
Terry HylandFree University of Ireland · Philosophy
Terry Hyland
Professor PhD, MA Ed (Distinction) , BEd (Hons), Cert Ed FHEA
Currently writing on neo-idealism, mindfulness and mental health, and the educational implications of AI applications
About
206
Publications
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Introduction
Terry is a Co-Director/Trustee at Saor-Ollscoil Na hEireann (Free University of Ireland) where he teaches philosophy and mindfulness to mature students. He is external adviser on the EdD programme at the University of Huddersfield, UK, Visiting Lecturer at the University of Sunderland, UK, and visiting lecturer at mindfulness.ie, Dublin, Ireland. Currently writing articles on mindfulness and vocationalism, enhancing realism in ethical thought experiments, and panpsychism in philosophy.
Additional affiliations
August 2011 - present
Mindfulness.ie
Position
- Teacher and course developer
Description
- Developing and teaching courses in mindfulness and philosophy
January 1979 - January 1981
Education
September 1976 - October 1978
University of Lancaster
Field of study
- Philosophy of Education
Publications
Publications (206)
The key objectives and targets of the Learning and Skills Council's (LSC, 2001) corporate plan concerned with increasing participation in education, enhancing workforce training, and raising the achievement of young people and adults are all dependent upon breaking down the barriers and obstacles that stand in the way of facilitating meaningful lea...
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are being actively implemented in a wide range of fields – psychology, mind/body health care and education at all levels – and there is growing evidence of their effectiveness in aiding present-moment focus, fostering emotional stability, and enhancing general mind/body well-being. However, as often happens wi...
p> <sub>A philosophical analysis of Jane Austen's Emma in terms of the novel's potential as a vehicle for moral education.</sub>
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The connections between artistic expression, philosophical perspectives and scientific theories have been evident throughout art history and revealed in painting, literature, sculpture and architecture. Restricting the exploration to painting in all its forms, this article is concerned principally with the interrogation of links between philosophic...
The central character in Raymond Chandler's seven acclaimed detective novels-the private eye, Philip Marlowe-is, according to his creator, a man of honour and a kind of hero and, as a man for our times, an archetype who may be compared to Sherlock Holmes, James Bond or 1 the eponymous stranger in Clint Eastwood's famous Western movies. Chandler's n...
Literature, in its myriad forms, serves not only as a reflection of human experience but also as an exploration of consciousness. The intricate relationship between forms of literature and different perspectives on consciousness – from scientific materialism and realism to the new idealist and panpsychist anti-realist philosophical positions – is b...
Music, in all its forms, has long played an integral role in human life, functioning not merely as a form of cultural activity and entertainment but also as a profound conduit for exploring the links between the artistic Endeavour and forms of human consciousness. As such, music is, quite rightly, entitled to a central place in educational activity...
An exploration of current AI developments and their potential impact on education, culture and society
A critique of skill-talk and comptence-based education as vehicles for enhancing vocational education and training and preparation for work
An account of how two relatively unknown Russians - Archipov and Petrov - saved the world from thermonuclear disaster.
A critical exploration of the 'new normal' post-Covid environment
In a survey of British higher education (HE) sector in 2017 conducted by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR, 2017) it was reported that ‘over the past 10 years there has been a fivefold increase in the proportion of students who disclose a mental health condition to their institution (p.1). This picture is confirmed in other reports by,...
Socrates’ fundamental question about the nature of the good life and what is the best way for humans to live has been the subject of intense philosophical debate for over two millennia. Notwithstanding changes in terminology and conceptual style, it is still the bedrock question in ethics and – in recent years – has been influenced by ideas about w...
The manic flurry of activity following the recent introduction of Open AI’s ChatGPT-4, Google’s Bard and other similar advanced Large Language Models (LLMs) has tended to generate rather more heat than light in both popular and academic discourse about the main implications of the new applications. Debate has ranged from doom-laden apocalyptic warn...
A review of Goff's thesis which links human consciousness, values and purpose with the fine-tuned constants which undergird the existence of the cosmos.
Against the background of the ubiquitous use of social media platforms by young people in general, it was entirely predictable that such media would be used by students in higher education. Our research in this sphere focussed on the ways in which social media – in both extent and type – were used by students completing Masters’ dissertations. The...
The recent appearance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications such as Google's Bard tool and OpenAI's ChatGPT series has brought forth a flurry of reactions from both academic and popular commentators ranging from doom-laden pessimism to futuristic hyperbolic optimism. Both ends of this spectrum are revealed in the educational literature with...
The recent appearance of widely available Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications such as ChatGPT and Bard has fuelled a flurry of popular and academic discussions about the implications of such AI tools for all aspects of contemporary life and culture. After examining some aspects of recent developments, this article goes on to review some salie...
The exponential expansion of mindfulness-based applications in education, psychology and psychotherapy, workplace training and mind/body wellbeing in general over the last few decades has been accompanied by wide-ranging claims about the impact of mindfulness on the brain. Arguments in this sphere have been supported by data taken from neuroscience...
The appearance in recent times of Open AI's ChatGPT series and Google's Bard application has resulted in a spate of articles analysing such developments which reflect views ranging from catastrophic conspiracy theories to incredulous debunking (Foucart 2023). Many of the concerns about the new AI tools have been expressed by educators who fear that...
Over a long career in the psychiatric profession spanning six decades, Thomas Szasz has forcefully argued that mental illnesses are mythical since all medical diseases are located in the body and, thus, have somatic causes. This has been accompanied by a scathing and coruscating critique of the whole mental health profession, particularly those psy...
A justification of metaphysical idealism against the background of a critique of scientific materialism and the exploration of connections between the new idealism and Eastern spiritual traditions.
The central topic of Adam Gopnik’s book – the intricacies of mastery learning – has been a feature of research and development in the vocational education and training (VET) sphere over many years. Pioneered initially by Benjamin Bloom in the all-encompassing curriculum developments of the second half of the 20th century, the general approach – bas...
In response to the intractability of the hard problem of consciousness, a number of scientists and philosophers – in particular Bernardo Kastrup, Steve Taylor, Donald Hoffman, and Iain McGilchrist – have advanced arguments for new forms of idealism which challenge the basic tenets of scientific materialism. The central claims are that – in spite of...
Concerns about the deteriorating mental health of university students have been researched and documented over the last few decades, and there is some evidence of an intensification of the problems as a result of the recent Covid pandemic and resulting lockdowns. The central thesis of this paper is that all such mental health problems are exacerbat...
The recent Covid-19 pandemic which has affected over 650 million people globally and resulted in over 6.6 million deaths, has disrupted just about every aspect of social, economic and political life over the few years. Young people in particular-though mostly escaping the brunt of infections of coronavirus-have been disproportionately disadvantaged...
David Chalmers is currently University Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Centre for Mind, Brain and Consciousness at New York University. Born in Australia, Chalmers was an exceptionally gifted mathematician – winning a bronze medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad – but turned to philosophy after reading Douglas Hofstadter’s...
The concept of acknowledging students' interests-both what they may be interested in and what is in their interest-is gaining increasing purchase in the new competitive economy of higher education. In addition to the obvious benefits of boosting student success in higher education institutions (HEIs), there are well-established educational advantag...
An examination of mindfulness education in the light of Iain McGilchrist's work on the divided brain
The recent COP 26 conference in Glasgow served to highlight the urgency of dealing with the urgent challenges of climate change. Although some progress was made, the various activist groups-especially those involving younger people who had been spearheading the campaigns in this field-were generally disappointed with the Glasgow outcome, and there...
The Irish State established the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in Dublin in 1940 and invited Erwin Schrodinger to be head of the new organisation. Schrodinger's time in Dublin - from 1939 to 1956 which he described as the "happiest years of my life" - are recalled against the background of his controversial and unconventional personal life.
Contemporary approaches to explaining the connections and reconciling perceived differences between spiritual and scientific interpretations of reality have tended to accept mainstream interpretations of physics, cosmology and biology. The resultant putative combinations of ideas – seeking to equate materialist with non-materialist worldviews – dis...
Contemporary approaches to explaining the connections and reconciling perceived differences between spiritual and scientific interpretations of reality have tended to accept mainstream interpretations of physics, cosmology and biology. The resultant putative combinations of ideas-seeking to equate materialist with non-materialist worldviews-display...
A case is made for metaphysical idealism rather than scientific materialism as a grounding for perspectives on consciousness, ethics and spirituality.
Given the range of threats currently facing humankind – pandemics resulting from zoonotic infections, catastrophic climate change, and populist post-truth political hate-mongering – this collection of articles edited by Herner Saeverot is indeed timely. In the Foreword, Nils Chr. Stenseth, Professor of Ecology at the University of Oslo who worked r...
From the origins of coal mining in England in the Middle Ages through to its peak during the 18 th /19 th century Industrial Revolution, to the eventual national decline of the industry after the Second World War, the working conditions, lived experiences and status of mineworkers have witnessed radical structural and existential change. In The Roa...
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) which make use of the direct awareness and present-moment attention adapted from Buddhist contemplative traditions are now influential in a wide range of fields and disciplines including psychology, psychotherapy, mind-body health professions, and education and training at all levels. Although MBIs-by nature,...
A critique of scientific materialism against the background of neo-idealist theories developed in response to the hard problem of consciousness.
Jane Austen's Emma has been identified as a core example of the bildungsroman-a novel charting the formative years of a person's coming-of-age in terms of moral and spiritual development-and is, moreover, replete with fascinating incidents which serve as paradigm examples of moral enquiry into the nature and justification of actions and judgments T...
In the context of a COVID-19 pandemic which has thus far infected over 101 million people worldwide and resulted in over 2 million deaths [1] it would be understandable why many people-especially front line workers in health care professions and all those isolated in strict lockdown conditions-might be suffering from what has been labelled 'compass...
Panpsychism has emerged as a key component in attempts to solve the hard problem of consciousness which consists in explaining the existence of non-materialist subjective experiences in a world which mainstream science insists is made up of purely materialist elements. Although contemporary interpretations of panpsychism are, in the main, utilised...
Mindfulness.ie Seminar Discussion Paper
Given the low standing of vocational studies in English education and other systems around the world at the present time, it is refreshing to note the resurgence of interest in craft and manual work. The currently popular BBC programme, The Repair Shop, is a celebration of this renewed interest and offers an especially graphic representation of the...
Against the background of yet more evidence of the low standing of vocational education and training in the English education system (Owen 2018), it is refreshing, if a little surprising, to learn that the BBC series, The Repair Shop, is amongst the currently most popular programmes on terrestrial television (BBC 2021). Both the recently published...
Panpsychism has emerged as a key component in attempts to solve the hard problem of consciousness which consists in explaining the existence of non-materialist subjective experiences in a world which mainstream science insists is made up of purely materialist elements. Although contemporary interpretations of panpsychism are, in the main, utilised...
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8539-8211 _________________________________________________________________________ A perennial problem in English education is caused by the vocational/academic divide within which vocational and manual pursuits are routinely subordinated to academic and intellectual activities. Research connected with the inv...
An investigation of the parallels between Eastern and Western philosophy in relation to philosophy, science and ethics
A number of recent studies have pointed to the historically low standing of vocational education against liberal/academic studies in schools and colleges, a status which shows little sign of improvement. Various perspectives on the causes of this state of affairs have been advanced over the years, and philosophical, historical, economic and politic...
Analysis of Jane Austen’s Emma in the light of ethical principles and its potential for moral education
James Wilson has criticised thought experiments in philosophical ethics for failing to reflect the reality of everyday life. As against this, many such experiments owe their potential value and efficacy to an abstract simplicity which gives them widespread explanatory power and application. Through the examination of two particular arguments—Peter...
A prominent perspective on the alleviation of suffering in ourselves and others – shared by both Western and Eastern philosophical traditions – involves the process of ‘unselfing’, the letting go of the self as a continuous and systematic life narrative. The cultivation of the sense of non-self is a key component of Buddhist ethics which views an a...
Mindfulness has become something of a boom industry over the last few decades thanks largely to the work of Kabat-Zinn (1990) who developed a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme in his work at the Massachusetts Medical School in 1979. Since then the work of Kabat-Zinn and associates (Williams & Kabat-Zinn, 2013) has been responsible...
Given the widespread interest of young people in virtual reality applications of various kinds, it is surprising that such preoccupations are not used more extensively in educational settings. Simulation arguments that the universe and our experience of it may be computer simulations constructed by advanced civilisations (either alien or our human/...
Researchers investigating learning from primary to higher education have emphasised the crucial role of embodiment in the process of developing knowledge, skills and expertise. In spite of this, the physical or psychomotor aspects of learning are vastly under-researched and undervalued in the literature on vocational education and training (VET). S...
Lifelong learning is the slogan with which the Labour Government has chosen to publicise and popularise its values and policies for post-16 education and training under the new administration. Dr. Hyland’s book subjects New Labour policy - particularly developments surrounding the University for Industry and the New Deal - to searching scrutiny and...
Simulation arguments that the universe and our experience of it may be computer simulations constructed by advanced civilisations (either alien or our human/posthuman descendants) have been the subject of widespread debate since Bostrom’s original philosophical formulation of the principal position in 2003. Since then the key elements of the argume...
A perennial problem in vocational education and training (VET) concerns the vocational/academic divide and the subordinate, second-class status of vocational pursuits.
Commentators have examined the causes of this core problem – historical, cultural, economic, structural, and philosophical – in some detail, and suggested remedies for bridging the...
Simulation arguments that the universe and our experience of it may be computer simulations constructed by advanced civilisations (either alien or our human/posthuman descendants) have been the subject of widespread debate since Bostrom’s original philosophical formulation of the principal position in 2003. Since then the key elements of the argume...
Researchers investigating learning from primary to higher education have emphasised the crucial role of embodiment in the process of developing knowledge, skills and expertise. In spite of this, the physical or psychomotor aspects of learning are vastly under-researched and undervalued in the literature on vocational education and training (VET). S...
This chapter focuses on the vocational/academic divide which bedevils education systems across the world, and has especially disadvantageous implications for working-class students on vocational courses. Previous reconciliation strategies have included curriculum and assessment reform, the reorganisation of apprenticeships, and suggestions for alte...
The current popularity of mindfulness has led to applications in a wide range of academic disciplines – including education, psychology, psychotherapy, and the mind-body health field generally (Purser, Forbes & Burke, 2016) – in addition, to its widespread use in popular culture to publicise everything from colouring books to diet regimes and garde...
The exponential growth of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in recent years has resulted in a marketisation and commodification of practice – popularly labeled ‘McMindfulness’ – which divorces mindfulness from its ethical origins in Buddhist traditions. Using examples from education, the workplace and popular culture, this chapter critiques su...
Analogies are drawn between the “hard problem” of philosophy of mind consisting in the attempts to reconcile mental and physical phenomena and the similarly long-standing intractability of a core problem in vocational education and training (VET) concerning the vocational/academic divide and the inferior status of vocational studies in systems of e...
Analogies are drawn between the “hard problem” of philosophy of mind (Chalmers, 1996) consisting in the attempts to reconcile mental and physical phenomena and the similarly long-standing intractability of a core problem in vocational education and training (VET) concerning the vocational/academic divide and the inferior status of vocational studie...
In spite of decades of educational reforms, the vocational/academic divide – and the subordinate status of vocational studies – still appears to be with us. Previous reconciliation strategies in relation to upgrading vocationalism have included recommendations for vocational education and training (VET) curriculum and assessment reform, changes in...
The exponential growth of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in recent years has resulted in a marketisation and commodification of practice – popularly labeled ‘McMindfulness’ – which divorces mindfulness from its spiritual and ethical origins in Buddhist traditions. Such commodification is criticized by utilising ideas and insights drawn from...
Recent philosophical and neuroscientific writings on the problem of free
will have tended to consolidate the deterministic accounts with the upshot
that free will is deemed to be illusory and contrary to the scientific facts
(Blackmore 2011; Harris 2012). Buddhist commentaries on these issues have
been concerned in the main with whether karma and d...
“Forgiveness” is a subject of contemporary scientific research by psychologists, neurologists, physicians, and international mediators, who are intrigued by the virtue’s multiple benefits. It is increasingly clear that individuals and communities who ‘let go’ of their grievances move forward with healthier lives.
Learning to forgive has also been...
Although the standardised curriculum and assessment procedures of many European education systems appear to be at odds with their central ethos and principles, mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are increasingly influential in schools, colleges and higher education. Originating in Buddhist contemplative traditions, mindfulness theory and practi...
A philosophical perspective on mindfulness practice – connecting the educational, therapeutic and morally transformational aspects of contemporary mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) – is outlined as a preliminary to the critique of the emergence of the commodified and marketized ‘McMindfulness’ aspects of contemporary practice. The links betwee...
A critical analysis of the commodification of mindfulness practice through the McDonaldization process.
The links between education, therapy and mindfulness practice are explored as a preliminary to the analysis of the commodification of such practice as a result of the ‘McDonaldizing’ process over recent years. Contemporary ‘McMindfulness’ developments in education and the workplace run counter to the Buddhist precept of ‘right livelihood’ in that t...
Trevor Marchand – currently Professor of Social Anthropology at the School of African and Oriental
Studies – has spent a long career in studying craft development, organisation and transmission
in different cultures. He has conducted fieldwork with craftspeople in Yemen (minaret building
and apprenticeship practices), Mali (the work of masons in Dj...
A critical account of the commodification and abuse of mindfulness practice through populist applications in the workplace and commercial marketing.
A critical review of the parliamentary report on mindfulness applications in the light of the emerging commodification of practice in the field.
The commodified, commercialised versions of mindfulness - popularly known as McMindfulness - are challenged in terms of their misuse and abuse of contemplative traditions. Commercialised uses of mindfulness, in apps and colouring books, for example, are labelled as the misuse of mindfulness whereas some applications in corporations and the military...
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are being implemented in a wide range of fields – psychology, mind/body health care and education at all levels – with a demonstrated effectiveness in enhancing general well-being and fostering that spiritual dimension of being which results from gaining insight into the workings of the human mind. However, as...
A discussion of Sam Harris’s book on ’Free Will’ against the background of Buddhist Mindfulness
Interest in the Buddhist concept of mindfulness has burgeoned over the last few decades as a result of its application as a therapeutic strategy in mind-body medicine, psychotherapy, psychiatry, education, leadership and management, and wide range of other theoretical and practical domains. Although many commentators welcome this extension of the r...
Originating in Buddhist contemplative traditions, mindfulness theory and practice – which foregrounds present-moment awareness and attention – has extended its modern secular and therapeutic applications into an exponentially expanding range of fields and disciplines including psychology, psychotherapy, mind-body health practices, and education at...
Although the term had been used in the fields of sociology, literary criticism and linguistics, it was not until the 1980s that ‘competence’ entered the educational lexicon, chiefly as a result of its employment in the competence-based education and training (CBET) system which underpinned the reform of vocational qualifications in the UK led by th...
Recent philosophical and neuroscientific writings on the problem of free will have tended to consolidate the deterministic accounts with the upshot that free will is deemed to be illusory and contrary to the scientific facts (Blackmore 2011; Harris 2012). Buddhist commentaries on these issues have been concerned in the main with whether karma and d...
Recent philosophical and neuroscientific writings on the problem of free will have tended to consolidate the deterministic accounts with the upshot that free will is deemed to be illusory and contrary to the scientific facts (Blackmore 2011; Harris 2012). Buddhist commentaries on these issues have been concerned in the main with whether karma and d...
Thanks largely to the work of Kabat-Zinn and associates applications of mindfulness-
based practices have grown exponentially over the last decade or so, particularly
in the fields of education, psychology, psychotherapy and mind–body
health. Having its origins in Buddhist traditions, the more recent secular and
therapeutic applications of the basi...
The unfavorable comparisons between English and European vocational education and training (VET) systems made
in the Wolf Report—and indeed in many national reviews of VET in Britain since the Royal Commission on Technical
Education reported in 1884—point toward the low status of vocational pursuits in the United Kingdom compared with
that in Conti...
A case is made here for a secular interpretation of spirituality to place against
more orthodox religious versions which are currently gaining ground in English
education as part of the government policy designed to encourage schools to
apply for ‘academy’ status independent of local authority control. Given the rise
of faith-based ‘free’ schools,...
Abstract
Although there have recently been indications in U.K. educational policy and practice of a movement away from the dominance
of economic capital and employability as primary goals of education and toward social capital with an emphasis on the affective
domain and greater concerns with personal and social well-being, the prevailing instrumen...
At the core of Western culture is the Socratic question about what is the good life for humankind, what is the best way for people to live. A similar concern – about the need to understand and control human emotions and behaviour in the quest to enhance mind/body well-being – is also central to much Eastern philosophy, particularly the Buddhist tra...
The rise of secularism in the wake of the ‘new atheist’ movement (Hyland, 2011a) has brought with it a tough-minded, science-based and pessimistic stance on the free will problem though, like new atheism itself, the ‘new’ deniers of free will owe almost everything to arguments already well established by earlier thinkers such as Democritus, Spinoza...
Over the past 60 years Thomas Szasz (1960, 1961[1974], 2008) has forcefully argued that mental illnesses are mythical since all medical diseases are located in the body and, thus, have somatic causes. This has been accompanied by a scathing and coruscating critique of the whole mental health profession—particularly, those psychologists, psychiatris...
Recent discussions of trends in lifelong learning (Field and Leicester 2000; Aspin 2007) have been concerned to mark the differences between an older tradition of adult/continuing education which was holistic, idealistic and all-embracing and newer perspectives which are narrower and more utilitarian (Hyland 1999). The differences are well brought...
Although the value of affective domain of education has been re-emphasised in recent years, this so-called ‘therapeutic turn’ has been criticised by several commentators on post-compulsory and adult learning. A key claim of these critics is that traditional goals of knowledge and understanding have been replaced with personal and social objectives...
This chapter presents an overview of applications of the mindfulness practice examined in Chap. 4. Beginning with the currently most widely influential use of the practice in MBCT/MBSR courses, I go on to describe a typical
8 week programme in this sphere before discussing evidence about the effectiveness of these approaches in the treatment of
anx...
The marginalised and subordinate status of the affective domain is described through parallels drawn with vocational education
which suffers from similar prejudices. Following an examination of early attempts to map the affective domain by Bloom et
al. (A taxonomy of educational objectives: Handbook I – The cognitive domain. New York: Longman, Gre...
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