Background Assumptions Research Articles

Assumptions in intelligence analysis

ABSTRACT This paper critiques the definitions of assumptions in intelligence analysis, highlighting their lack of clarity and precision. It proposes more specific definitions for assumption, presumption, and implicit assumption, emphasizing the overlooked importance of presumptions. The paper aims to enhance the understanding of assumptions among intelligence analysts, improving their ability to identify and work with various types of assumptions. The discussion includes an examination of the circularity and confusion in existing definitions, the importance of recognizing different types of assumptions, and the need for precise terminology in training. Additionally, the paper delves into background assumptions, the role of presumptions in gap closing, and the Toulmin method applied to working with assumptions.

What Does Spirituality Look Like?

The concept of spirituality defies a rigorous definition, much like some fundamental concepts in mathematics and physics. However, we may gain an understanding of this vital religious concept by asking what spirituality “looks like.” In this paper, following a brief overview of the concepts of spirit and spirituality in the Bahá’í writings, we examine a letter of the Universal House of Justice that gives us a picture of what spirituality should look like today, as the Bahá’í community pursues its work of creating vibrant communities. We then explore the question of whether, and to what degree, the social sciences can investigate the phenomenon of spirituality as central to human nature, arguing that they can productively adopt spiritual reality as a background assumption, whose validity can then be evaluated.

The indelible role of the interpretive researcher's fore-structure in traversing the hermeneutic circle.

Phenomenological researchers are obliged to grasp the epistemological and ontological differences between the Husserlian and Heideggerian branches of phenomenology to avoid misappropriating phenomenological terms or mischaracterizing study design. To that end, we spell out the key differences between both phenomenological traditions as background for describing the indelible role that the researcher's background assumptions, or fore-structure, play in interpretive studies. We draw on our four studies to illustrate how we traversed the hermeneutic circle to disclose, challenge, and refine the personal, cultural, clinical, and scientific assumptions hidden in our fore-structures. Our reflections highlight how understanding evolves, not by bracketing or disengaging ourselves from the phenomena we study, but by engaging in an open dialogthat seeks understanding as lived by patients and families.

Horkheimer, Habermas, Foucault as Political Epistemologists

Abstract This paper reorients the problematic of political epistemology to put power at the centre of analysis, through an analysis of writings on the relationship between power and knowledge by Horkheimer, Habermas and Foucault. In their work, political epistemology was pursued analogously to the development of political economy, which explored the background conditions and assumptions of economic research. I also show that Horkheimer, Habermas and Foucault each had normative aims intended to improve both epistemology and knowing practices. Though their approaches are distinct, the shared element was a concern with redefining truth.

Zur Bedingung der Möglichkeit von Erfahrung. Eine modallogische Analyse

Abstract In Kantian philosophy, the term “condition of possibility” is central, but carries the following ambiguity. According to one reading, “condition of possibility” merely means “necessary condition”. However, it is demonstrated that a deeper interpretation of the term “possibility” proves to be more fruitful. This reading allows us to reconstruct an important background assumption of Kant: Every condition of the possibility of experience holds necessarily, provided that experience is possible. Or more generally: All conditions of the possibility hold necessarily as long as the conditioned is actually possible. This conclusion is understood through the axiomatic system S5. Therefore I argue by referencing the schematism chapter that Kant’s notion of modal terms can be formalized through S5.

Bodies of evidence: The ‘Excited Delirium Syndrome’ and the epistemology of cause-of-death inquiry

“Excited Delirium Syndrome” (ExDS) is a controversial diagnosis. The supposed syndrome is sometimes considered to be a potential cause of death. However, it has been argued that its sole purpose is to cover up excessive police violence because it is mainly used to explain deaths of individuals in custody. In this paper, we examine the epistemic conditions giving rise to the controversial diagnosis by discussing the relation between causal hypotheses, evidence, and data in forensic medicine. We argue that the practitioners’ social context affects causal inquiry through background assumptions that enter inquiry at multiple stages. This analysis serves to better understand the wide usage of the controversial diagnosis of ExDS.

Do you value topic-continuity? The moral foundations of Cappelen’s insistence on ‘topic-continuity’ and reasons for resisting them

ABSTRACT The article reveals the pragmatic implications of Herman Cappelen’s account of ‘topics’ in his contribution to the conceptual engineering literature. I show that Cappelen’s introduction of the category of ‘topics’ serves the pragmatic goal of having a convenient handle to account for ‘continuity in revision’, and that his general insistence on ‘continuity’ is motivated morally and strategically. In asking what accounts for continuity, Cappelen’s ‘topics’ are not defined by content or any other fixed set of rules or criteria. Topics are metaphysically lightweight and defined pragmatically and as we go: speakers talk about the same topic when we (and they) attribute that they do. But why should we do that? Why should we aim for continuity and why should we think it is possible in general? I contrast Cappelen’s insistence on continuity with Rorty’s appeal for discontinuity, and trace both of their positions back to their respective moral background assumptions and their assumptions about what communication is (and is for) and, in turn, what philosophy is (and is about). Further, I question the role the ‘continuity’ claim plays in the current redefinition of linguistic philosophy after the ‘death of the linguistic turn’.

Evaluating the environmental performance of 45 real-life wooden buildings: A comprehensive analysis of low-impact construction practices

Buildings are responsible for 37 % of global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Subsequently, stakeholders in this sector have introduced different strategies to reduce the environmental impact of buildings. One strategy focuses on increasing the use of wood in buildings as a low-impact material with the potential to act as a carbon sink. Although research shows a tendency towards lower GHG emissions from wood structures compared to conventional constructions, the existing literature is typically challenged by methodological inconsistencies and only assesses a limited number of building projects at a time. As a result, uncertainties are introduced about comparisons between them, how their background and modeling assumptions may vary, as well as the integrity of the assessed solutions. Hence, this study analyses 45 cases of buildings applying the same methodology to enable a comprehensive understanding of the environmental performance of wooden buildings, identifying common trends, challenges, and best practices. This study finds that the embodied impacts contribute highly to the environmental impact and thus remain essential to consider. However, there is a very weak correlation between the quantities of wood used in the buildings and the environmental impact for wooden buildings, but a strong correlation between the quantities of insulation, plastics, composites, and POCP, ODP, ODP and EP, respectively. Therefore, the use of these materials should be optimized to further reduce the environmental impact of wood buildings.

Scientism and the Problem of Self-Referential Incoherence

ABSTRACT In recent discussions on the possibilities and boundaries of science, the term ‘scientism’ has been used with multiple meanings. In this paper, this term is taken to refer to a strong epistemic thesis according to which scientific research is the only reliable source of knowledge. Strong epistemic scientism has been recently criticized from different points of view. A recurrent accusation is that the thesis is self-referentially incoherent. After giving an overview of the critical arguments and the answers given to them, I will try to point out that the debate concerning the correctness of scientism is based on a questionable background assumption about the role of higher-order justification.

Some Remarks on the Logic of Probabilistic Relevance

In this paper we deepen some aspects of the statistical approach to relevance by providing logics for the syntactical treatment of probabilistic relevance relations. Specifically, we define conservative expansions of Classical Logic endowed with a ternary connective ⇝ - indeed, a constrained material implication - whose intuitive reading is “x materially implies y and it is relevant to y under the evidence z”. In turn, this ensures the definability of a formula in three-variables R(x, z, y) which is the representative of relevance in the object language. We outline the algebraic semantics of such logics, and we apply the acquired machinery to investigate some termdefined weakly connexive implications with some intuitive appeal. As a consequence, a further motivation of (weakly) connexive principles in terms of relevance and background assumptions obtains.

Measurement Scepticism, Construct Validation, and Methodology of Well-Being Theorising

Precise measurements of well-being would be of profound societal importance. Yet, the sceptical worry that we cannot use social science instruments and tests to measure well-being is widely discussed by philosophers and scientists. A recent and interesting philosophical argument has pointed to the psychometric procedures of construct validation to address this sceptical worry. The argument has proposed that these procedures could warrant confidence in our ability to measure well-being. The present paper evaluates whether this type of argument succeeds. The answer is that it depends on which methodological background assumptions are motivating the sceptical worry to begin with. We show this by doing two things. First, we clarify (a) the different types of well-being theories involved in the science of well-being, and (b) the general methodological dimensions of well-being theorising. Second, we apply these distinctions and argue that construct validation is an unsuccessful response to measurement scepticism if this scepticism is motivated by a form of methodological non-naturalism. In the light of this, the overall point of the paper is that philosophers and scientists, when discussing measurement of well-being, should explicate their deeper methodological commitments. We further suggest that making such explicit commitments might present philosophers with a dilemma.

The moral landscape of biological conservation: Understanding conceptual and normative foundations

Biological conservation practices and approaches take many forms. Conservation projects do not only differ in their aims and methods, but also concerning their conceptual and normative background assumptions and their underlying motivations and objectives. We draw on philosophical distinctions from the ethics of conservation to explain variances of different positions on conservation projects along six dimensions: (1) conservation ideals, (2) intervention intuitions, (3) the moral considerability of nonhuman beings, (4) environmental values, (5) views on nature and (6) human roles in nature. The result is a map of the moral landscape of biological conservation, on which these six dimensions are layered. This map functions as a heuristic tool to understand conceptual and normative foundations of specific conservation projects, which we will illustrate with four paradigmatic examples: the Pisavaara Strict Nature Reserve, Predator Free New Zealand, the Oostvaardersplassen Nature Reserve and the Great Green Wall Project. With this map as a heuristic tool, we aim to conceptually illuminate disagreement and clarify misunderstandings between representatives of different environmental protection strategies and to show that the same project can be supported (or criticised) on different grounds.

Caring as the unacknowledged matrix of evidence-based nursing

In this article, we explicate evidence-based nursing (EBN), critically appraise its framework and respond to nurses’ concern that EBN sidelines the caring elements of nursing practice. We use resources from...

The concept of a set in the theory and practice of designing

The concept of a set is one of the key concepts in mathematics and not only. To further the discussion, assessments of the significance of sets in designing, generated by large language models, are given as a kind of generalized take on the importance of this concept. An analysis of the concepts of a set and a class in mathematics and engineering is provided. The multiplicity of their interpretations and the difference in various fields of application directly related to the concept of “element of the set”, are shown. In designing, the concept of a set is considered in various aspects and is filled with different content. First of all, it is a set of needs that continuously arise, and the design activity, accompanied by a multitude of design subjects participating in it, is aimed at satisfying them. It is also a set of precedents (already created artifacts), which are analogues and prototypes for the designer, but for one reason or another do not satisfy the emerging needs of the subjects. There are sets of: design parameters and design variables of the object being developed; criteria for evaluating a new artifact; background assumptions, data and conditions, including limitations; models describing the designed object; decision-making methods and, finally, a variety of design decisions. An objectively existing set of values of initial data and evaluation criteria in designing can be and is considered as an uncertainty (uncertain set), and as a given that must be revealed, narrowing the range of solutions and lowering the power of sets. In designing practice (removal of uncertainty, degeneration of the multiplicity of possible values of design parameters, etc.) one always strives for a singleton (a set with a single element), i.e. to the design solution that will be embodied in a design, technology or system.

Taking stock of an idiom's background assumptions: an alternative relevance theoretic account.

This paper begins by presenting the theoretical background of, and the accompanying psycholinguistic findings on, idiom processing. The paper then widens its lens by comparing the idiom processing literature to that of metaphor and irony. We do so partly to better understand the idiom superiority effect, according to which idiomatic sentences (unlike metaphoric and ironic ones) are generally processed faster than their literal controls; part of our motivation is to reconcile the differences between idiom processing, on the one hand, and metaphor and irony processing on the other. This ultimately leads us to Relevance Theory (RT), which has provided original insights into the processing of figurative language generally, but especially with respect to metaphor and irony. RT has paid less attention to idiomatic expressions (such as break the ice, fan the flames, or spill the beans), where one finds a single RT account that likens idioms to conventional metaphors. Through our overview, we ultimately arrive at an alternative RT account of idioms: We argue that idioms include a procedural meaning that takes into account relevant presuppositional information. For example, an idiomatic string such as break the ice not only asserts initiate social contact, it prompts the recovery of background assumptions such as there exists a social distance that calls for relief. This leads us (a) to apply linguistic-intuition tests of our presuppositional hypothesis, and; (b) to describe the paradigm and results from a pilot experiment. Both provide support for our claims. In doing so, we provide an original explanation for the idiom superiority effect.

The pacifist and the hypophysical: A cosmological reading of Gandhi

AbstractAmidst the resurgence of scholarship on pacifism, this essay seeks to critically interrogate certain influential sections within pacifism which characterise Gandhi as a pacifist, and his philosophy as pacifism. After pointing out the shortcomings of existing attempts to problematise the pacifist connotations of Gandhi, I adopt a cosmological approach to reading Gandhi. I argue that such an approach enables us to view the uncritical equation of both strands of thought as symptomatic of the deep-rooted ontological, epistemological, and other biases informing Western cosmology. This is demonstrated by the channels through which Gandhian discourses are framed as pacifism (especially in their diffusion into the American context), via a distinct set of interactions with both the religious and secular cosmological background assumptions underpinning pacifism. In the subsequent section, I continue this approach by highlighting how an alternate relational cosmology – Gandhian hypophysics – with a radically different set of background assumptions results in an idiosyncratic notion of Gandhian ideas which are quite inimical to pacifism. Besides reconciling contradictory characterisations of the same man and his philosophy, as well as contributing to a dialogic, pluriversal approach, I argue that this work also seeks to extend the scholarship on the interrelated themes of agency and cosmology.

How Cultural Cognition Informs Differential Treatment in WTO Law and the Climate Regime

Abstract Climate change is a core issue for sustainable development and exacerbates inequality. However, in both the WTO and the climate regime, disagreements over differential treatment have hampered efforts to address international inequalities in a way that facilitates effective responses to global issues. Sustainable globalization requires bridging the disparities between developed and developing countries in their capacities to address such matters of global concern. However, differential treatment now functions as a distraction from the global issues it was supposed to address. Cognitive biases distort perceptions regarding the climate crisis and the value of multilateralism. To what extent can cognitive science inform decision making by States? How do we change paradigms (cognitive background assumptions), which limit the options that decision-making elites in developed and developing countries perceive as useful and worth considering? To what extent do cognitive biases and cultural cognition create a barrier to multilateral cooperation on issues of global concern?

Visual Asynchrony & Temporally Extended Contents

Temporal experiences, according to retentionalism, essentially have temporally extended contents: contents which represent distinct events at distinct temporal locations, and some of their temporal relations. This means, retentionalists insist, that temporal experiences themselves needn’t be extended in time: only their contents are. The paper reviews an experiment by Moutoussis and Zeki, which demonstrates a colour-motion visual asynchrony (§2): information about motion seems to be processed more slowly than information about colour, so that the former is delayed relative to the latter. This, the paper argues, raises an important difficulty for retentionalism and its account of the temporal ontology of experiences: it suggests that a central background assumption about neural processing presupposed by retentionalism is false, at least in cases of visual asynchrony. The paper then explores the general significance of this result for retentionalism (§3).

The public sphere and contemporary lifeworld: reconstruction in the context of systemic crises

Abstract For the Habermasian theory of the “public sphere” to make sense in the 2020s, it must be able to address the modern tendency toward global systemic crises. To examine the relevance of the Habermasian public sphere to today’s deeply interconnected digital world, this article provides a selective reading of Habermas’ writings on the public sphere, examining how he developed the concept from its conceptual core (1962) through his Legitimation Crisis (LC; 1973) and The Theory of Communicative Action (TCA; vol. 1 [1981] 1984, vol. 2 [1981] 1987). Working from the perspective of the “differentiated lifeworld,” we show here that the theory’s background assumptions about reality (truth), solidarity (justice), personality (authenticity) are now being exposed and destabilized by current crisis tendencies and imaginaries. Here, we examine three exemplary (and interconnected) global disruptions that expose these assumptions: the climate crisis, the intensification of financial inequality in the Global North, and the rapid push toward datafication. Through our examination of whether the public sphere as Habermas conceived of it can exist in today’s world, we provide a more expansive form of criticism of the public sphere (which is usually critiqued on the narrow grounds of the rational bias of communicative rationality). Here, we underscore the fundamental importance of addressing the complex system-lifeworld dynamics that are today re-conceptualizing and re-contextualizing the “public sphere” in this era of contemporary global crises.

The Impact of Managing Diversity on Building the Smart City A Comparison of Smart City Strategies: Cases From Europe, America, and Asia

The use of ICT to optimize urban processes, activities, efficiency and effectiveness of services turns cities into smart. Smart cities make it necessary to plan, monitor and analyze the city, except for the routine functions of the city. The study examined what smart city research projects are in five representative smart cities (London, New York, Singapore, Barcelona, and Istanbul) and whether there are similarities or differences in background assumptions. The literature used has a global reach; cities around the world have been chosen for comparison. By evaluating the existing literature, it has been evaluated that smart cities are the most successful and the weakest issues. Despite the centrality of New York and London’s smart city policies; they are fairly superior in economic competition. Public participation in smart city projects is already weak in Singapore and Istanbul. Barcelona has a more participatory policy than other cities, but it needs to develop a smart governance perspective. The study concludes with how the smart city ideology achieves its goals. The study adds value to smart city research by a critical look at the subject. Combining the results of practical smart city initiatives, it concludes the practicality and usefulness of smart city development.