family |
agriculture, nature and ecology |
learning
business ethics |
caring professions & health |
political ethics
social work |
ict, media and mass communication
During the Symposium eight panels will be held.
In the architecture of the Symposium these panels will concentrate on professional practices.
It is expected that these panels will attract an audience of itself.
The panels have to fit in the overall programme and serve to understand the normative character of given practices and the role of ethics in the context of these different practices. Therefore, we developed a couple of general questions, to be addressed in each panel, and more specific questions that will give a certain input for the discussions.
General questions
Reformational thinking considers professional practices as normative. That means that on the personal and professional levels normative issues belong to the nature of the work. These issues can be addressed in right and wrong ways. What, then, is characteristic of the primary process of these practices? And what are the conditions for professionals and the profession itself to function properly according to its normative nature? When we follow the three levels that are mentioned in the title of the Symposium we can formulate the following problems:
- What about the intrinsic normativity of (the primary process of) a given practice; what are the distinguishing elements?
- What about personal ethics, addressing those normative elements? What about personal virtues?
- What about the societal ethos that influence a given practice?
Introduction to the panels
Henk Jochemsen
=> download paper © copyright Henk JochemsenLindenboom Instituut, Ede, The Netherlands.
Contact Information
e-mail: lindinst@che.nl
The education of children is value-loaded and felt as a difficult task in a more complex society. The primary process here is to be shaped by parents and families, but also by schools and educational institutions. There is a need for professional support, but what exactly is the responsibility of the family and of society? In what form should the transmission of (societal) norms and values take place? How to asses the current situation?
Panel chairperson: Sander Griffioen
Sander Griffioen (1941) defended a doctoral dissertation about the idea of finitude in Hegel's later thought, entitled The Rose and the Cross (cum laude) in 1976 after which he taught at the Institute for Christian Studies (Toronto) (1976-79, 1985), as well as one semester at Calvin College (1985).From 1979 until June 1st, 2002 he held a chair for philosophy of the social sciences at the Free University, Amsterdam. He now holds a special chair for cultural philosophy at the Dept. of Social Sciences, with an assignment for Intercultural philosophy, with a view to China.
He edited or authored more than ten books, seven of which in English, and published more than 50 essays. The major themes of the essays are: Hegel (Bildung, Civil Society, the State, world history as world judgment, the Rose and the Cross), Marx (and the fall of the Berlin Wall), Max Weber (and the clash of worldviews), Habermas (and the Metaphor of the Covenant), Lyotard (and the end of the meta-narratives), Hannah Arendt (and the banality of evil), theory of pluralism, cultural universals (human rights etc.), public justice, culture and faith.
He has been a guest of several universities in Asia and Russia.
Contact Information
e-mail: sander.griffioen@ext.vu.nl
address: ´Veelzicht´, Rijksstraatweg 77, 3632 AA, Loenen aan de Vecht, The Netherlands
tel 0031.294.231201,
fax 0031.20.444.6635
John Van Dyk
=> download paper © copyright John Van Dyk
Dr. John Van Dyk received his B.A. from Calvin College, M.A. from the
University of Michigan, and Ph.D from Cornell University. He is currently a
professor of philosophy of education and directs the Center for Educational
Services at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, U.S.A.
He has published
numerous articles in philosophical and educational journals, and is the
author of two recent popular books on pedagogy:
the latter has been translated and published in Korean and Spanish.
Dr. Van Dyk serves as an educational consultant and conducts seminars in various parts of the world. His current research is focused on fostering a reflective culture in Christian schools.
Contact Information
e-mail: jvandyk@dordt.edu
Elaine Storkey
Dr Elaine Storkey is one of the most experienced writers and speakers in relating the Christian Gospel to contemporary culture. She has a background in philosophy and sociology and has many years experience of teaching in the UK and overseas (most recently with King's College, London). For 7 years she was the Executive Director of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. She is the UK President of Tear Fund, a Vice President of the University of Gloucestershire and a member of the Crown Appointments Commission. Her most recent publication, with the University of Salford, addresses issues of helping business leaders explore and apply Christian ethics in their work. Elaine is a Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, a role which allows her to continue her valued wider ministry in writing, broadcasting with the BBC, research and public speaking. She was named as the Guardian Newspaper's 100 Public Intellectuals of 2004.
Contact Information
e-mail: elaine@storkey.com
Doug Blomberg
=> download paper © copyright Doug BlombergDoug Blomberg, Ph.D. (Sydney), Ed.D. (Monash), is Senior Member in Education at the Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto. He edited and co-authored A vision with a task::
Doug headed Australia’s first Christian parent-controlled senior high school and for twenty years led the development of Christian teacher education in that country. He recently completed a book exploring the implications of a biblical wisdom perspective for curriculum in a postmodern era.
Contact Information
e-mail: DBlomberg@icscanada.edu
Agriculture, nature and ecology
The primary process of agriculture developed in modern times into a process of industrial and technical production. This raised al kinds of ethical discussions with regard to the exploitation of the soil, animals and plants, bio-technological applications, systemic frictions on a global scale and the need of a micro-ethics for farmers. More than ever biblical laws and standards of responsibility should be observed.
Panel chairperson: Roel Jongeneel
Contact Information
e-mail: Roel.Jongeneel@wur.nl
Jan Huijgen
The Netherlands.Ir. Jan Huijgen is a Dutch Reformed farmer/philosopher/innovator/teacher who, since his masters degree in Agriculture&Economy at Wageningen University and his studies in philosophy at the Free University in Amsterdam, has been involved in numerous publications and developments concerning Christian faith&society as well as the future of the Dutch rural Landscape. He is based out of his beef cattle farm "the Eemlandhoeve" in Bunschoten, teaches on a freelance basis at several colleges, is president of the board of the regional organization of farmers "Ark & Eemlandschap" and the national co-operative Stadteland and is involved in the Christian Ecological Network (CEN) as head of the taskforce Agriculture. Also based on the Eemlandhoeve is the Stichting Eemlandhoeve Network that strives to integrate matters of faith, sustainability and rural developments in the community of people&organizations involved in the region.
Contact Information
e-mail: eemlandhoeve@solcon.nl
website: www.eemlandhoeve.nl
John Kok
John H. Kok, Ph.D., is Professor of Philosophy and Dean for the Humanities at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, USA. He is also Managing Editor of Dordt College Press.After receiving a bachelors degree in history and philosophy from Trinity Christian College near Chicago in 1971, he and his family moved to Amsterdam where he studied and worked at the Vrije Universiteit until offered a position at Dordt in 1983.
Environmental philosophy/ethics is an interest of his that developed since that time. His area of expertise is the systematic philosophy of the reformational philosopher Dirk Vollenhoven.
Contact Information
e-mail: jkok@dordt.edu
Uko Zylstra
=> download paper © copyright Uko ZylstraUko Zylstra has been a Professor of Biology at Calvin College for the past 28 years and was appointed as Academic Dean of the Natural Sciences and Contextual Disciplines in 2004. He obtained his Ph.D. in Zoology at the Free University in Amsterdam after he obtained his M. Sc. Degree at the University of Michigan. His primary teaching and research interests are in cell biology and genetics, environmental and agricultural ethics, and philosophy of biology. He has given several public presentations on the latter two topics as well as written several papers on those topics.
Contact Information
e-mail: zylu@calvin.edu
Modern (and post-modern) professional education takes knowledge and learning no longer as personal insight and growth in judgment of common tradition, but as a construct. This constructivism underlines the fact that professional education is focussing on the individual and his or her performance in society. How does constructivism affect our structuring the process and content of learning? What are alternatives? What is de role of the teacher in the learning process?
Panel chairperson: Jet Weigand-Timmer
Studied pedagogics and got her master degree in educational science at the Free University in Amsterdam. Minors: labour- en organisational psychology, philosophical anthropology.She was alderman of the city of Culemborg and educational consultant CDA-Utrecht. Since 2000 she is director of the Center for Reformational Philosophy.
She is a member of the board of the Foundation Christelijk Sociaal Congres and president of the Association Ouders & COO, and also member of the board of presidents of the European Parents association.
Since 1997 she is secretary of the Governmental Association of the Free University in Amsterdam and the Windesheim university.
Contact Information
e-mail: reform.philos@wxs.nl
Clarence Joldersma
Clarence W. Joldersma is Professor of Education at Calvin College in Grand Rapids (USA), where he teaches philosophy of education. He earned an M.Phil. from the Institute for Christian Studies (Toronto, Canada) and a Ph.D. from University of Toronto (OISE). He has edited, with Gloria Stronks, two sets of essays in philosophy of education by Nicholas Wolterstorff, Educating for Life (Baker, 2002) and Educating for Shalom (Eerdmans, 2004). He has also published numerous book chapters and articles. His current research focuses on the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas and education.
Contact Information
e-mail: cjolders@calvin.edu
Wim Westerman
The Netherlands.Wim Westerman was trained as a teacher and studied philosophy and history of education at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. He worked in primary, special and secondary education, in initial and inservice education teachers’ training, and as educational consultant for religious and intercultural education. As a staff member of the volunteers organization Educa Transfer Projects he has for the last ten years been involved in educational projects in Asia, Africa and (Eastern) Europe. He also works for the Hendrik Piersonchair for Christian Education at the Vrije Universiteit. He is chairman of the European Association for World Religions in Education.
Contact Information
e-mail: we.westerman@planet.nl
The rise and importance of business ethics correlates somehow with the strong position of neo-liberalism in the last decades. Free enterprises on a globalized market need to know what the limits are of their economic endeavours. It is relevant to think about different norms and values that are part of the business practice. How can they be addressed in order to raise business responsibility for e.g. the company itself, the stakeholders, the environment?
Panel chairperson:
Contact Information
e-mail: office.reform.philos@planet.nl
George Monsma
=> download paper © copyright George Monsma
George N. Monsma, Jr. is Professor of Economics at Calvin College, Grand
Rapids, MI, where he teaches microeconomics, labor economics, and public
finance.
His M.A. and Ph.D. in economics are from Princeton University.
He is
Chairman of the Board of the International Association for the Promotion of
Christian Higher Education.
His research interests and writings have been in
the areas of economic justice and the relation of Christianity and economic
theorizing. He has worked in Africa for the Christian Reformed World Relief
Committee, and takes students to study in Africa on a regular basis.
Contact Information
e-mail: gmonsma@calvin.edu
Peter Koslowski
=> download paper © copyright Peter Koslowski
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Peter Koslowski,
Professor of Philosophy, especially Philosophy of Management and Organization and History of Philosophy, Free University of
Amsterdam (since 2004).
2003-2004 Fellow, International Center for Economic Research (ICER), Turin, Italy;
2002-2003 Visiting Scholar-in-Residence, Liberty Fund, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, USA;
1987-2001 Founding Director, The Hannover Institute of Philosophical Research, Hannover, Germany.
Since 1995, Member of the Board of Advisers, German Business Ethics Network (DNWE).
Since 1997, Chair, Committee for Economic Ethics, German Philosophical Association (DGPhil).
Since 2002 Chair, Working Group Compliance and Ethics in Financial Institutions in the German Business Ethics Network.
Since 2000 Member, Executive Committee, International Society for Business, Economics, and Ethics (ISBEE).
1998-2003 Senator, The Foundation of Lower Saxony.
Author of numerous books, translated in various languages, among them:
Contact Information
e-mail: p.koslowski@ph.vu.nl
website: www.fiph.de/koslowski
Maarten Verkerk
=> download paper © copyright Maarten Verkerk
Maarten Verkerk (1953) studied Chemics and theoretical science at the University of Utrecht. He got his Ph.D. in 1982 at the Technical University Twente. In september 2004
he defended a second doctoral dissertation entiteld Trust and Power on
the Shop Floor. An Ethnographical, Ethical and Philosophical Study on Responsible Behaviour in Industrial Organisations
at the University of Maastricht.
Maarten Verkerk worked till 2002 as a manager in the technical department of Philips in The Netherlands, Germany and Taiwan.
He now is director of a Psychiatric Hospital. Since 2004 is holds a special chair of Reformational philosophy at the Technical University Eindhoven.
He wrote several books on het position of woman and man-woman-relation. He also wrote several books about management, organisation and business ethics.
Contact Information
e-mail: maarten.verkerk@home.nl
website: www.maartenverkerk.nl
The continuous challenge in the profession of care is how to maintain a real ethics of care (real interface) in an environment that is concentrating on efficiency and technology. Of course, technical and professional progress is strengthened the quality of health care in general. But what about personal virtues of care and personal relationships? How to cope with policies, procedures and strategies of the administration?
Panel chairperson: Jan Hoogland
Jan Hoogland (1959) studied sociology and philosophy. He got his Ph.D. in 1992 at the Erasmus University Rotterdam (cum laude).Since 1997 he holds a special chair Reformational philosophy at the University Twente.
He is also a staff member of Philadelphia, an institute of care.
He is editor of Beweging, a journal of the Association of Reformational philosophy.
Contact Information
e-mail: jan.christine.hoogland@wanadoo.nl
Martha Highfield
=> download paper © copyright Martha HighfieldMartha Highfield, PhD, RN, is currently Professor and Acting Director of the Bachelor of Nursing Science (BSN) Program at California State University, Northridge in the United States. She holds BSN (1976), MNSc (1981), and PhD (1989) degrees in nursing. Prior positions include direct nursing care of patients, providing education for hospital nursing staff, and serving as administrator of nursing education within a large hospital. Her scholarship has focused on spiritual care issues in nursing, and she was the founding Coordinator of the Spiritual Care Special Interest Group in the U.S. Oncology Nursing Society. Dr. Highfield is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society.
Contact Information
e-mail: martha.highfield@csun.edu
Bart Cusveller
Bart Cusveller RN PhD (1964) trained as a nurse at the Christian University Ede, earned a degree in philosophy from the Free University in Amsterdam, and received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Leiden. He holds a position as research associate in the Lindeboom Institute, center for medical ethics, Ede, and as a professor of ethics at the nursing school of the Christian University Ede, The Netherlands. His publications include the edited volume Commitment and Responsibility in Nursing: A Faith Based Approach (Dordt College Press, 2003).
Contact Information
e-mail: bcusveller@che.nl
Ponti Venter
In political practices the dilemma of might and right lingers continuously. Especially in world without clear borders the question is how justice can be implemented. What are the normative elements in political practice? Personal virtues, integrity and leadership are required today. At the same time much is expected of civil society and the responsible citizen. Is it, for example, possible to codify societal duties?
Panel chairperson: Govert Buijs
Contact Information
e-mail: G.J.Buijs@ph.vu.nl
Veniamin Novik
=> download paper © copyright Veniamin Novik
Rev. Veniamin, Moscow Patriarchate was born in St. Petersburg in 1946.
He studied at the St Petersburg Polytechnical Institute and worked as
a scientific research worker in the Scientific Institute.
In 1987 he got his degree of Candidate of Theology after he studied
at the Leningrad Orthodox Academy (Moscow Patriarchate).
He worked there as a professor till 1996. During his sabbatical year in Italy, he studied Social Doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church.
After he studied Human Rights in Columbia Un. (New York) in 1998 he returned to Russia to teach Russian Philosophy, Human Rights and Theology at St Petersburg Theological Academy.
Contact Information
e-mail: vnovick@iatp46.spb.org
Jonathan Chaplin
Dr Jonathan Chaplin was appointed as Associate Professor of Political Theory at the Institute for Christian Studies (ICS) in Toronto in 1999, prior to which he taught at four higher education institutions in the UK.He has a BA degree from Oxford University, a master's degree from ICS, and received his PhD from London Scool of Economics and Political Science.
He has co-edited Political Theory and Christian Vision: Essays in Memory of Bernard Zylstra (1994), A Royal Priesthood: A Dialogue with Oliver O'Donovan (2003), has just completed a book on the social and political philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd, and is now writing a book under the provisional title of Public Justice: A Framework for Faith in Politics.
He has published a range of articles on Christian political theory, pluralism, religion and liberalism, democracy, the state, Catholic political thought, and Radical Orthodoxy.
In 2004 he was appointed as the first holder of the Dooyeweerd Chair in Social and Political Philosophy at ICS. Has has served on the boards of several faith-based political organizations.
Contact Information
e-mail: JChaplin@icscanada.edu
It is clear that personal virtues belong to the core of Social Work. The work cannot be done without compassion and effort for poor and weak groups and individuals. Who are they today? Is there a Christian normative vision on the functioning of society at large? Social work became strong within the framework of the welfare-state. What happens when the state will no longer fund the programmes?
Panelvoorzitter: Roel Kuiper
Roel Kuiper studied history and philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. He succesfully defended his dissertation in 1992.Since 1998 he is a extra ordinaire professor Reformational philosophy at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. The title of his inaugurational speech was In search of society. About anti-utopic thought and political responsibility.
Contact Information
e-mail: roel.kuiper@chello.nl
website: come.to/reform.philos/nwe/uni/kuiper_cv.html
Jim Vanderwoerd
=> download paper © copyright Jim Vanderwoerd
Jim R. Vanderwoerd, MSW, PhD is Associate Professor and Director of the
Social Work program at Dordt College, Iowa.
Prior to joining the faculty
at Dordt in 1997, he was a Research Coordinator at the Faculty of Social
Work at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
His
research interests include the role of faith-based organizations in social
welfare, domestic violence prevention on campus, and social support and
prevention for disadvantaged children and families.
He has published
articles in journals such as Christian Scholar's Review and
Social Work & Christianity, and co-authored a book entitled
Protecting Children and Supporting Families.
Contact Information
e-mail: jwoerd@dordt.edu
website: homepages.dordt.edu/~jwoerd/
Henk Jochemsen
Lindenboom Instituut, Ede, The Netherlands.
Contact Information
e-mail: lindinst@che.nl
Henk Geertsema
Contact Information
e-mail: mhgeertsema@gh-gpc.nl
ICT, Media and mass communication
Given the complexity of media and ICT the focus on personal ethics is an important issue. At the same time, the implementation of ethical boundaries in the media seem almost impossible. What means normativity here? The need for orientation and the reality of manipulation are closely connected. Commerce and amusement wake up all kinds of human desire. What about the credibility of information and media-exposure in general?
Panel chairperson: Rob Nijhoff
Rob Nijhoff MSc MTh was born in 1964. He studied in Delft and Kampen: in Delft information sciences, in Kampen theology. After accepting a job as software developer and technical trainer in ERP software (1995) it took some time (and travelling during unpaid leaves) till he found in 2000 his current job: researcher at the Institute for Cultural Ethics (ICE) in Amersfoort, not far from Utrecht.The travelling brought him in Kenya and Sumba, teaching (Introduction) New Testament at vocational level. At the ICE he did a project about the ethical and pedagogical consequences of ICT and media in educational environments. Now he is busy with ethical considerations around the convergence of nano- and biotechnology, ICT and cognitive science in view of human enhancement.
Contact Information
e-mail: rnijhoff@profuse.nl
John Hiemstra
=> download paper © copyright John HiemstraDr. John Hiemstra is Professor of Political Science at The King's University College (Edmonton, Canada) where he has taught for 14 years. He completed Ph.D. studies on the interface of political philosophy and public policy at the University of Calgary in 1992. In Worldviews on the Air: The Struggle to Create a Pluralistic Broadcasting System in the Netherlands (1997), Hiemstra analyses the underlying motivations for starting the early Dutch worldview broadcasters as well as the rationale for creating the initial pluriform policy for broadcasting. His ongoing research and publishing focus on how societal plurality is expressed in broadcasting, schooling, social services and other societal areas, and how a Christian understanding of the state’s role ought to lead to government policies that appropriately accommodate legitimate expressions of worldview diversity.
Contact Information
e-mail: john.hiemstra@kingsu.ca
Jan van der Stoep
=> download paper © copyright Jan van der Stoep
Drs. ir. J. (Jan) van der Stoep (1968) is director of the Institute for
Cultural Ethics in Amersfoort and researcher at the Free University
Amsterdam. He holds a masters degree in biology (Wageningen University) as
well as a masters degree in philosophy (Free University Amsterdam). In the
course of 2005 he hopes to defend his PhD thesis about Pierre Bourdieu and
the political philosophy of multiculturalism (supervisors: prof. dr. S.
Griffioen and prof. dr. A.W. Musschenga).
His main research topics are: critical social theory, philosophy of
information and communication technology and multiculturalism.
He has published several international scientific publications as well as a
diversity of articles, books and research reports written in Dutch.
Contact Information
e-mail: j.vanderstoep@12move.nl
Petrus Simons
Petrus Simons is 66 years old. He studied economics in the Netherlands, where he was also active in the Arjos, and in New Zealand. From 1972-2002 he worked in Wellington, New Zealand, for the NZ Employers Federation, the Bank of New Zealand and as a consulting economist. From 1991 to the present he has been president of Lutherans for Life-New Zealand. He is finalising a Ph. D thesis entitled: Tilling the Good Earth; the impact of technicism and economism on agriculture under the direction of Prof. J.J. Venter and Prof. E. Schuurman.
Contact Information
e-mail: petrus.simons@xtra.co.nz