Epistemological Concepts Research Articles

Resistances to critical language awareness: understanding the role of social class and double consciousness

ABSTRACT Drawing from students’ reflections, classroom observations, and individual interviews, this study examines the case of a Spanish for Heritage speakers class comprised of Heritage Speakers (HS) and international Latin American students in a predominantly white institution (PWI). Focusing on the development of Critical Language Awareness (CLA) , this study shows the various forms of resistance toward these pedagogies (e.g. withdrawal, class divisions, turning to meritocratic answers, among others) across students of different social classes (upper-middle class, working-class, international students from Latin America). This study demonstrates how students resisted structural explanations around Spanish language maintenance, instead resorting to either meritocratic understandings or the family as the primary locus of language maintenance. The epistemological concept of ‘double consciousness frames the experiences of working-class HSs who struggled between feelings of empowerment through CLA and negative perceptions of their own linguistic practices. These feelings were mediated by the challenge of affirming their language identities in the context of a PWI that privileges upper-middle-class cultural values. The study argues that while CLA begins a process of critical consciousness, we need to pay attention to the contextual factors and dynamics that lead to different forms of resistance.

Pedagogical content knowledge in school economics

How can creative teaching in economics education be identified and explored? A construct that assists understanding in this area is pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). It represents the merging of content and pedagogy to understand how particular topics or lessons are organised, represented, and adapted to students’ diverse interests and abilities. This paper draws upon the author's research that explores teaching and learning in school economics to discuss this epistemological concept that blends the traditionally separated knowledge bases of content and pedagogy. The research involved interviewing and observing school economics teachers and student focus group interviews. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the data. In this paper, I discuss the emergent theme of how teachers communicated their understanding of subject knowledge by developing their PCK to engage their students in learning. The considerations raised can assist lecturers, teachers, teacher educators, and researchers in enacting the teaching and learning process in economics and other disciplines.

Practical epistemology of history teachers and its relationship to normative injunctions

Over the past few decades, significant work has been done regarding the epistemic beliefs of history teachers. However, nuanced epistemic beliefs do not appear to manifest as regularly as may be expected in teaching practices (Wilke et al., 2022). While exploring the normative injunctions imposed in part by the hidden curriculum (Giroux & Penna, 1979), the “school form” (Barthes & Alpe, 2018), and the challenges that history teachers face, this article argues that explicit and implicit demands made on history teachers generate a form of practical epistemology, which goes beyond epistemological beliefs. While at times this appears at odds with their understanding of history as a discipline, it enables them to meet the diverse mandates and directives they encounter. We believe that the concept of practical epistemology (Gholami, 2017) provides avenues for reflection that deserve to be pursued. Lastly, regarding criterialist epistemology (Maggioni, VanSledright, & Alexander, 2009) and historical thinking (Seixas & Morton, 2013), we emphasize that they themselves could be subjected to a critical review by both students and teachers in their practice.

The polyphonic relational epistemology

This paper introduces the concept of polyphonic relational epistemology, an extension of relational epistemology that emphasizes knowledge as a dialogic and multivocal process. Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of polyphony, the paper argues that the act of knowing emerges from the interaction of multiple, irreducible voices. This approach challenges traditional epistemological frameworks that prioritize individual coherence and logical consistency, proposing instead a view of truth as a dynamic interplay of diverse perspectives. The paper examines the contributions of key scholars in relational epistemology, such as Kenneth Gergen, Barbara Thayer-Bacon, and Lorraine Code, and builds upon their insights to develop a polyphonic understanding of knowledge. The practical implications of polyphonic relational epistemology are explored in the context of education, highlighting its potential to foster inclusive and collaborative learning environments. By embracing the complexity and multiplicity of human experience, polyphonic relational epistemology offers a rich framework for rethinking the nature of knowledge and its role in our lives. The paper concludes by outlining avenues for future scholarship, including empirical research, interdisciplinary approaches, and the integration of technology, to further refine and apply this conceptual framework in educational practice and beyond.

Disinformation and strategic frames: Introducing the concept of a strategic epistemology towards media

Efforts to raise awareness about foreign disinformation might accidentally increase distrust towards legitimate media. We argue that state discourse on disinformation is comparable to strategic framing in journalists’ coverage of political events, and that it might imbue audiences with cynicism. Furthermore, in contrast to an experimental paradigm that depicts disinformation audiences as passive, we suggest that news consumers actively appropriate and produce content themselves. Conceptualising media content as ‘strategic’ rather than sincere might influence audiences to share and produce media content strategically. This Machiavellian tendency leads to similar effects on bias as motivated reasoning. Most accounts of motivated reasoning assume that limits of psychological processing are the reasons for biased judgements of what is true and fake, however, we argue that biases can also be due to culturally acquired second-order beliefs about knowledge. To explain this, we build on ideas about ‘folk epistemology’ and propose the term ‘strategic epistemology towards media’. Resistance-building efforts against disinformation risk promoting such a strategic epistemology towards media and this can have harmful effects on democratic dialogue. To avoid this, educational interventions should be premised on social epistemology rather than experimental psychology.

EDI in academic–policy engagement: lived experience of university based knowledge brokers and marginalised academics

Background: Discourse surrounding Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) has received significant attention within the UK academy and knowledge brokerage contexts, and more recently within academic–policy engagement spaces (Walker et al, 2019a; Fawcett, 2021; GOV.UK, 2021; Morris et al, 2021). Key players in this space identify the need for diversifying academic participation, as well as diversifying knowledges (GOV.UK, 2021; UK Parliament, 2018; UKRI, 2023). However, conceptual and practical insight on embedding EDI principles (and what they mean in this context) within academic–policy engagement processes is missing. Aims and objectives: Underpinned by feminist and decolonial epistemological concepts, this article addresses this gap by outlining strategies, and surfacing ways in which EDI within academic–policy engagement is experienced, conceptualised, understood and considered. Methods: Two parallel qualitative studies, with a total of 20 semi-structured narrative and realist interviews conducted with marginalised researchers (n=10, Study A) and university based knowledge brokers (n=10, Study B), and a rapid literature review. The analysis used a narrative and thematic framework. Findings and discussion: We found a want for EDI to go beyond just diversity of people and representation, towards fostering foundational principles of epistemic justice, equitable access, value-driven engagement and plurality. Academics and knowledge brokers reported both negative and positive experiences within this space that related to known EDI issues. We conclude that EDI cannot be standardised across higher education contexts, and emphasise the need for holistic, relational and plural approaches to EDI across academic–policy engagement systems through a value-led, equitable and ethical lens.

Didactical design to overcome learning obstacles in cuboid volume

This study aims to produce an empirical didactic design designed to overcome didactic barriers experienced by students on beam volume material. Didactical design research is a design in this study that contains three stages of analysis, namely prospective analysis, metapedadidactic analysis, and retrospective analysis. 25 9th-grade junior high school students and one mathematics teacher were selected using purposive sampling techniques to become subjects. Observation, tests using diagnostic tests, and interviews are techniques in data collection. The collected data is analysed and interpreted qualitatively using interpretive and critical paradigms. The results of this study show that through three stages of analysis, an empirical didactic design was obtained that contains four didactic situations: action situations, formulation situations, validation situations, and institutionalisation situations. However, the limitations of presenting problems in institutionalisation situations have an impact on the occurrence of other learning barriers, namely epistemological concepts. Thus, this limitation becomes an improvement material in empirical didactic design.

Swimming problems: Hegel, Kant, and the demand for metatheory

AbstractHegel argues that Kant's critical project is analogous to the attempt to learn to swim before getting in the water. Some have taken this to indicate the broadly anti‐epistemological nature of Hegel's philosophical system. In this paper, I offer a novel interpretation of the swimming argument which is both (i) compatible with a broadly epistemological conception of his Logic and (ii) more obviously efficacious against its intended target (viz. Kant). Briefly stated, the swimming argument is intended to reveal the reflexive or self‐implicating nature of any critical‐reflection.

Понятие трансцендентального в системе трансцендентального монизма В. Д. Кудрявцева-Платонова

The aim of the article is to clarify the meaning of the concept of "transcendental" in the epistemology of the most prominent representative of Russian ecclesiastic-academic philosophy of the second half of the 19th century, Christian philosopher V. D. Kudryavtsev-Platonov, as well as the relationship of this concept in the interpretation of the Russian religious philosopher to the philosophical tradition of transcendentalism established by I. Kant. The core of Kudryavtsev's entire epistemology is the concept of transcendental monism presented in his work "Metaphysical Analysis of Empirical Cognition". In the process of reconstruction of the mentioned concept it is shown that it has two planes: ontological and epistemological. Transcendental monism as an epistemological concept is the subject of conceptual and comparative analysis in the article, by means of which similarities and differences between Kudryavtsev's and Kant's epistemology are established. On the basis of this comparison it is concluded that Kudryavtsev, denying only the subjective character of cognitive forms, overcame Kant's transcendental idealism. Then the epistemological views of V. T. Krug and F. A. Trendelenburg are analysed as basic positions for Kudryavtsev's transcendental monism in order to identify its links with the tradition of Kantian transcendentalism. According to the results of the analysis, the ideas of Krug, Trendelenburg and Kudryavtsev are compared, which shows the points of convergence between the philosophers, namely, the transcendental for them appears in connection with the a priori, that is, with that which has an inexperienced origin, but lies at the basis of possible experience. It is established that Krug, Trendelenburg and Kudryavtsev endeavoured to overcome the gap between thinking and the external world in the process of cognition, which had arisen in Kantian transcendental idealism. Hence, it is concluded that the concept of "transcendental" in Kudryavtsev's theory of cognition is linked to the tradition of Kantian transcendentalism through the concept of apriorism. Finally, it is concluded that Kudryavtsev's epistemology is an example of Christian philosophy incorporating the concept of the transcendental in its connection with Kantian transcendentalism, and may become a model for new attempts to construct a Christian epistemology.

The health care management by nurses from the hospital infection control service in light of the Nursing Role Effectiveness Model

The objective was to reflect on the key concepts of the Middle Range Theory (TMA) Nursing Role Effectiveness Model (NREM) and its applicability in the management practices of Nurses working in the Hospital Infection Control Service. This is a theoretical-reflective study, which starts from the philosophical and epistemological conceptions of the TMA - NREM in order to reflect its applicability in the managerial actions of nurses who work in the Hospital Infection Control Service. For this reflection, the authors were based on the main concepts of the theory: structure (organization, nurse and patient), processes (independent, dependent and interdependent actions) and results (care sensitive to the nurse's actions). Through reflection, it can be seen that the key concepts of the aforementioned theory apply and at the same time support the theoretical reflection on the managerial actions of nurses who work in the Hospital Infection Control Service, contributing to elucidate how the interrelationship between the variables of this medium-range theory can favor better results than the reduction of infections in hospital units. It was possible to conclude that the managerial actions of nurses who work in the Hospital Infection Control Service are interrelated, capable of generating sensitive nursing care for patients hospitalized in hospital units.

Research methodology in finance

Purpose- Our research aims to explore the different philosophical and epistemological concepts and approaches in traditional finance and behavioral finance, based on the analysis of scientific articles. We aim to provide a comprehensive insight into the theoretical foundations that guide these two branches of finance, with particular emphasis on the epistemological and methodological nuances that distinguish them. Methodology- Our research is based on a careful analysis of the relevant scientific literature in traditional and behavioural finance. By giving specific importance to epistemological aspects, we try to discover the paradigms of thought that influence the understanding and interpretation of financial phenomena within these two fields. Similarly, our meticulous examination of this research aims to identify the preferred methodological approaches. Findings- The results of the analysis show that traditional and behavioural finance have different epistemological and methodological approaches. most traditional financiers follow a quantitative research approach based on numerical data and a purely statistical analysis. However, behaviorists have opted for methodological triangulation, which further explains the combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches to achieve stronger results and that one can modify or complement the other. Behaviorists recognize the importance of cognitive and emotional biases in the decision-making process of individuals, leading to more holistic models and approaches. With regard to epistemology, most research in Finance on the positivist paradigm, on objectivity and on the relationship of cause and effect. Conclusion- In conclusion, our study highlights the importance of developing research methodologies adapted to each discipline of management sciences, taking into account the specificities of each field. Moreover, the analysis of the scientific literature in traditional and behavioural finance shows that researchers must be aware of the different epistemological and methodological perspectives in order to conduct rigorous and valid research. Keywords: Epistemology, methodology, management sciences, traditional finance, behavioural finance. JEL Codes: B40, G10, G40

Students’ Inconsistency when Solving a Geometry Problem in Three-Dimensional Context

There is an issue regarding students' consistency in completing geometry assignments, as indicated by several research findings and assessments. Diagnosing how students integrate concepts in the conceptual design and understanding the reasons behind their inconsistency in completing assignments are the main focuses of this case study. This research was conducted with 58 high school students in Tanjungpandan, Indonesia. The data were obtained from students' answers to problems of the three initial levels of geometry thinking and retrospective reports about their answers. The data were analyzed based on three phases: the concept-eliciting and integrating phase, the relationship-eliciting phase, and the relationship-integrating phase. The study revealed that students' performance in geometry analysis aligned with the epistemological concept issue. Visual objects garnered the most attention from students, leading to their analysis techniques being primarily object-oriented. Some stages of property analysis were skipped, causing students to make claims about objects of thought when they should have been establishing relationships between properties to classify shapes through rigorous geometry analysis. Numerical computation remains an essential aspect of geometry analysis. The conceptual design has not yet reached the abstraction stage, resulting in experiments to solve problems not always yielding the correct solutions. In education, this highlights the need for a deep understanding of concept epistemology, efficient concept integration, and the cultivation of abstract thinking skills.

Reflections on theoretical framework use in nursing research.

to reflect on theoretical framework use in nursing research. a theoretical-reflexive study, based on concepts and constructs pertinent to using nursing theories and other sciences, considering issues of epistemology or philosophy of science. we presented what it is and why to do nursing research and what a theoretical framework is and why to use it, in addition to some considerations regarding theoretical framework use in nursing research, essential for constructing disciplinary knowledge, which enables the materialization of researchers' work and the presentation of propositions resulting from investigations in and for nursing as a discipline and science. based on a reflection based on epistemological conceptions, it is possible to affirm that a theoretical framework is the core of researchers' thinking, delimiting a problem to be investigated and, based on it, outlining methodological strategies to be followed, supporting nursing action and thinking as discipline and science.

Expanded scenography from the Global South

This article starts from the discussion and reflection on contemporary scenographic production and its expanded practices to present the concept of an expanded scenography from the Global South, whose aesthetic, spatial, and language principles include different sociocultural epistemologies in diverse countries, in its various manifestations. Based on the concept of epistemologies of the South, presented by sociologist Boaventura de Souza Santos, I seek to approach a scenographic epistemology from the South, whose perspective is connected with a process of extraction and destruction, the street and unconventional spaces, environment, climate and the ritual, including examples from Latin America, Asia, and African continents.

RELEVANSI PEMIKIRAN SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR TENTANG INTEGRASI ISLAM DAN SAINS TERHADAP PENDIDIKAN ISLAM DI INDONESIA

This article aims to analyze the thoughts of Seyyed Hossein Nasr regarding the integration of Islam and science, and their relevance to Islamic Education, especially in Indonesia. The method used in this research is literature study where the writer tries to find, compile and analyze various information through various related sources. The results of this study explain that according to Seyyed Hosein Nasr Muslims do not have to lose their spiritual roots, in order to gain progress in science and technology. According to Nasr view, Islam and science cannot be separated, even Islam in itself wants the progress of science. This thought is not only in the epistemological concept, but also in the ontological realm, related to human existence itself, as well as the axiological realm that determines ethical aspects in human life. It was found that Seyyed Hossein Nasr's paradigm of the integration of Islam and science has an urgency and relevance especially for the implementation of Islamic Education in Indonesia. By offering a sufistic traditionalist approach, which is the root of the Islamic spirituality tradition, it is hoped that it will be able to provide a moral and ethical foundation in the process of Islamic education in Indonesia. Integration of Islam and Science which is not only in the object of knowledge, but unites in humans, as subjects of knowledge, human learners.

Thinking for Themselves: Bootstraps Discourse and the Imagined Epistemology of Reactionary YouTube Audiences

ABSTRACT In recent years, popular interest in disinformation has coalesced around a series of high-profile events, starting with the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump in 2016. While Facebook and Twitter drew the most scrutiny in the immediate aftermath of these events, attention has turned in recent years to YouTube as a source of right-wing disinformation and radicalization. While the bulk of the extant literature on this topic has focused on the supply of right-wing content on YouTube – including quantitative studies examining the impact of the recommendation algorithm and qualitative studies exploring the rhetoric and micro-celebrity practices of reactionary channels – few studies have examined what draws viewers to the videos they watch. This paper aims to fill this gap in research by analyzing interviews with 18 current and former fans of US-centric reactionary YouTube channels. Based on these interviews, I introduce the concept of bootstraps epistemology as a way of understanding right-wing approaches to accessing political truth and knowledge.

Ethical Recursivity: Reconciling Ethics and Action in a Publicly Engaged Anthropology

Abstract While anthropologists have been cautious to avoid essentialism, the notion “informant” in anthropology’s promotion of scholar-informant solidarity has been surprisingly undifferentiated. Based on my experience of interlocutors’ heterogeneity during my fieldwork on Assam tea plantations, I illustrate the ambiguity, porosity and mutability of the category of the “informant.” I argue that the general imperative to support informants occludes that there are multiple interlocutors with different, at times conflicting, claims. Therefore, a (conscious or unconscious) decision about whom among the multiple interlocutors to support in the field of study seems inevitable. Inspired by the epistemological concept of recursivity, drawn from the recent framework of a recursive anthropology, I suggest ethical recursivity as one possible answer to the question on what ethical grounds anthropologists could base their decision about whom among the multiple (marginalized) interlocutors they show solidarity to, in order to reconcile ethical premises and actions within a publicly engaged anthropology.

NARRATIVE TEXTS IN INDONESIAN ELT TEXTBOOKS: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES

This paper aims at examining social functions, schematic structure, transitivity, and modality in narrative texts in an English textbook published by the Indonesian government and used at the tenth grade English classes. Three narrative texts were found in the textbook and selected as samples. Hallidayan concepts of social functions, schematic structure, transitivity and modality were used as theoretical epistemological concepts and his lexico-grammatical analytical framework was used as a methodological procedure of data analysis. Clauses in the three texts (i.e., Issumboshi, The Legend of Malin Kundang, and Strong Wind) were coded by numbering them and analyzed in a series of systemic functional linguistic analyses: Theme-Rheme, process-type analysis, mood-residue analysis, and functional analysis. The texts display this schematic pattern: orientation^evaluation^compilcation^resolution. The absence of reorientation within the generic structure implies the written nature of the texts. The study also presents linguistic patterns in transitivity where particular process types were used in each schematic structure. The study also proves that, although narrated in written modes and declarative clauses were dominantly exploited, the time of event and the judgment of the narrating writers were static where temporal settings of the events were always in the past and the narrators’ judgment of them remained high. These types of time and judgment enabled the narrators to convey socialization, education and entertainment functions of narrative texts and narration practices. Additionally, these analyses could exemplify an education model of systemic functional linguistic analysis and reduce currently common misconceptions in Indonesian ELT textbooks.

The dynamic nature of scientific knowledge: an epistemological look at the research activity of human hand anthropometry

This research focuses on analyzing the dynamic nature of scientific knowledge from an epistemological perspective, focusing specifically on anthropometric research of the human hand. The main objective of this study is to examine how knowledge is generated and evolves in this field, in the light of epistemological theories such as Lakatos'. Key concepts of epistemology and philosophy of science are addressed, including the theories of Lakatos, Popper, Kuhn and Feyerabend. Subsequently, Lakatos' theory of Scientific Investigation Programs (SIPs) is applied to the field of hand anthropometry, identifying its fundamental core (which refers to the belief in the relevance of hand measurements) and its protective belt (comprising auxiliary theories and methods). It discusses how both heuristics and empirical evidence drive the evolution of knowledge in this field, also emphasizing the importance of creative inquiry, scientific debate, and methodological rigor. Ultimately, it is concluded that anthropometric research eloquently exemplifies the inherent dynamic nature of scientific knowledge.

Al-Ghazali's Theory of Real Knowledge: An Exploration of Knowledge Integration in Islamic Epistemology through Contemporary Perspectives

Abstract
 This research aims to explore Al-Ghazali's theory of real knowledge and elucidate the concept of knowledge and its integration features in grounding Islamic knowledge according to the contemporary theories of epistemology. The study delves into Al-Ghazali's perspectives on knowledge, analyzing and interpreting them in light of modern knowledge theories. The research finds that the cognitive integration features in Al-Ghazali's philosophy lie in the integration of knowledge sources, methods, sciences, and scholars. This is achieved through a comprehensive review of some of Al-Ghazali's works, as well as relevant studies, books, and research about his contributions to Islamic epistemology. Al-Ghazali encourages scholars to collaborate and integrate their knowledge to attain true understanding, a principle evident in this research through the exploration of modern epistemological concepts. The research utilized both inductive and descriptive methods to identify the characteristics of knowledge and demonstrate its integration aspects in Al-Ghazali's teachings. The research is structured into an introduction and three main sections: the first section introduces Al-Ghazali and his era, the second section explores the concept of knowledge and its integration in Islamic epistemology according to Al-Ghazali, and the third section examines knowledge sources, methods, types of knowledge, and scholars in Al-Ghazali's philosophy.