Search Results (287)

Walter Henry Medhurst’s translation of The Shoo King (尚書/書經) represents the first complete English rendering of this classic Chinese text. However, limited attention has been given to how Medhurst navigated the tension between Confucian thought in The Shoo King and his own religious beliefs, as well as his treatment of this tension in comparison to James Legge, Joseph de Prémare, Walter Gorn Old, and his interpretation in contrast to Cai Shen’s annotated edition of The Shoo King. This study adopts a “history of the book” approach to examine how Medhurst, as a Protestant missionary, translated key Confucian anthropocentric concepts, including “Ren” (仁), the Doctrine of Mind-Nature, people-centered governance, and religious ideas related to the divine. Through extensive textual analysis and comparison with other scholars’ translations, this study finds that Medhurst adhered to the principle of textual fidelity, striving to minimize the interference of his religious stance with the original meaning of Confucian philosophy. His translation of terms varied according to the context, especially reflecting the shift in The Shoo King from the idea of “Heaven’s mandate is inviolable” to “Heaven is not trustworthy.” Additionally, he enhanced the communication of the original text’s meanings through paratextual elements such as illustrations and footnotes, while retaining Cai Shen’s historical background interpretations and significantly reducing the philological commentary, presenting a “concise and focused” annotation approach. These findings highlight Medhurst’s unique contribution to the cross-cultural transmission of the Confucian canonical text. Full article

Uniquely rooted in regenerative leadership and complemented by Complexity Leadership Theory (CLT), this conceptual essay offers a theoretical exploration of how educational institutions can act as dynamic systems that catalyze adaptive, community-led responses to anthropocentric socio-environmental crises. Rather than sustaining existing structures, educational leadership for regeneration seeks to restore ecological balance and nurture emergent capacities for long-term resilience. Positioned as key sites of influence, educational institutions are explored as engines of innovation capable of mobilizing students, educators, and communities toward collective environmental action. CLT offers a valuable lens for understanding how leadership emerges from nonlinear, adaptive processes within schools, enabling the development of innovative, collaborative, and responsive strategies required for navigating complexity and leading planetary-positive change. Drawing on a synthesis of the recent global literature, this paper begins by outlining the need to go beyond sustainability in envisioning regenerative futures, followed by an introduction to regenerative principles. It then examines the current and evolving role of educational leadership, the relevance in enabling whole-institution transformation, and how this relates to regenerative practices. The theoretical frameworks of systems thinking and CLT are introduced before noting their application within regenerative educational leadership. The final sections identify implementation challenges and offer practical recommendations, including curriculum innovation, professional development, and youth-led advocacy, before concluding with a call for education as a vehicle for cultivating planetary-conscious citizens and systemic change. This work contributes a timely and theoretically grounded model for reimagining educational leadership in an era of global turbulence. Full article

Geoethics emphasizes responsible human interaction with the Earth, promoting ethical practices in the geosciences to ensure sustainability for current and future generations. UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGps) are designated areas that support sustainable development by integrating geoconservation, geoeducation, and community engagement, thereby raising awareness of geological heritage. This quantitative study employed an online questionnaire (n = 798) to assess geoethical awareness among residents of all nine Hellenic UGGps, with the aim of profiling environmental engagement and perceptions. The results indicate a generally high level of geoethical awareness, with Sitia UGGp exhibiting the highest average mean score (M⁻ = 8.98, SD⁻ = 1.34), reflecting strong community support and effective outreach efforts. In contrast, Lavreotiki UGGp (M⁻ = 8.48, SD⁻ = 1.15) and Psiloritis UGGp (M⁻ = 8.33, SD⁻ = 1.36) scored lower in areas such as community engagement and geotourism, suggesting opportunities for targeted improvement. Regional differences suggest that management, visibility, and local context significantly influence public perceptions. Cluster analysis identified four respondent profiles: (a) highly engaged environmental stewards (28.7%), (b) supportive but selective advocates (40.5%), (c) moderately indifferent participants (26.9%), and (d) disengaged or critical respondents (3.9%). Demographic factors such as age, residence, prior visits to Hellenic UGGps, and education significantly differentiated these groups. Mapping geoethical awareness provides a valuable tool for assessing societal benefits and enhancing the governance of UGGps. Overall, the findings underscore the need to shift from an anthropocentric to a more geocentric worldview that prioritizes the well-being of both humanity and Earth’s systems. Full article

Public media serves as a significant source of scientific information for non-scientists. However, the simplifications and omissions inherent in media reporting often alter the nature of scientific information, potentially influencing understanding and perceptions of science and the nature of science. This study investigates how mechanistic explanations about biological processes are represented in public media, focusing on two forms of incomplete mechanistic information: “gray boxes” and “black boxes”. Using COVID-19 as a case study, we analyzed 122 media reports of biological mechanisms to understand how incomplete parts are masked by more complete explanations and their implications. Our findings highlighted three main points. First, incomplete information often appears alongside complete information within other parts of the explanation. Second, some parts of similar mechanisms are presented differently, which can create a sense of conflicting information if incompleteness is not recognized. Third, multiple filler terms are used to mask black boxes within biological explanations (e.g., “cause”, “fight”, or “mutate”). While filler terms enhance narrative flow, they can obscure gaps in scientific knowledge and lead to anthropocentric or teleological explanations. We categorized these filler terms into three groups and discussed their relevance to teaching and learning. Implications for addressing partial information in the science classroom are discussed. Full article

The research explores three interconnected themes: philosophy, education, and ecology. It aims to be an interdisciplinary study that emphasizes the significance of the philosophy of environmental education and its practical implications. Initially, it addresses the contemporary hylomorphic production approach, followed by proposing educational solutions aimed at fostering a comprehensive understanding of the environment. This understanding includes recognizing humans as part of the environment, sharing equal rights to existence with all other life forms. The study advocates for a shift away from anthropocentrism, positioning humans in a non-privileged role within the ecosystem. It seeks to challenge long-standing notions where humans have historically placed themselves above other beings. The research is particularly inspired by the “Green Schools” in Bali, which embody a proactive educational philosophy aimed at reshaping how future generations perceive their role in production and environmental stewardship. These schools promote an educational framework that encourages students to reconnect with nature and develop sustainable practices from the ground up, moving away from exploitative and profit-driven paradigms. An example of this innovative approach is found in disciplines such as “eco-art,” where colors are derived from natural relationships rather than manufactured. The overarching goal is to cultivate a perspective that sees humans as integral components of nature, valuing it for its intrinsic worth rather than solely for its utility to humanity. Full article

In this article, I investigate the ontological status of the minor working-class character Mrs. McNab, the cleaner in “Time Passes", the middle section of Virginia Woolf’s tripartite novel To the Lighthouse. Woolf regarded this section as the connecting block between the two outer blocks, “The Window” and “The Lighthouse”, in which she aimed to depict an empty house, devoid of human presence, and to highlight the passage of time. This section has often been analysed by literary-stylistic criticism as if written from a non-anthropocentric worldview. However, the presence of a lower-class cleaner and the absence of the upper middle-class characters who predominate in the other two blocks has also raised much debate in the literary arena. Literary critics agree that this character is given a narrative voice, but how this voice functions, and whether this character is granted narrative agency in terms of the class issues and social relations in the period of transition between Victorian England and the early twentieth-century, is an issue which still remains open. Drawing upon cognitive stylistics, I suggest reading this character both as a category-based and person-based character, and as a narrative device. First, I carry out the analysis of the repetitive she-clusters and their semantic prosodies; then, through samples of the section “Time Passes", I analyse how viewpoint blending between narrator/author and character concur to grant narrative agency to Mrs. McNab and to what extent such agency may be limited by our perception of her through the social schemata of a servant, or whether such a perception may undergo a process of schema refreshment. Last, I suggest that this character may also be viewed as a narrative agent by means of which the reader can activate mental processes of TIME and SPACE blending between the three different blocks of the novel. This blending process allows for the completion of the narrative design of the novel: the journey to the lighthouse. Full article

In this paper, we reflect on difficulties connected with transitioning from one spiritual tradition to another. We consider Western New Animism, sometimes proposed as a remedy to the exploitative and anthropocentric values typical of Western Modernity. New Animism hopes to provide a framework for resilient, pro-environmental attitudes and practices. Referring to Wittgenstein’s reflections on religion, magic and culture, as well as the work of Peter Winch, we argue that the possibility of embracing another form of spirituality depends on one’s ability to see a ‘depth’ in it. However, a conversion always has an element of the unpredictable, as we never know in advance what awaits us on the other side. This creates problems for purely pragmatically oriented suggestions to adopt an animist worldview. Full article

This paper analyzes the Hindu concept of sevā—selfless service—as a theo-ethical practice that reconfigures the relationship between religion and economy, offering a snapshot of an Indian perspective on the convergence between postsecularism and postcapitalist discourses. Rather than being reducible to acts of charity, sevā integrates spiritual, ethical, and social dimensions that challenge the neoliberal emphasis on individual self-interest and material accumulation. Rooted in the pursuit of liberation and relational well-being, sevā frames economic and moral agency in terms of embeddedness, reciprocity, and care. To illustrate sevā’s unique attributes, the paper engages with two case studies. The first explores Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy, where sevā is articulated through a non-anthropocentric ethic of nonviolence (ahiṃsā), obliging the reconstruction of eco-economic mechanisms and environmental responsibility. The second examines contemporary guru-bhakti communities in Delhi’s urban peripheries, where sevā functions as spiritual discipline (sādhana), a means for communal uplifting, and the expression of kalyāṇ—holistic well-being that transcends individual boundaries. In both contexts, sevā emerges as a practice that intervenes in and reshapes socio-economic life. By foregrounding sevā as a lived practice, the paper situates Indian religious traditions as a distinctive contribution to broader postcapitalist and postsecular debates. It argues that sevā offers an alternative model of personhood and ethical intentionality—one that contests dominant binaries of spiritual/material, secular/religious, and human/nature, and reimagines human flourishing through the lens of relational ontology and collective responsibility. Full article

This article explores Greco-Roman mythology through the lens of ecocriticism, focusing on how sacred landscapes and natural elements were imagined as animate, divine, and morally instructive forces. In ancient Mediterranean cultures, nature was not merely a passive setting for human action but a dynamic presence—rivers that judged, groves that punished, and mountains that sheltered or revealed. Texts such as Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Virgil’s Georgics, and Homer’s epics present nature as both sacred and sentient, often intervening in human affairs through transformation, vengeance, or protection. Forests, springs, and coastlines functioned as thresholds between human and divine, civilization and wilderness, mortal and eternal. By analyzing these representations, this article reveals a rich tradition in which nature teaches, punishes, guides, and transforms, long before ecological consciousness became a formalized discipline. Drawing connections between classical literary landscapes and contemporary environmental concerns, the article argues that myth can inform today’s ecological imagination, offering an alternative to extractive, anthropocentric paradigms. Recovering the reverence and narrative agency once granted to nature in classical thought may help us rethink our ethical relationship with the environment in the age of climate crisis. Full article

Mental models—internal, dynamic, incomplete representations of the external world that people use to guide cognitive processes such as reasoning, decision making, and language comprehension—have practical implications for predicting attitudes and behaviors across various domains. This study examines how mental models of the human–nature relationship predict pro-environmental behavioral intentions directly and indirectly as mediated through anthropocentric and biocentric environmental attitudes. To address these aims, participants were asked about mental model components of the human–nature relationship (human exceptionalism, beliefs about human impact on nature, and beliefs about nature’s impact on humans), pro-environmental attitudes (biocentric and anthropocentric), and their pro-environmental behavioral intentions (protection and investment). We found that protection intentions were (1) directly predicted by human exceptionalism beliefs (negatively) and perceived human impact on nature (positively) and (2) indirectly predicted by mental model components via biocentric attitudes. Investment intentions were directly predicted by nature’s perceived impact on humans, and were similarly indirectly predicted by mental model components via biocentric attitudes. The results suggest that mental models of the human–nature relationship provide a cognitive foundation for environmental behavioral intentions both directly and through their association with environmental attitudes. These findings have implications for pro-environmental interventions that deal with conceptual and attitudinal change. Full article

Systematically synthesizing existing knowledge on ecological resettlements (ERs) is crucial for shaping future research and conservation strategies. We conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) using the Web of Science and Scopus databases, analyzing 63 research articles in the review domain of ER. Most reviewed articles emphasize people’s welfare in ERs but adopt traditional review approaches, hindering the identification of specific research gaps. This review identifies and focuses on four cross-cutting themes: anthropocentric notions and social equity, parks–people relationships, political ecology and biodiversity conservation, and connecting nature with people for harmonious coexistence. Further, the review highlights key themes in ER and conservation, emphasizing social equity, political ecology, and human–nature relationships. It underscores the need for social justice, the recognition of displaced communities’ rights, and the promotion of participatory decision making. Conservation efforts should prioritize minimizing displacement and respecting local rights, with a focus on co-management models. Case studies, particularly from India and African countries, reveal the impacts of conservation-induced displacement on marginalized communities and ecosystems. Further, we identified 45 key areas across 15 thematic dimensions for future review and research gaps, which will inform decision making in the discipline. We call for long-term assessments of resettlement to address ecological and social consequences, bridging the gap between social scientists and biologists for balancing conservation and human welfare. Finally, we discuss our findings and propose future research directions to inform conservation policies for the harmonious coexistence of humans and non-human beings on a shared planet. Full article

This paper expands on the anthropocentric focus of the Self-Directed Flourishing (SDF) framework by introducing the Eco-Systemic Flourishing (ESF) framework. The primary contribution of the ESF is the integration of ecological systems thinking, place-based education, and regenerative learning into existing flourishing frameworks. Methodologically, the paper synthesizes interdisciplinary perspectives from developmental psychology, systems theory and sustainability education and to propose a transformative educational approach. The results outline how the ESF framework positions education as a crucial driver for fostering relational awareness and ecological literacy, thus promoting both human and planetary flourishing. The framework’s implications are significant, offering a scalable model for sustainability integration in educational systems, curriculum design, and policy development. Future empirical validation, through longitudinal studies, is recommended to evaluate ESF’s effectiveness in enhancing educational outcomes and ecological stewardship. Full article

The unique features of high-quality agri-food production are rooted in the specificities of ecosystems, interpreted through an anthropocentric lens. In Italy, such products are nationally certified with labels that enhance both their market value and their territorial identity. However, climate change amplifies risks such as land degradation and reduced arability, threatening the value systems tied to ecosystems, places, and products. As a result, the relationship between environmental conditions and certified quality is becoming more fragile across the Italian peninsula. This paper investigates how producers and consumers perceive the risks posed by climate change to the ecosystem characteristics of Terroir, focusing on Calabria—a southern Italian region marked by socio-environmental vulnerability and a limited number of certified products. This fragility may further hinder certified agri-food production, with serious implications for the local agribusiness sector. Using a qualitative methodology, the study draws on questionnaires administered to producers and farmers, alongside interviews with key stakeholders and exploratory fieldworks. Eventually, this research aims to identify major environmental risks impacting certified production in Calabria, examine the adaptation strategies adopted by local producers, and assess the perceived effectiveness of institutional support. It also explores whether certifications such as PDO and PGI can act as tools to mitigate climate-related impacts while enhancing product value and territorial resilience. These findings can inform more effective policies for promoting sustainable, high-quality agri-food systems under changing climate conditions in a transcalar perspective. Full article

Sub-symbolic Machine Learning (ML) techniques, and specifically Neural Network-based ones, recently took over the research landscape, thanks to their efficiency and impressive effectiveness. On the other hand, the recent debate on ethics and AI and the first regulations on AI are progressively calling for anthropocentricity, which in turn requires explicit, human-understandable, and explainable approaches and representations that allow humans to be active parts in the loop. In these cases, logic-based approaches are more suitable. The Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) branch of research in ML provides an anwer to this need and a uniform and unifying framework for three relevant industrial and research concerns: management of databases, implementation of software systems, and modeling of human-like reasoning strategies. A particular ILP framework based on the Object Identity (OI) assumption was proposed in the 1990s, for which desirable theoretical and pratical properties were demonstrated and working tools and systems that successfully approached real-world and classical problems in AI were developed. In an age when mainstream research and media seem to reduce AI and ML to just deep learning, this paper celebrates the 30th anniversary of OI by providing for the first time a comprehensive overview of the framework to be used as a reference for researchers still interested in investigating the ILP approach to ML. Full article

Environmental challenges have become essential to study in today’s world because of the technical advancements and human achievements that have promoted an overestimation of human capabilities. This study explores the evolving relationship between humanity and nature through the lens of Catholic Church teachings, particularly the Laudato Si’ encyclical call for an “ecological conversion” (LS). It traces the historical transition from anthropocentrism to an ecological consciousness, examining theological perspectives and contemporary environmental ethics. A key focus is the role of liberation theology in shaping environmental justice. Key themes include the transition from anthropocentrism to a more comprehensive understanding of human–nature interactions, as well as the impact of liberation theology on environmental justice. Grounded in a qualitative research approach, this study investigates the potential of educational programs in Lebanon’s unique socio-cultural context to foster ethical and sustainable environmental practices. Through thematic analysis, this research highlights the concept of ecological conversion—a transformative shift in lifestyle and spirituality rooted in the principles of integral ecology. The findings show that educational initiatives based on Catholic Church teachings can successfully promote environmental stewardship and social justice. This article contributes to the discussion of environmental ethics by emphasizing the significance of an ecumenical and holistic approach, advocating for a synergy of spiritual beliefs and practical activities to confront the ecological issue. It concludes that achieving lasting environmental transformation requires collaboration, solidarity, and a collective commitment to the common good. Full article