policy: https://www.atiner.gr/coronavirus)
12:30-13:00 Daniela Matysová, PhD Student, Charles University, Czech Republic. Title: Emmanuel Levinas: Beauty and its Evil.
Main aim of this paper is to present a philosophical exploration of the nature of aesthetic experience in the work of french philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. My attention is going to be paid mainly to the problem of Levinas´s strong condemnation of some aesthetic phenomena – nevertheless not all of them. The reason behind is that Levinas explored two possible but radically contrary conceptions of aesthetic experience. Without the effort of closer examination of the reason of this division, we are going to be concentrated directly to the question of second Levinas´s determination of aesthetic experience: why does Levinas equal some sort of aesthetic experience with the possibility of escape from the world of efforts and sufferings which we undergo to take care of our neighbours – from the the ordinary world of responsibility – to the world of dreams, illusions and cowardice? I am going to show that we need to uncover the underlying context of this problematic, namely Levinas´s philosophical polemic with Martin Heidegger´s ontology and explain properly its implicit connection with the Levinas´s critique of aesthetic experience in order to solve our problem of aesthetic immorality. The necessity of clearing this connection between Levinas aesthetics and criticism of ontology is manifested since publishing Levinas´s major work Otherwise than being or beyond essence where Levinas examines his idea that aesthetic experience is giving access to the „being itself“ – key notion of Heideggers´s philosophy. Nevertheless without any doubt, if Levinas de facto accepts this Heidegger´s own description of the aesthetic experience he does it only to change radically the overal conclusion: this experience of being itself, different from the ordinary everyday experience (which is to be defined, according to phenomenological tradition, as based on consciouss activity of identifying and objectifying comprehension), is not the opening of the process of „transcendence“ itself, is not something of the highest value for our lives – but the opposite. My intention is to demonstrate that if, according to Levinas, the aesthetic experience is extra-ordinary exactly thanks to its ability to leads us beyond the scope of ordinary thinking – and if this simultaneously means that we are returning to the experience of pure being – it has to mean that the aesthetic experience is only reprehensible regress to the thoughtless naivity.
13:00-13:30 Marko Jakic, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Split, Croatia. Title: Ethical Actuality of Kant’s Categorical Imperative.(PowerPoint)
The presentation deals with Kant’s founding of ethics. Kant’s categorical imperative was viewed as one of the dividing lines in the philosophy of morality. It was therefore viewed as the dividing line between ethical intuitionism and ethical relativism. Namely, until today there is no significant contemporary ethical theory that has not addressed this imperative. And so that it was: a) completely rejected, b) only partially challenged, c) fully accepted. This imperative was considered within the framework of the following theses: (a1) Historical relativism The thesis according to which the categorical imperative, as an ontological pins and the principle of moral judgment, is set as an extra-historical constant, and in an epistemological sense does not refer to anything in objective reality. Adorno’s and Habermas’s objections were considered in this regard. (a2) Ontological ambiguity: The thesis that the categorical imperative is unclear, since it is ontologically based on an unknowable (transcendent) thing in itself (Ding an Sich). According to this thesis The mode of ontological grounding leads Kant’s philosophy to the claim that there are unknowable causes that govern human behavior (how nortmeno,r). Sidgwicks objection was considered in this regard. (b) Psychological interpretation: The thesis according to which the categorical imperative is metaphysically established as an expression of speculative assumptions. Therefore, this imperative, with the help of psychological scientific interpretation, should be fitted into an empirical setting of mentality. c) Ethical intuitionism: The thesis that the categorical imperative is established as a statement of our intuitive ability to distinguish between moral good and evil. So, this imperative provides sufficient reason for intuitively establishing the foundation of philosophical reflection on morality. in this sense, Rawls’s view was considered as an example of the construction of a social contract; based on the intuition of justice as the moral value. Under the subtitle: ‘The Limits of Historical Relativization’ (al) objections were considered. The objection of ‘formality’ addressed to the part of the categorical imperative which defines it as ‘general law’ is critically considered. Also, the objection of ‘mono logical-quality’ addressed to the part of the categorical imperative that defines it as ‘imperative claim is critically considered. Hegel’s objection to this imperative is particularly singled out since Hegel’s philosophy- does not belong to historical moral relativism. Under the subtitle: ‘The Limits of Ontological Ambiguity, the (a2) objection was considered. With the help of an analysis of Kant’s views, Sidgwick’s objection was rejected as unfounded. Under the subtitle: ‘The Limits of Psychological Interpretation’, (b) thesis was considered. In intuitionistic-oriented contemporary philosophy of psychology; the epistemological value of the categorical imperative is recognized. But it is emphasized that contemporary psychology does not have such a theoretical explanatory power Explanatory power by which it could be able to express a philosophically understood intuition of morality in a ‘more scientific’ way. In conclusion, the (c) thesis was discussed; in an attempt to prove the relevance of Kant’s categorical imperative as an historical source of the foundation-oriented contemporary philosophy of morality. Kants notion of ‘unconditioned good’ (das Unbedingt Guten) was crucial here.
13:30-14:00 Break
14:00-14:30 Carlos Correia, Associate Professor, University of Lisbon, Portugal. Title: Redefinition of Art: A New Αesthetical Proposal.
The thesis we will argue is that any technical object can be interpreted as a no-technical work of art and thus be included in the set of art-objects themselves. We know that an appreciable number of artefacts or media are created to enhance their intrinsic properties, immediately making “visible” or “audible” features that in a sense are worth themselves, and thus this type of media is usually classified as a “genuine work of art”. However, ultimately, what constitutes something like a “real work of art” is an “aesthetical-institutional” decision to interpret any artefact as art. In the limit, there are no genuinely intrinsic artistic properties, but, as Danto pointed out, they are seen as such, which allows any humanly manipulated object – an artefact – to become a sufficient (non-technical) work of art. Original works of art are often the result of a certain kind of interpretation that “suspends” its practical purpose and focuses on the experience itself. Not everything can be a genuine work of art as it escapes human manipulation. The Messier 51a galaxy, also known as the “vortex galaxy”, is gorgeous and can be the subject of beautiful works of art such as photographs, but hardly, until proven otherwise, can itself be the object of any human manipulation. It is no technical art object prima facie – like a “garden” for instance -, and of course, there is no condition that allows it to be interpreted as a “genuine work of art”. In the absence of a better term, we can designate this philosophy of art as a theory that insists on the ‘as if’ (als ob) aspect, using an expression popularized by Hans Vaihinger.
14:30-15:00 Andrew Ward, Lecturer, University of York, UK. Title: Kant and Hume on the Judgment of Taste.
Hume holds that we determine the beauty of an object on the basis of a feeling of pleasure. So does Kant. Equally, both hold that judgments of beauty are not a mere matter of individual taste but claim to hold for all human beings. But whereas Hume thinks that the standard of taste or beauty rests on an empirical foundation, Kant thinks it rests on an a priori one. For Hume, the possibility of a standard depends on the contingent agreement of human beings in their sense of beauty; for Kant, this possibility depends on their sense of beauty being necessarily shared. The upshot is that while Hume holds that judgments of beauty only carry what Kant calls comparative universality (a claim to hold for everyone as a matter of fact), Kant holds that they carry strict universality (a claim to hold for everyone without possible exception). The paper investigates the main reasons for this difference between the two philosophers’ views on the nature of the judgment of beauty and offers an assessment of their respective positions.
15:00-15:30 Angela Michelis, Teacher, “G. Peano – S. Pellico” High School in Cuneo (Grammar and Scientific Lyceum), Italy. Title: The Idea of Justice: Between Eros and Thanatos.
Eros and Thanatos are impulses that have both revealed themselves to be evidently present in human action since the beginning of history and which Kultur tries to embed through rules of coexistence and education. However, for the sheer fact of existing the human being is involved in the often violent dynamics of the struggle for survival. This fight characterizes the natural world of which every living being is a part. On the other hand, equally evident in history is the action of men under the sign of free will, of independence from sensitive impulses to the point of self-sacrifice for others or for an idea. In the face of this, the questions on the ultimate meaning of human life reopen the perennial mystery of mankind. Life, in fact, has its roots in organic matter with its needing laws, but at the same time it transcends them continuously in desires and actions. In the contemporary world, whether human beings can answer such questions only in a private way, in the singularity of their conscience and their reflection, or rather, they can go back to confronting universal wisdom and finding comfort in it, is becoming an ever more pressing and excruciating issue. Can a renewed search for Dike, as a law of harmony on a rational and universal basis, still be a shareable goal?
15:30-16:00 Thomas Auxter, Associate Professor, University of Florida, USA. Title: Socrates at Eleusis: Existential Questions.
For Socrates, existential commitments in life shape his beliefs and actions. One such commitment is well-known. In the Apology, we find an existential statement in his response to what he took to be the deliverance of the Oracle of Delphi. By saying no one was wiser, the Oracle effectively gave him what he needed to continue on a path of questioning those who claimed to have knowledge of the truth. This was his own distinctive, existential commitment for an authentic life. Here we find a Socrates who values autonomy in fashioning a life of inquiry and wants always to follow the argument where it leads. However, it is also important to recognize other values affecting his choices and his identity. It is clear that the procession to Eleusis, and the values associated with it, are at the center of his thinking about choices in life. This is evident, for example, in his speech at the end of Politeia, a dialogue exploring all sides of human relations. Socrates not only tells the story of the myth of the cave to emphasize the value of autonomy; he also tells the story of the myth of Er, drawing conclusions about important life values. Here the value of community and building relationships with others is paramount. Indeed, the similarities between the journey in the myth of Er and the procession to Eleusis are striking. This reveals how important Eleusis was for Socrates. In both cases, those assembled move in a procession with others to make the ultimate choice in life. Along the way, they have plenty of opportunities to engage with others in dialogue and deliberation to consider the kind of life that is best. Participants realize that self-knowledge is inseparable from knowledge of how others have come to make choices and how they evaluate their experiences. Self-knowledge requires learning from others what they have experienced. We learn why they have chosen to reject what are for them false assumptions and false promises about life. We thereby avoid mistakes and overcome problems. Self-knowledge develops from this fundamental quest for orientation – with consequences for thinking, values, and judgement. At the end of the procession, it is time to choose fates. Those who learn from their experiences, and deliberate carefully, choose modest lives, with an emphasis on living well with others. A self that begins the journey in relation to others, ends that journey by turning into a relational self, one deeply interconnected with others. Commitments to values of intellectual integrity, self-knowledge, and community are what an authentically human existence means for Socrates. In the body of the paper, I develop these themes and raise questions about what existential commitments mean for Socrates. In notes, the reader will find a literature review discussing the historical evidence for what occurred in and around the procession. The list of scholars includes Jane Ellen Harrison, George Mylonas, Karoly Kerenyi, J.W. Roberts, Frank Snowden, Walter Burkert, and Eva C. Keuls.
16:00-16:30 Katherine Cooklin, Professor, Slippery Rock University, USA. Title: Ignorance, Epistemic Injustice, and Rape Myths.
I describe the relation between the epistemology of ignorance and epistemic injustices that women may face due to widely held rape myths. I suggest that in a patriarchal society, there exists a sexist epistemology of ignorance that scaffolds rape culture and influences the meaning of rape and sexual assault. The persistence and durability of these myths operate to actively construct an epistemology of ignorance that perpetuates male privilege and harms women not only because women are often assigned credibility deficits when telling their stories, but they are also harmed in their capacity to make sense of their experiences as rape or assault because myths restrict or diminish the conceptual resources available to them. In particular, I will address the relationship between functional beliefs that are influenced by rape myths, and the ways in which rape myths may contribute to two types of epistemic injustice identified by Miranda Fricker, testimonial injustice and hermeneutical injustice. I will address how rape myths widen the gap between the legal and promulgated rule of rape and the concepts used to interpret one’s own experiences, and the role that rape myths play in the uneven distribution of epistemic resources such that interpretive concepts are available to some but not to others due to the distortion of widely held myths. Fricker’s (2007) model of hermeneutical injustice focuses primarily on the absence of shared cultural resources, facts or concepts, necessary to adequately identify and make sense of one’s experience. But what about examples where concepts do exist, are codified in law and yet appear to be unavailable as epistemic resources to some? Many women, particularly those who are of college age, experience acts that fully meet the legal definition and concept of rape or assault, and yet they fail to acknowledge their experience as rape or sexual assault. Fricker’s model of hermeneutical injustice requires there be a conceptual lacuna, which raises the question of whether there can be a hermeneutical injustice regarding unacknowledged rape given that the concept of rape does exist. Jenkins argues that because of rape myths, the share of conceptual resources is genuinely compromised. There is an intelligibility deficit, so that they are unable to render their own experience intelligible as sexual violence. I argue that sexual violence myths alone are not sufficient to account for unacknowledged rape as a hermeneutical injustice, rather they are bolstered by neoliberal narratives of individual risk management. Together they undermine women’s ability to render their experience intelligible as sexual violence by inculpating victims of that violence and obscuring conceptual resources better suited to transforming rape culture.
16:30-17:00 William O’Meara, Professor, James Madison University, USA. Title: Dewey on Moral Principles as Hypotheses(PowerPoint)
In John Dewey’s Pragmatist theory of knowledge, all truths whether theoretical principles or practical moral guidelines are hypotheses that need to be tested. We focus on moral principles. Dewey is arguing that moral principles, whether they are negative prohibitions such as “do not take an innocent human life” or positive guidelines such as “do seek the good of marriage according to one’s mature and free choice” are not absolute moral truths but only tentative, hypothetical guidelines that need to be tested in their moral appropriateness for specific application to our lives. This paper proposes to examine: detailed examples of (1) negative and (2) positive moral rules to see if they are in fact better interpreted as hypotheses in need of testing in our lives rather than as absolute rules, and then, (3) to examine with George Herbert Mead why theoretical and, especially, moral principles are well conceived of as hypotheses. (1) We will consider four rules, (a) against harm to human beings, (b) against suicide and active euthanasia, (c) allowing capital punishment for the most serious of crimes, and (d) the 1896 Supreme Court decision allowing African-American children to be excluded from white schools, and we will find that none of these rules are absolute, allowing no exceptions. (2) We will consider four examples of positive moral ideals or rules and how they may be evaluated as moral hypotheses, not as absolute rules allowing no exceptions. (a) We look at the ideal of heterosexual marriage and how it has been expanded as a fundamental human right applying to the LGBT and Q community. (b) We examine the ideal age for mature and free consent to marriage and find reasonable variations amongst the states. (c) We consider the ideal for protecting free and mature consent for marriage in the states and find reasonable variations in how this ideal of free and continuing mature consent may be protected and enhanced. (d) Finally, we consider Aristotle’s famous conceptualization of virtue as the art of living, suited to the individual as a person of practical wisdom would decide, and we have emphasized that there is no mathematical calculation of this art by any individual. (3) Fesmire suggests the importance of Dewey’s agreement with George Herbert Mead on our need to understand sympathy’s key role in our understanding of the interaction of the self with the other for ethical deliberation in order to understand why moral principles are hypotheses, always in need of testing. For Mead understands the self as a process of the “I” taking on a “Me,” a social role which is always being tested through all our interactions with our social others. However, Fesmire does not use the thought of Mead to elaborate a pragmatic understanding of moral deliberation as imaginative, dramatic rehearsal [Fesmire, pp. 66, 81]. It is precisely this pragmatic understanding of moral deliberation as imaginative, dramatic rehearsal which this paper develops from Mead’s grasp of the self as involving both the “I” and the “Me”.
17:00-17:40 Chin-Tai Kim, Professor, Case Western Reserve University, USA. Title: Rethinking the Foundation of Normative Ethics.
Few would dispute that normative ethics needs a foundation. But whence and how such a foundation originates and how its constituent elements should relate to concrete human moral life are complex issues. The expression “The foundation of normative ethics” carries the implication that the beliefs and values belonging to the foundation must be consciously presupposed and brought to concrete existential contexts to occasion, support or justify moral judgments or decisions by agents–persons or institutions. Many traditional philosophical systems portray a mode of human existence characterized by consistent applications of relevant elements of a system to concrete moral life. But from the other end of reflective perspective on human moral life comes a portrayal of human subjects-agents making moral judgments, decisions or actions with little better than situational justification with intuition or inclination.. A comparative critique of contending ontologies of human life with a moral dimension presents itself as a weighty foundational task. Should a moral act be viewed as an occasion to apply and fortify a worldview with justificatory tools one already has, as a Kairos for deliberate but free choice of it along with an entire supportive framework, as a moment in a teleological process toward an “absolute” resolution, or as an occasion to optimally solve a problem with whatever effective tools that can be found and put to use? And what principles, if any, should guide such a critique and whence do they come? A special concern in the handling of these issues will be to clarify once again how being moral.
17:40-18:10 Peter Simpson, Professor, The City University of New York, USA. Title: A Suggestion for Abortion Laws.(PowerPoint)
It is a curious fact about current laws that abortion is viewed as the solution for which pregnancy is the problem. Thus, laws that lay down limitations or prohibitions on abortion also contain clauses making exceptions for the life and health of the mother—as if the mother’s life and health were threatened by pregnancy and preserved by abortion. What is puzzling here is that, on any fair assessment of the issue, these exceptions are one-sided if not even back to front. Of course, continuing a pregnancy has its risks, but it is hardly as if abortion has none of its own. So why not think of things in a different way? Instead of wording abortion laws so that they say abortion is permitted for the sake of the life and health of the mother, word them so that they say abortion is permitted except for the sake of the life and health of the mother. Accordingly, I offer the following proposal for a single, and very simple, law to cover all cases of abortion: “abortion is permitted through the whole of pregnancy, up to and including the final month, except for the sake of the life and health of the mother.” The paper explores the implications of this change.
18:10-18:40 Katerina Psaroudaki, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. Title: Group Reparations and Race-Conscious Affirmative Action.
Is a black American today worthy of reparations in virtue of being a member of a historically disadvantaged group? And if so, is affirmative action the appropriate remedy? I will show that black Americans are not entitled to receive group reparations in the context of race-conscious affirmative action. My argument proceeds as follows. First, I make a distinction between the special duty of Reparation and the general duty of Compensation, showing that an argument in favor of affirmative action for the sake of rectifying racial injustice should be modeled upon the former. Modeling affirmative action upon the duty of Reparation entails that we can a) identify the victim of injustice, b) identify the perpetrator of injustice, and c) explain why affirmative action restores the equivalent of what the victim of injustice has lost. Next, I argue that an argument defending group reparations for black Americans fails to satisfy the above desiderata: a) the morally arbitrary property “being black” does not effectively track the morally relevant property “being a victim of injustice”, b) the morally arbitrary property “being white” does not effectively track the morally relevant property “being a perpetrator of injustice”, and c) affirmative action does not seem to restore perfectly the group loss that has been historically inflicted upon black Americans.
20:00-21:30 Dinner (The event did not take place due to the limited number of attendance. Those who paid and were not able to attend will be offered a free voucher according to our policy: https://www.atiner.gr/coronavirus)
Wednesday 27 May 2020Educational Islands Cruise
Thursday 28 May 2020Delphi Tour
(The event did not take place due to the limited number of attendance. Those who paid and were not able to attend will be offered a free voucher according to our policy: https://www.atiner.gr/coronavirus)
