The Prevention of Work-Related Risks

The goal of this chapter is to present how security and safety in the workplace, humanistic management, and humanistic psychology have become a fundamental pillar for the fulfillment of business objectives and the intervention on social and environmental issues, all the while recognizing human talent as the main axis for organizational development. For this purpose, the authors rely on two main axes: the first, the prevention of occupational hazards abiding by the guidelines established by different international organisms, including the implementation of governmental policies for the management of occupational safety and health in Latin America and mainly in Colombia; the second, the point of view of business administration, starting with their evolutionary process and leading to the new tendencies in administration such as B companies and businesses with purpose, all of which focus on an economy where success is measures by the wellbeing of people, societies, and nature.

Critical Theory of Religion by Erich Fromm: from Messianic Judaism to Radical Humanism

This paper studies Erich Fromm’s critical theory of religion and looks into the evolution of the philosopher’s views. We analyze key concepts of Fromm’s humanistic psychology, including biophilia, rejection of idolatry, X-experience, classification of religions as humanistic or authoritarian, plea for sustainable coexistence with the environment, and some others. The author demonstrates close connection of these concepts with Judaic tradition, especially the messianism and negative theology of Maimonides. The paper is divided into chapters tracing the evolution of Fromm’s views on religion — from Hasidic Judaism, through following Freud and Marx, to the concept of humanistic religion. The analysis shows that starting from his early works and up to the radical, socialistic humanism as the pinnacle of his thought, Fromm as a philosopher and a strong Israelite draws inspiration from the religious tradition. Notably, his PhD thesis was devoted to the sociology of Hebrew diaspora, Der Sabbath, The Dogma of Christ. However, Fromm’s theory of religion, accordant with the Frankfurt School, combines aspects of Hegel, Marx and Freud’s teachings. Fromm’s views on religion are an original, self-consistent synthesis of diverse ideas, and result in the concept of radical humanism. The paper specifically considers Fromm’s view on idolatry as a form of alienation. Fromm urges to fight against idolatry in a bro.ader sense, finding it in various social phenomena, ranging from consumerism to religious fundamentalism. The paper also reviews the concept of X-experience that Fromm gives in You Shall Be as Gods. The X-experience is a special transcendental experience, separated from its multiple theistic or non-theistic conceptualizations. X-experience is psychological in its nature and leads to diminishing or eliminating narcissism. It constitutes a certain opposition to the alienation caused by idolatry. The work also considers Fromm’s idea of humanistic religion as related to his other concepts. The author supposes that the distinction between authoritarian and humanistic religions is tied to the earlier separation into authoritarian and humanistic ethics that Fromm presents in Man for himself. The impact of Marx and Freud on Fromm’s philosophy of religion is highlighted. While drawing from both, Fromm considered Marx’s theory to be deeper and more significant.

On the Causes and Countermeasures of Chinese Learners’ English Reading Anxiety

Based on Humanistic Psychology and Krashen’s Affective Filtering Hypothesis, this study explores the effects on English reading anxiety among Chinese students, and corresponding countermeasures are put forward to it. English reading anxiety, one of the emotional factors that have a great effect on foreign language learning, mainly refers to the feeling of not being able to achieve desired goal or overcome a mental obstacle. The results indicate that Chinese English learners suffer English reading anxiety in text comprehension, and the psychological, cultural and text factors are the main causes leading to it. Based upon the findings, its advisable to lower the learners’ affective filter and promote their self-confidence as well as cultivate their cross-cultural awareness in future English reading teaching.

Conceptual Rethinking Self-Determination Theory: The Project of Constructivist SDT

Self-determination theory (SDT) has developed gradually over the last 45 years to become a major theory of human motivation and personality. Philosophical roots of SDT are grounded in organismic theory, SDT assumes that humans are proactive by nature, oriented toward healthy development and are vulnerable to passivity, psychological fragmentation, and interpersonal disharmony, especially when the social surround is not supportive of their inherent growth tendencies. Such a dynamic gives rise to an organismic-dialectic meta-theory. SDT uses the achievements of many other approaches. In the field of psychology of motivation it represents a very successful development of ideas about the cognitive mediation of motivational tendencies developed by J. Rotter, J.A. Atkinson, H. Heckhausen, M.E.P. Seligman, B. Weiner, etc. In the field of personality psychology, SDT is a new, much more empirically grounded stage in the development of the ideas of humanistic psychology. This paper offers a way to rethink SDT from a constructivist perspective. It seems that this approach will allow us to unify the ways of motivation formation using different styles of activity regulation, will make it possible to differentiate various regulatory styles within the style that is called external in traditional SDT and also will provide an opportunity to re-examine the problem of distinguishing between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. It will eventually expand the explanatory power of the SDT.

19th and 20th Century Philosophical Foundations of Curriculum

This chapter explores more recent and more relevant philosophies: Existentialism-phenomenology, and Pragmatism. Existentialism is examined, first of all, in terms of its early roots in the theological philosophy of Kierkegaard and its emphasis on self-reflection in action, then as extended by humanistic existentialism and humanistic psychology. Pragmatism examines the nature of educational experiences, the action implications of “musicing” and “amateuring,” and its critique of traditional aesthetics rooted in Kantian idealism. Both topics are extensively applied to major considerations of curriculum planning. Frequent references to pragmatism continue in the following chapters.

Developing student self-realization through foreign language disciplines in technical universities

Researched is the problem of creating conditions for self-realization in the course of studying language disciplines at the initial stage of training in a technical university. The study is based on the views of representatives of humanistic psychology and domestic teachers and psychologists, who regard self-realization as the highest stage in personality development, which predetermines its orientation and meaning of life. The article emphasizes the special capabilities of language disciplines in the formation of the process of self-realization, allowing you to learn to express your own position and results of activity in verbal form. The most important conditions for self-realization are highlighted as goal-setting and reflection at all stages of educational activity; turning it into a joint activity of both sides of the cognition process; development of skills of self-assessment and acceptance of assessment by others; the right balance of personal and collective. The paper analyzes the features of lectures and practical classes in creating opportunities for self-realization. The author comes to the conclusion that in the course of studying language disciplines, meaningful, organizational and methodological conditions are created for the implementation of self-realization at the subsequent stages of education and professional activity.

The meaning of life and death in the eyes of Frankl: Archetypal and terror management perspectives

This article aims to uncover the meaning of life and death across the lifespan of the extraordinary person, Viktor E. Frankl (1905–1997). Frankl was purposively sampled due to his international acclaim as an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, who later became famous as a holocaust survivor and the founder of logotherapy. Through his approach of “healing through meaning,” he became the founder of the meaning-centred school of psychotherapy and published many books on existential and humanistic psychology. The study describes the meaning of life and death through two theoretical approaches: the archetypal analysis based on C.G. Jung’s and C.S. Pearson’s work and a terror management approach based on the melancholic existentialist work of Ernest Becker. The methodology of psychobiography is used to conduct the psycho-historical analysis of the interplay of archetypes and death annihilation anxiety throughout Frankl’s lifespan. The article evaluates how archetypes and death anxiety interacts and how they built meaning in different stages of Frankl’s lifespan. The theories are discussed and illustrated in the light of Viktor E. Frankl’s life.