ResponsAbility - Dialogues on Practical Knowledge and Bildung in Professional Studies

• #14 Helgard Mahrdt | Hannah Arendt and the Double Responsibility of Educators

  Our guest in this episode is Dr. Helgard Mahrdt from the Center for Gender Research at the University of Oslo. She was also Associate Professor at the Department of Literature, Area Studies, and European Languages and Visiting Professor at the University of Ljubljana. Furthermore, she served as a Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities in Copenhagen and has been affiliated with the Humaniora study group at the University of Oslo. In this episode, we explore her long-standing engagement with the political thought of Hannah Arendt, focusing on Arendt’s insights into education, judgment, and responsibility. We discuss Arendt’s concept of the educator’s double responsibility—toward both the child and the world—and what it means to teach in an era marked by alienation, expropriation, and the breakdown of tradition. We also reflect on the role of thinking, remembering, and public discourse in shaping democratic life, and on how educators and universities must respond to rising authoritarian pressures. 00:01:25 – What brought Helgard to study the life and work of Hannah Arendt? 00:03:48 – On the double responsibility of the educator 00:04:09 – On Arendt’s concept of Being-in-the-world and its relevance for education 00:11:45 – On the difference between moral and political responsibility 00:15:52 – What lessons can we draw from Arendt regarding current radical political movements? 00:21:19 – Do universities have a political responsibility? Literature: Arendt, H. (2017): The Origins of Totalitarianism. London: Penguin Books. Arendt, H. (2018): The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Arendt, H. (2022): Eichmann in Jerusalem. London: Penguin Books. Arendt, H. (2006): On Revolution. London: Penguin Books. Mahrdt, H. (in progress) Hannah Arendt – to be at home in the world. Vidar Forlag: Oslo.   Mahrdt, H. (2022): Responding to wrong-doing. Ethics and Education. ISSN 1744-9642. 17(2), p. 197–210. doi: 10.1080/17449642.2022.2054541.  Mahrdt, H. (2018): Arendt and the notion of plurality, In: Filosofisk supplement.   Mahrdt, H. (2015): Refugees and Europe: a dilemma or a turning point. In: Studier i Pedagogisk Filosofi. Vol. 4. No. 2.   Mahrdt, H. (2012): Hannah Arendt: Self-disclosure, Worldliness and plurality. Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology. Vol 43. No.3. (pp.250-263). 

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• #13 Monika Ardelt | How can you measure wisdom?

  The guest of our episode today is the internationally acclaimed wisdom researcher, Monika Ardelt. Monika is Professor of Sociology at the University of Florida and a Founding Faculty Member and serves on the Advisory Committee of the University of Florida’s Center for Spirituality and Health. She is widely recognized in the global wisdom research community for developing the influential Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale (3D-WS), a pioneering tool that conceptualizes wisdom as a combination of cognitive, reflective, and compassionate dimensions. In this episode, we talk with Monika about how she came to study wisdom, what makes someone wise, and how wisdom can be cultivated across the lifespan. We explore the links between wisdom, well-being, resilience, meaning-making, spirituality, and responsibility—and whether wisdom can be taught in educational settings. Monika also reflects on the challenges of measuring wisdom across cultures and why she believes that wisdom is ultimately not something found in books, but embodied in the way we live our lives. 00:01:19 – How Monika became a wisdom researcher 00:07:00 – The story behind the 3D Wisdom Scale 00:11:32 – Is wisdom universal? 00:11:32 – Wisdom and meaning-making 00:11:32 – Can young people be wise? 00:22:30 – Can wisdom be taught? 00:25:10 – How do students respond to the university course on wisdom? 00:27:05 – On wisdom and spirituality 00:32:00 – On wisdom and responsibility Further literature: Ardelt, M. (2003): Empirical assessment of a three-dimensional wisdom scale. Research on Aging, 25(3): 275-324.  Ardelt, M. (2004): Wisdom as Expert Knowledge System: A Critical Review of a Contemporary Operationalization of an Ancient Concept. Human Development, 47(5), 257–285. https://doi.org/10.1159/000079154   Ardelt, M. (2000): Antecenents and Effects of Wisdom in Old Age: A Longitudinal Perspective on Aging Well. Research on Aging. Volume: 22 issue: 4, page(s): 360-394  Zadworna, M. & Ardelt, M. (2025): Understanding mental health in older adults: exploring the interplay of wisdom, perceived poor health, and attitudes toward agingAging & Mental Health 2025-01-24 | Journal article DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2025.2452943   Ardelt, M. & Kingsbury, J. (2024): Wisdom, Virtues, and Well-Being: An Empirical Test of Aristotle’s Theory of Flourishing. Topoi. 2024-08 | Journal article DOI: 10.1007/s11245-023-10002-x   Ardelt, M.; Kim, J.J. &Ferrari, M. (2023): Does Self-Transcendent Wisdom Mediate the Relation between Spirituality and Well-Being? A Test Across Six Nations Journal of Happiness Studies | Journal article DOI: 10.1007/s10902-023-00637-3   

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• #12 Bernadette Flanagan | Why Spirituality and Contemplative Studies Matter for Today's Professionals

  Our guest in this episode is Bernadette Flanagan, an internationally recognized researcher in the fields of spirituality, contemplative studies, and professional education. Bernadette was Director of Research at All Hallows College, Dublin City University, and is now Director of the Spirituality in Society and the Professions research group at South-East Technological University in Ireland. She is the co-editor of the Routledge International Handbook of Spirituality in Society and the Professions as well as the Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in Spirituality and Contemplative Studies. In this episode, Bernadette shares insights into how spirituality and contemplative practices can foster reflection, resilience, and ethical responsibility among professionals working in fields like education, healthcare, and social care. She explains how contemplative and cooperative inquiry methods open new ways of doing research that connect personal development, professional practice, and social transformation. We also discuss how first-, second-, and third-person research approaches can deepen academic work in spirituality, and how spiritual and contemplative practices can serve as crucial resources for navigating today's global "polycrisis". Finally, Bernadette reflects on how her long career of supervising spirituality research has shaped her own understanding of life, learning, and responsibility. 00:00:59 – What is spirituality? 00:03:02 – What is the role of spirituality in professions and professional studies? 00:05:40 – Why do we need spirituality? 00:07:00 - What is the relationship between spirituality and contemplation? 00:08:17 – What can spirituality and contemplation add to more mainstream, competence-oriented approaches in professional studies? 00:09:46 – Do cooperative inquiry, contemplative inquiry and action research, do they share a common methodological orientation? 00:12:33 – On first-person, second-person and third-person research 00:15:35 - Lies the true potential of spiritual and contemplative practices in second-person research and not in third-person research? 00:18:34 – Was there a personal transformation due to all that research work in the field or spirituality and contemplative studies? 00:22:57 – What brought Bernadette into this field? 00:29:15 – How can spirituality and contemplation foster the responsibility of students of professional studies? Further literature: Flanagan, B. & Clough, K. (eds.) (2025): The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods for Spirituality and Contemplative Studies. Abingdon on Thames: Routledge.  Laszlo, Z. & Flanagan, B. (eds.) (2019): Routledge International Handbook of Spirituality in Society and the Professions. Abingdon on Thames: Routledge. 

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• #11 Shaun Gallagher | On Astronauts in Awe, Phenomenology & Self-knowledge

  Our guest in this episode is Shaun Gallagher, a leading thinker and scholar in the fields of phenomenology, hermeneutics and the cognitive sciences, with several internationally acclaimed contributions. Shaun is the Lillian and Morrie Moss Professor of Excellence in Philosophy at the University of Memphis and he also has a secondary research appointment at the University of Wollongong in Australia. In this episode, he describes one of his neurophenomenological research projects based on astronauts’ experiences of awe and wonder. He also gives a brief account of phenomenology and why the first-person perspective in research can foster a deeper understanding of phenomena which conventional approaches cannot. In our conversation we also delve into the topic of self-knowledge and practical wisdom and Shaun explicates why spiritual experiences of awe and wonder, like the astronauts had, can contribute to the development of responsibility in professional practices.  00:01:10 – Phenomenological research on the spiritual experiences of astronauts  00:05:41– Why is phenomenology a suitable research approach to investigate experiences as such? 00:07:03 – On the practice of phenomenology in other research projects 00:08:39 – On the first-person perspective in phenomenological research  00:11:44 – How does the body shape the mind? 00:14:14 – On hermeneutics, education and human development 00:17:46 – On the role of self-knowledge in professional studies and practices 00:23:42 – On different concepts of the self 00:27:55 – On the role of philosophy in professional studies 00:31:32 – Can spiritual experiences of awe and wonder foster responsibility in professional practices?  Further literature:   Gallagher, S. (2022): Phenomenology. Berling: Springer.  Gallagher, S., Janz, B., Reinerman, L., Trempler, J., Bockelman, P. (2018): A Neurophenomenology of Awe and Wonder. London: Palgrave Macmillan.  Gallagher, S. (1992): Hermeneutics and Education. New York, NY: State University Press of New York  Gallagher, S. (2005): How the body shapes the mind. Clarendon Press, Oxford  Gallagher, S. Ed. (2011): The Oxford Handbook of the Self. Oxford University Press    

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• #10 Martha C. Nussbaum | Not for Profit - The Silent Crisis in Higher Education

  In this episode we have one of the most distinguished and well-known thinkers of our times with us: Martha C. Nussbaum. She is currently Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, appointed in the Law School and the Philosophy Department. As a philosopher she published on a wide range of topics like ethics, feminism, political philosophy as well as ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. In our conversation with her, we delve into the Princeton Classics edition of her book Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, which has just been released. Among other topics, we discuss the vital role of liberal arts and explore why their significance is increasingly diminished and even endangered in higher education. 00:01:26 – Why does democracy need the humanities? 00:05:56 – Why is there a Silent Crisis in Higher Education and what is it about? 00:09:57 – Why is it bad that the humanities are eradicated in certain university programs? 00:11:47 – What is Socratic pedagogy and how can it be practiced with students? 00:18:13 – Do one need specific classes to promote the three abilities that foster citizenship? 00:19:42 – What is meant by the ability to cultivate imagination? 00:24:45 – Is our human capacity of transcendence the key to develop responsibility? 00:29:03 – About the educational approach of the philosopher and poet Tagore 00:34:12 – How can liberal education be integrated in professional studies? 00:37:45 – On academic essay writing 00:41:52 – On Greek tragedies and their relevance for today’s world 00:44:11 – Why do we need to think about anger and forgiveness? 00:49:34 – Why philosophers who only have one single message, have become dead  Further literature:   Callard, A. (2025): Open Socrates. The Case for a Philosophical Life. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.  Nussbaum, Martha (2024): The Tenderness of Silent Minds. Benjamin Britten and his War Requiem. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  Nussbaum, Martha (2023): Justice for Animals. Our Collective Responsibility. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.  Nussbaum, M. (2024 [2010]): Not For Profit. Why Democracy Needs The Humanities. Princton & Oxford: Princton University Press.  Nussbaum, M. (2016): Anger and Forgiveness. Resentment, Generosity, Justice. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press.  Nussbaum, M. (2001 [1986]): The Fragility of Goodness. Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  Nussbaum, Martha (1997). Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.    

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