Epistemic Processes Research Articles

Reconfiguring Orientalism: Japan and Korea as Depicted by Early Twentieth-Century French Orientalist Literature

This essay investigates the nature of western knowledge of Japan and Korea by examining French Orientalist literature in the early twentieth century. The point of departure is the idea that as Japan and Korea cannot be lumped together under an umbrella term such as “the Orient”, the diverse attitudes Europeans exhibited towards them cannot be uniformly branded with Eurocentrism founded upon the East–West dichotomy. The process in which westerners formed knowledge of Asia was not monolithic, in that they employed not a single but multiple conceptual repertoires in order to make sense of their experience of the two countries. Nor was it unilateral, in that they made use of local knowledge they encountered there rather than imposing their conceptual frameworks upon the experience. The examination will show the following. First, the dichotomy between East and West was visibly registered in western discourse of both Japan and Korea, where they were often reduced to the uncivilized Other. But the binary framework was not the only conceptual repertoire with which French Orientalists made sense of their experience and observations of the two countries. Other ones, such as cultural relativism, are seen to have been adopted, which contributed to alleviating the reductive effects of the dichotomous view. Second, the diverse conceptual repertoires, however strongly they challenged the binary model, themselves constituted another layer of epistemic alienation; they were employed in a discriminatory manner, like the relativist attitude being shown towards one (Japan) more frequently than the other (Korea), thereby facilitating the establishment of a hierarchy within the conception of the Orient. Lastly, western engagement with local knowledge was highly selective and did not always end up with eroding the multiple layers of alienation. For this reason, Orientalism is defined as an interactive epistemic process with multiple structures of alienation in it.

Thinking with indicators. Exploring the epistemic impacts of academic performance indicators in the life sciences

While quantitative performance indicators are widely used by organizations and individuals for evaluative purposes, little is known about their impacts on the epistemic processes of academic knowledge production. In this article we bring together three qualitative research projects undertaken in the Netherlands and Austria to contribute to filling this gap. The projects explored the role of performance metrics in the life sciences, and the interactions between institutional and disciplinary cultures of evaluating research in these fields. Our analytic perspective is focused on understanding how researchers themselves give value to research, and in how far these practices are related to performance metrics. The article zooms in on three key moments in research processes to show how ‘thinking with indicators’ is becoming a central aspect of research activities themselves: (1) the planning and conception of research projects, (2) the social organization of research processes, and (3) determining the endpoints of research processes. Our findings demonstrate how the worth of research activities becomes increasingly assessed and defined by their potential to yield high value in quantitative terms. The analysis makes visible how certain norms and values related to performance metrics are stabilized as they become integrated into routine practices of knowledge production. Other norms and criteria for scientific quality, e.g. epistemic originality, long-term scientific progress, societal relevance, and social responsibility, receive less attention or become redefined through their relations to quantitative indicators. We understand this trend to be in tension with policy goals that seek to encourage innovative, societally relevant, and responsible research.

Ontology of Public Health in University Curriculum: Exploring Basic Elements of an Interdisciplinary Field of Knowledge

Public health has constituted itself as a distinct academic discipline. The present paper attempts to understand ontology of this discipline. A study has recently been carried out which concerns, first, conceptualization of ontology of public health, secondly, nature of public health, and thirdly, curriculum development. Ontology is a philosophical doctrine that refers to an understanding about the basic elements theorized about. As the paper unveils, the tenet of public health is that the health state is not a matter of ‘individual’ only; rather this is a question of the ‘collective’ too. Diverse aspects take forms of intellectual construction which are transformed into the subject of the discipline. They are categorized as worldview, theory, methodology, instrumentation, and application. The constructions are internalized in the discipline’s nature to be ‘epistemic’, ‘interdisciplinary’ and ‘componential’. In order to produce knowledge, the discipline involves an epistemic process consisting of priori and posteriori approaches. Public health, though the prevailing thoughts and practices are derived from biomedical paradigms, contains an interdisciplinary trait that draws from the fields of formal, organic, inorganic and social sciences. The discipline comes to be appeared as an integral whole being componential. The aforementioned categories of intellectual constructions are viewed as the basic elements of public health. Elements exist and operate in a center/periphery binary relationship. Center (worldview), while it holds the whole structure of the discipline together, limits the movement of rest elements and keeps them in the periphery. The paper concludes by pointing out few issues for developing curriculum for universities.

Epistemic Processing When Adolescents Read Online: A Verbal Protocol Analysis of More and Less Successful Online Readers

AbstractThis study examines how the beliefs that adolescent readers hold about knowledge and knowing are activated during online reading. The research questions center on the pattern of these readers’ epistemic processes through which more or less productive learning occurs. High school students performed a critical online reading task on a controversial topic; 10 more successful readers and 10 less successful readers were then selected based on their topic knowledge gain and the quality of the questions that they constructed in response to their online reading. The epistemic processes of these two groups’ 20 readers were inferred from their concurrent verbal reports. Verbal reports were coded and classified qualitatively until concrete types of epistemic processing were recognized; the coded data were then quantified for statistical group comparisons to identify and interpret emerging patterns. The results indicated that more successful online readers tended to engage in higher order epistemic processes when judging information sources, monitoring their knowing processes, and regulating their alternative knowledge‐seeking actions, whereas the epistemic actions of their less successful counterparts were more often disconnected and tended to function at a surface level. Cross‐categorical associations were found among epistemic judgment, monitoring, and regulation, suggesting that epistemic processes operate interactively. Implications of the study's results are discussed in relation to literacy research and practice.

Taking the Rules of Interpretation Seriously, but Not Literally? A Theoretical Reconstruction of Orthodox Dogma

For international lawyers, the Vienna Convention rules of treaty interpretation are ‘the only game in town’; they have had the whip-hand for several decades now. Yet is this belief in the power(s) of the Vienna rules justified? Behind the claim that they are the law lies a theoretically much more interesting, yet fundamentally unsustainable second argument. It is that rules of interpretation are somehow independent of – and replace – the legal epistemic process, the ascertainment of the law’s meaning-content. These rules are seen as serving a different function, i.e. to regulate the process of the applicative construction of meaning by the organs of international law. They are doctrine’s attempt to control how treaties are construed by tribunals. However, as a matter of legal theory there are severe limits to what such rules can do. Given these limits, we will reconstruct the possible meanings and uses of the Vienna Convention rules.

Creating shared reality in interpersonal and intergroup communication: the role of epistemic processes and their interplay

ABSTRACTWe describe research on the creation of shared reality in communication, emphasizing the epistemic processes that allow communicators to achieve confident judgements and evaluations about a communication topic. We distinguish three epistemic inputs: (1) the communicator’s own judgement about the topic (judgement of communicator); (2) the communicator’s perception of the audience’s judgement about the topic (judgement of audience); and (3) the communicator’s message to the audience about the topic (message of communicator). We argue that the influence of each input increases with the communicator’s confidence in the validity of that input. We review a variety of empirical studies in terms of this framework. We also address barriers to shared-reality creation in intergroup communication and describe interventions that work by increasing the validity strength of judgement of an outgroup audience. We discuss the relation between the present research and other approaches to social influence and social sharing.

Dreaming in Arará: An Empirical Nightmare

The following essay employs creative nonfiction to explore the space of dreams as an opportunity to flesh out cross-cultural understandings of art’s capacity or limits to materialize new ways of relating in the world. Treating dreams as data disrupts the normative notion of what counts as experience. By drawing on Joan Scott and Elizabeth Adams St. Pierre, I argue for more transgressive approaches to relating in the world, made possible through artistic inquiries into the imaginable, irruptive act of dreaming. Blended with my argument is a creative nonfiction essay of my fieldwork in Cuba, in which dreams are treated as an epistemic process and, therefore, a means to which I, as a researcher, can also come to know myself and my relation in the world.

Towards dialogic epistemology: the problem of the text

This article considers epistemological implications of Bakhtin’s dialogism. Bakhtin urged scholars in the human sciences to treat a text as having a voice of its own, to be attuned to its creativity and originality, and to resist conflating one’s image of the author with the actual person who has produced the text. Importing his ideas into the social sciences creates a site of tensions at the disciplines’ boundaries. Yet his characterisation of dialogue applies also to qualitative researchers’ interactions with nonfiction material. Bakhtin contended that a text as an utterance is a unique unrepeatable event; and that a voice is immanent in how the text itself operates: its placement in a dialogical sequence (answerability), its plan (purpose) and the realisation of the plan. Attention to these dynamics could constitute a formative step in the epistemic process of qualitative research, as concrete examples illustrate. A concept of a ‘dialogic triangle’ (utterance, response and their interrelation) is proposed.

ERROS DIDÁTICOS E ERROS CONCEITUAIS NO ENSINO DA GEOGRAFIA: RETIFICAÇÕES E MEDIAÇÕES À CONSTRUÇÃO DO CONHECIMENTO

Uma das grandes tarefas postas atualmente é lidar com o Ensino de Geografia, assim como de outras disciplinas. Tal fato implica processos epistemológicos tanto em relação à formação do professor quanto à do aluno. O presente artigo analisa o processo de construção do conhecimento no Ensino de Geografia, focando a presença de erros didáticos e erros conceituais no ensino desta disciplina. Ao analisar sobre os erros, argumentaremos a importância da retificação dos mesmos como dimensão importante à mediação didática e à construção de um conhecimento geográfico no âmbito escolar. Os fundamentos para nossas análises focam na filosofia de Gaston Bachelard, centralmente em relação ao lugar do erro nos processos epistêmicos. Se há erros, há de ter retificação dos mesmos para então superar obstáculos epistemológicos e ascender a um novo conhecimento.Palavras-Chave: ensino de geografia, erros didáticos e conceituais, retificação e mediação.

Contra la ventriloquia: notas sobre los usos y abusos de la traducción de los saberes subalternos en Latinoamérica

Este artículo compara dos forma de traducir el conocimiento de los subalternos en América Latina. Por un lado, en las dos últimas décadas, los estudios decoloniales han tratado de proponer una forma alternativa para pensar el continente centrándose en el conocimiento de las comunidades locales. Las estrategias de traducción utilizadas por estudios descoloniales apuntan a poner el conocimiento de los subalternos en el centro de un proyecto intelectual descolonización. Por otro lado, mucho antes del surgimiento de los estudios decoloniales, Bolivia fue escenario de un proyecto de traducción sumamente interesante que fundamentado en el conocimiento indígena. En la década de 1980, el Taller de Historia Oral Andina (THOA) desarrolló un proceso epistémico, cuyo objetivo principal fue la recuperación de las experiencias indígenas para la construcción de nuevos marcos analíticos. La traducción fue uno de los ejes de este proyecto historiográfico, fue utilizada como una herramienta en la lucha de estas comunidades para articular sus historias a su manera. Porque el THOA es prácticamente desconocido en América Latina, sus múltiples contribuciones ṕara rearticular los discursos subalternos través de la traducción han sido poco estudiadas. Al contrastar estos dos proyectos, este trabajo muestra los usos y abusos de la traducción del conocimiento subalterno en América Latina.

Advancing the Scientific Foundation for Evidence-Based Practice in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology

Evidence-based practice (EBP) has become a central focus in clinical child and adolescent psychology. As originally defined, EBP in psychology is the integration of the best available research evidence, patient characteristics, and clinical expertise. Although evidence-based perspectives have garnered widespread acceptance in recent years, there has also been some confusion and disagreement about the 3-part definition of EBP, particularly the role of research. In this article, we first provide a brief review of the development of EBP in clinical child and adolescent psychology. Next, we outline the following 4 points to help clarify the understanding of EBP: (a) knowledge should not be confused with epistemic processes, (b) research on clinician and client factors is needed for EBP, (c) research on assessment is needed for EBP, and (d) the 3-part conceptualization of EBP can serve as a useful framework to guide research. Based on these principles, we put forth a slightly revised conceptualization of EBP, in which the role of research is expanded and more clearly operationalized. Finally, based on our review of the literature, we offer illustrative examples of specific directions for future research to advance the evidence base for EBP in clinical child and adolescent psychology.

Karl Popper, World 3, and the Arts

The fine arts are considered as one of several pathways toward insight, knowledge, and understanding. My reflections on this are deliberately not based on aesthetics or on philosophy of art. Speculations on fine art observe two characteristics of specific epistemic processes: first, a tacit knowledge that is not enunciated by ordinary language and, second, a present and effective logic, which has a different pattern from the logic of scientific knowledge. The latter leads to change because it is built upon accumulated knowledge, whereas in the arts, change leads to knowledge as creative processes guide us toward what we do not know, and this challenges what we do know.

A fenomenologia existencial e a perspectiva histórica no personalismo de Emmanuel Mounier

Este texto procura apresentar a fenomenologia existencial praticada pelo pensamento personalista de Emannuel Mounier no seu esforço de elaboração de uma antropologia da pessoa que, inserida na história real, responde a um apelo de transcendência. Por isso, Mounier foi um pensador mais preocupado com a significação da existência humana, do ser pessoal, do que com a tecnicidade do processo epistêmico. Essa exigência epistemológica significa, no personalismo, a tentativa de elaboração de uma fenomenologia da existência, em que a pessoa é referência. A existência humana é o ponto de partida e o postulado fundamental do personalismo. A pessoa não é entendida pelo personalismo como uma realidade desvinculada do mundo, mas como uma realidade historicamente encarnada. A condição de ser “situado”, isto é, encarnado no seu tempo, na sua história, intervindo nela e transformando-a continuamente, é a forma pela qual o homem se realiza como pessoa, pois o que fundamentalmente o caracteriza como tal é a sua capacidade de romper os determinismos e afirmar a sua personalidade.

Kiedy potrzeba domknięcia sprzyja złożonemu poznaniu

Lay epistemic theory is one of the most popular theoretical frameworks describing the knowledge formation process. According to it, the central variable determining the epistemic process is the need for cognitive closure. In most cases, high levels of this motivation are associated with simplified and accelerated processing of information. This can lead to an overly simplified understanding of this variable. In fact, there are reasons to believe that the typical relationship is reversed under certain circumstances. The paper is a review of the research supporting this prediction. Results were analyzed with particular emphasis on two postulates of the theory: the two phases of the epistemic process and the dual nature of the need for cognitive closure.

The Analysis of Agent’s Knowledge Based on Game Behavior

3 Fujian Key Lab of the Brain-like Intelligent Systems, Xiamen 361005, China Abstract.The process of game is actually the process of game behavior which is often accompanied by agent's epistemic process. And Knowledge is a key factor of epistemology. In the past, most of the time game theory confuses information with knowledge. This paper, based on game behavior, analyzes agent's knowledge differences from information. It also analyzes how agent reasons by hidden knowledge behind game behavior, as well as what kind of knowledge is involved in the process of reasoning, and what is the origin of the knowledge. This paper divides the agent's knowledge into two parts: common knowledge and private knowledge, which analyze the specific elements that are corresponding to them in games. In the end, it constructs a knowledge model of game agent, furthermore, by this model, the essence of knowledge held by agents in their game would be presented.

Kiedy potrzeba domknięcia sprzyja złożonemu poznaniu

Lay epistemic theory is one of the most popular theoretical frameworks describing the knowledge formation process. According to it, the central variable determining the epistemic process is the need for cognitive closure. In most cases, high levels of this motivation are associated with simplified and accelerated processing of information. This can lead to an overly simplified understanding of this variable. In fact, there are reasons to believe that the typical relationship is reversed under certain circumstances. The paper is a review of the research supporting this prediction. Results were analyzed with particular emphasis on two postulates of the theory: the two phases of the epistemic process and the dual nature of the need for cognitive closure.

Continuing on

What goes wrong, from a rational point of view, when an agent’s beliefs change while her evidence remains constant? I canvass a number of answers to this question suggested by recent literature, then identify some desiderata I would like any potential answer to meet. Finally, I suggest that the rational problem results from the undermining of reasoning processes (and possibly other epistemic processes) that are necessarily extended in time.

The quantum formulation derived from assumptions of epistemic processes

Motivated by Quantum Bayesianism I give background for a general epistemic approach to quantum mechanics, where complementarity and symmetry are the only essential features. A general definition of a symmetric epistemic setting is introduced, and for this setting the basic Hilbert space formalism is arrived at under certain technical assumptions. Other aspects of ordinary quantum mechanics will be developed from the same basis elsewhere.

Thinking together with material representations: Joint epistemic actions in creative problem solving

Abstract How do material representations such as models, diagrams, and drawings come to shape and aid collective, epistemic processes? This study investigated how groups of participants spontaneously recruited material objects (in this case, LEGO blocks) to support collective creative processes in the context of an experiment. Qualitative microanalyses of the group interactions motivate a taxonomy of different roles that the material representations play in the joint epistemic processes: illustration, elaboration, and exploration. Firstly, the LEGO blocks were used to illustrate already well-formed ideas in support of communication and epistemic alignment. Furthermore, the material concretization of otherwise abstract ideas in LEGO blocks gave rise to elaboration: discussions, requests for clarification, and discovery of unnoticed conceptual disagreements. Lastly, the LEGO blocks were used for exploration. That is, the material representations were experimented on and physical attributes were explored resulting in discoveries of new meaning potentials and creative solutions. We discuss these different ways in which material representations do their work in collective reasoning processes in relation to ideas about top-down and bottom-up cognitive processes and division of cognitive labor.

Democracy and Epistocracy

ABSTRACTIn Democratic Reason, Hélène Landemore argues that deliberation and the aggregation of citizens' dispersed knowledge should tend to produce better consequences than rule by the one or the few. However, she pays insufficient attention to the epistemic processes necessary to realize these democratic goods. In particular, she fails to consider the question of where citizens' beliefs and ideas come from, with the result that the democratic decision mechanisms she focuses on are insufficiently powerful to justify her consequentialist defense of mass decision making. If “the few” are technocratic experts, Landemore supplies little reason to resist their rule on epistemic grounds, for she does not secure a knowledge base for the citizens that might compete with the knowledge that is often attributed to such “experts.” Aggregating and deliberating about poor information is no substitute for good information. Her book can therefore be seen as a call for a new phase of epistemic political theory that compares the real-world knowledgeability of ordinary citizens and putative experts, but it does not convincingly deliver on its goal to demonstrate the epistemic superiority of the former.