Epistemology Of Complexity Research Articles

Emotion as creative practice: Linking creativity and wellbeing through the history and sociology of emotion

This article draws on recent developments in the history of emotion and the sociology of creativity to argue that emotions themselves may be viewed as creative practices. After an initial, broad overview of key historical and epistemological complexities in emotions research, it describes a framework for understanding emotion (and the history of emotion) proposed by Monique Scheer (2012), which is grounded in the practice theory of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. In Scheer’s view, emotions should not be viewed as fundamentally internal physiological or psychological states, but as the practices to which those states are inextricably linked, and by which they are mobilized, named, communicated and regulated. The article then describes a sociological framework for understanding creativity proposed by Janet Chan (2016), which is also underpinned by Bourdieu’s practice theory, and which posits that creativity is an inherent feature of all social action and may generate social change via institutionalized cultural practice or cultural revolt, the latter of which may itself take at least three forms. It then links Scheer’s and Chan’s frameworks together, explaining how, from this sociological perspective, emotions can be understood as creative practices, as embodied acts of thinking performed in habituated ways and which themselves generate change by doing different types of creative work. It proposes a new four-part framework for categorizing emotions as creative practices, based on Chan’s framework for creativity: 1) emotion as institutionalized cultural practice; 2) emotion as cultural edgework; 3) emotion as cultural transcendence; and 4) emotion as cultural transformation. It concludes by suggesting that this framework provides an original and useful way of explaining the role of emotion in generating social and historical change, and of explaining the link between creativity and wellbeing from a sociological perspective.

EDUCAÇÃO NO SÉCULO XXI: EPISTEMOLOGIA DA COMPLEXIDADE PARA A FUNDAMENTAÇÃO DO PENSAMENTO CRÍTICO EM CIÊNCIA

A epistemologia da simplificação utilizada na ciência, desde o século XVII, com o objetivo de impedir a imprecisão e ambiguidade, tem permitido muitos avanços da ciência moderna, porém dentro de uma percepção de certezas e verdades que interferem na apreensão do homem no sistema relacional com a natureza. Por outro lado, a epistemologia da complexidade, através de uma visão multidimensional, aumenta as múltiplas relações do homem com o meio. O artigo objetiva discutir e refletir o significado das duas epistemologias no processo de compreensão e apreensão da natureza, na fundamentação dos saberes, do ponto de vista científico e da educação em ciência. O estudo foi realizado com base na Análise Textual Discursiva. Em relação à educação, segundo o pensamento complexo, avaliamos a associação interdisciplinar da arte e ciência, a fim de desestabilizar as concepções previamente estabelecidas, contribuindo para o desenvolvimento de pensamento crítico e para as tomadas de decisão diante do acaso.

As incertezas como narrativa do imprevisível: o real e o complexo

Este artigo, se propõe a apresentar e refletir sobre quatro diferentes modos de explicar fenômenos complexos: a questão epistêmica, a subjetividade da ameaça, o mal diante da negação e a incerteza como narrativa do imprevisível. A metodologia é bibliográfica de natureza reflexiva e a base teórica respalda-se na epistemologia da complexidade, de Edgar Morin e outros autores. Apresentamos e discutimos duas catástrofes existenciais: as mudanças climáticas e a pandemia de Covid-19 que assolam a humanidade e nos mostram as imprevisibilidades diante da ciência e das ações humanas. O texto coloca a educação como perspectiva de autoanálise e autocrítica para a transformação da realidade e aposta na esperança de ecologização das práticas e das ideias para o enfrentamento dos desafios da contemporaneidade. Considerando ainda, os Objetivos de desenvolvimento sustentável, da ONU, com respeito, solidariedade e fraternidade, os autores entendem que talvez seja possível um mundo melhor, com mais justiça social, cidadãos mais participativos e sujeitos mais felizes.

Putting the Theory Back in 'Music Theory'

What is music theory? This foundational question is scarcely even broached in textbooks and classrooms, and that fact has allowed naive views to persist among students and teachers alike. This state of affairs has also perpetuated an unfortunate disconnectedness in institutional and disciplinary conceptions of music theory, including through the devaluing of music theory "fundamentals." In this essay, I argue for a purposeful centering of theory as an intellectual enterprise; I describe a subtle reformulation of elementary music theory that celebrates its epistemological essence and methodological complexities; and I identify meta-theoretical issues that can be seamlessly introduced early in the music theory curriculum without compromising the delivery of content itself. I begin by describing a classroom discussion prompt that motivates a working definition of "theory" in general, which in turn can be leveraged throughout the music theory curriculum. I then describe several interactive lessons that highlight the theoretical underpinnings of certain venerable topics in tonal music. The study of music theory, even from the very first rudiments, is thus transformed from a stern rite of passage mired in dry technicalities, into an expansive intellectual endeavor—reminding students that they themselves are theorists, both in class and in life.

Diáspora Virtual: Processos de Identificações e Pertencimento em uma Comunidade Virtual de Aprendizagem

Este artigo busca compreender algumas das implicações culturais que fazem parte da constituição da identidade do sujeito, considerando os conceitos de contexto, espaço e temporalidade em uma Comunidade Virtual de Aprendizagem. A pesquisa envolveu um estudo reflexivo, de abordagem qualitativa que delineou a etnopesquisa crítica enquanto caminho teórico-metodológico, tendo a epistemologia da complexidade como referência para a criação do método em postura rigorosa da bricolagem científica. A investigação ocorreu no contexto de um curso de extensão, ofertado em um programa de pós-graduação, para professores e professoras que atuavam em diferentes níveis de ensino. Os resultados e análises evidenciaram que o sentimento de pertencimento, a territorialidade, a permanência, as ligações emocionais, o caráter colaborativo, a partilha de um projeto solidário sem desprezar objetivos conflitivos e a confiança são alguns dos princípios que norteiam a convivência na CVA e são requeridos para o estabelecimento de vínculos. É pressuposto que em tais espaços os atores precisam se implicar, desenvolver a autonomia e promover mediações através das marcas subjetivas que são impressas nas interfaces de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem, pois só assim se constituirão em atores-autores.

Beyond Perrault's experiments: repeatability, didactics and complexity

Abstract. The naturalistic and philosophical studies conducted in the second half of the 17th century were crucial both for the birth of modern hydrological science and modern epistemology. Thanks to quantitative observations and to the new experiment-based scientific approach, the Sun was about to be fully recognized as the engine of the hydrological cycle. In this context of great vitality and rapid cultural changes, Pierre Perrault published his classical opus De l'origine des fontaines (On the origin of springs) in 1674. The opus presents a discussion on the origin of springs and contains the report of a set of experiments of water flow through a soil column, which may be considered the first of modern hydrology. In assessing the importance of Perrault's opus, we will discuss his epistemological relevance by looking at the novelty of his approach, at the repeatability of the experiments, at the intriguing didactic aspects for the modern teaching of hydrology and at his attitude in facing the complexity of hydrological processes. Perrault places himself in the context of a novel experimental epistemology. On the basis of our analyses he seems to be aware that the processes involved in the hydrological cycle and in soil hydrology are hardly reproducible by means of a controlled laboratory model. This circumstance put the modern scientific approach to a severe test at its very beginning. It is suggested that some of Perrault's epistemological and methodological reflections are precursors of the modern epistemology of complexity. Thus even if Perrault's conclusions followed an ancient opinion, his work is not only seminal for hydrology, but also helps to enlighten some features of the scientific revolution of the 17th century.

La epistemología de la complejidad: su manifestación en el aula.

La complejidad tiene una estrecha relación con la dialéctica. Ella aporta una perspectiva al analizar las dimensiones: natural, social y del pensamiento. En otras palabras, para realizar una valoración profunda del mundo que circunda al individuo, es asumir una postura de análisis complejo, que impacta positivamente en la universidad. Atendiendo a lo expresado, se declara como objetivo de este texto es: exponer fundamentos sobre la epistemología de la complejidad y su manifestación en el aula. Se emplean métodos del nivel teórico para elaborar los fundamentos de sustento.

Untrol: Post-Truth and the New Normal of Post-Normal Science

ABSTRACT The idea that there exists a natural relationship between intellectual freedom, legitimate political authority and enjoyment of a dignified life was central to the European Enlightenment and to the radical social change it inspired. This normative claim was rooted in an epistemological proposition: truth is not revealed in private to a select few but discovered in public, through observation, dialogue and critique. Material transformations associated with that proposition have since literally changed the face of the earth. While the materially transformative potential of this proposition has been realized across the planet, its social justice implications have not. This leaves an underdetermined space in democratic discourse: fact claims are treated as apolitical, while the causes and consequences of the Anthropocene are uncertain and values regarding its importance polarised, rendering that status obsolete. In addition to contributing toward understanding human-environment relationships, fact now also serve to destabilize political discourse. Their instrumentalization exerts control in the absence of normative intention, ‘untrol’: truth claims matter not only because they call the moral subject to action but also because they can proffer political standing. Humbly embracing the epistemological complexity of the Anthropocene through Eagleton’s posture of ‘hope without optimism’ is proposed as an antidote.

Key components of lesson study from the perspective of complexity: a theoretical analysis

ABSTRACTLesson study (LS) is a collaborative practice of inquiry in which teachers design a lesson plan and work to improve it and its execution after observing its instruction. Originating in Japan, LS is recognised in international research as a useful mechanism for teachers’ training and professional development. However, research reveals that misconceptions arise when LS is adopted outside of Japan, and different authors have called for further theoretical development to increase comprehension of the process. In response, we analyse three LS’ key components (phases, product and teachers’ cooperation) from the perspective of the epistemology of complexity, highlighting the role of emergence, the ecology of action, and joint reflection. We suggest that viewing LS through the lens of complexity can allow teachers to gain a deeper understanding of this practice and to apply it more successfully.

La pedagogia di Maria Montessori nello specchio dell’epistemologia della complessità

The scientific revolutions of the early decades of the Twentieth century chal-lenged the principles of the classical paradigm of science and nature. Maria Montessori deeply understood these revolutions, and realized the need for a new paradigm, able to overcome the thinking by dichotomies (object/subject, mind/body, organism/environ-ment, species/ecosystem, nature/culture, res cogitans/res extensa). She anticipated in her theory and in her pedagogical and social action the features of a relational, systemic and evolutionary epistemology, which would later have developed starting from the last dec-ades of the century: an epistemology of complexity, within a planetary humanistic hori-zon. This is the epistemological and humanistic horizon in which Maria Montessori intro-duced her idea of a “cosmic child” and “cosmic education”, and in whose mirror today we can reinterpret and regenerate her idea.

Assessing students'progress in skills-based learning

The assessment is an action of knowledge about some phenomena, results of an activity, status and functionality of a system. It is realized with a distinct purpose, based on some criteria suitable to fixed objectives, in order to adopt a decision which will improve this entity. Skills paradigm is marked by an epistemological dissolution: the passing from a positivist epistemology of knowledge to a epistemology of complexity. So, assessment in Skills paradigm becomes complex, because the skill involves a series of operations: mobilization of adequate resources, verifying the relevance of these resources, their efficient transmission, contextual approach, checking the correctness of the result and so on. In this new pedagogical context specific rules will lead the design of the evaluation: focus on skills development and not strict rendering of knowledge; integration of different notions and skills already developed; fixation on complex situations integrated into families of situations. The use of criteria in skills evaluation through complex situations has multiple advantages: correct marks, capitalizing on the positive points of students, identifying students in situations of academic failure.

The Catastrophe

Abstract This essay argues that black feminist poethics uncovers a deep philosophical problem between pure form and pure matter. Mathematics is the site of such contention, and the decision to retain form or destroy form presents ontological and epistemological complexities for a philosophy of mathematics in Black studies. Ultimately, this essay offers mathematical nihilism as the only hope for blacks in an antiblack world.

Ciencias de la complejidad y pensamiento complejo en psicoterapia. Una revisión

El paradigma epistemológico basado en el reduccionismo y el determinismo está en un momento de quiebre, provocado entre otras cosas, por el paradigma de la complejidad. El objetivo del presente artículo de revisión es identificar las contribuciones y/o cooperaciones que las ciencias de la complejidad (CC) y el pensamiento complejo (PC) realizan a la psicoterapia (PSIT), y establecer los avances significativos, controversias y vías de investigación. Se realiza una investigación descriptiva basada en una revisión bibliográfica especializada sobre las relaciones entre tres categorías nucleares: CC, PC, y PSIT. El tamaño final de la muestra fue de 18 documentos de los 46 que arrojó la búsqueda inicial. Se discuten los posibles peligros en la investigación entre complejidad y PSIT, a saber: la hiper-instrumentalización y la superficialidad, señalando los desafíos que el psicoterapeuta debe asumir para trabajar desde y hacia la complejidad. Se identifican los tipos de aportaciones que hace la complejidad a la PSIT y se agrupan en cinco vértices: técnico, pedagógico, conceptual, terapéutico y epistémico. A partir de ellos se concluye que las CC y el PC problematizan, amplían y profundizan el horizonte científico y ético de la psicoterapia, en esa misma dirección la epistemología compleja se configura en marco de referencia teórico para enseñar/aprender y pensar/investigar PSITs críticas y para realizar procesos de integración entre diferentes modelos psicoterapéuticos.

Rethinking the pragmatic systems biology and systems-theoretical biology divide: Toward a complexity-inspired epistemology of systems biomedicine

This paper examines some methodological and epistemological issues underlying the ongoing “artificial” divide between pragmatic-systems biology and systems-theoretical biology. The pragmatic systems view of biology has encountered problems and constraints on its explanatory power because pragmatic systems biologists still tend to view systems as mere collections of parts, not as “emergent realities” produced by adaptive interactions between the constituting components. As such, they are incapable of characterizing the higher-level biological phenomena adequately. The attempts of systems-theoretical biologists to explain these “emergent realities” using mathematics also fail to produce satisfactory results.Given the increasing strategic importance of systems biology, both from theoretical and research perspectives, we suggest that additional epistemological and methodological insights into the possibility of further integration between traditional experimental studies and complex modeling are required. This integration will help to improve the currently underdeveloped pragmatic-systems biology and system-theoretical biology.The “epistemology of complexity,” I contend, acts as a glue that connects and integrates different and sometimes opposing viewpoints, perspectives, streams, and practices, thus maintaining intellectual and research coherence of systems research of life. It allows scientists to shift the focus from traditional experimental research to integrated, modeling-based holistic practices capable of providing a comprehensive knowledge of organizing principles of living systems. It also opens the possibility of the development of new practical and theoretical foundations of systems biology to build a better understanding of complex organismic functions.

O metaprojeto na perspectiva da complexidade

O presente artigo coloca em discussão o conceito de metaprojeto a partir da lente da teoria da complexidade. Para tanto, parte-se dos principais conceitos da teoria da complexidade com base em Morin (2006) e Capra (1996) e das diferentes vertentes teóricas sobre metaprojeto para embasar as análises. Por fim, propõe-se uma visão sobre o conceito de metaprojeto a partir da epistemologia da complexidade.

Data Engagement: A Critical Materialist Framework for Making Data in Qualitative Research

The language of “data collection” is perpetuated by disciplinary practices, as well as a pedagogical motivation to make data collection practices teachable to new generations of qualitative researchers. Interpretive and critical qualitative researchers generally bracket meta-theoretical discussion of what we do when we “collect” data, side-stepping epistemological complexities when reporting results. At the same time, we remain keenly aware that researchers bring data into being—we make it. We want to explore rather than skirt the epistemological and ontological issues involved in doing (and teaching) data collection. Yet, we differ from those postqualitative scholars who would abandon the concept of data. As a generative alternative, we promote data engagement. Drawing on intersectional feminist and other critical, materialist theorizing, we articulate a methodological practice that incorporates making, assembling, and becoming data, along with ethical commitments to pragmatism, compassion, and joy.

INFORMATIZATION AND DIGITALIZATION: COMPLEXITY APPROACH TO ASSESSING THE TRANSFORMATION OF EDUCATION

The authors try to comprehend the fea­tures of promising areas of the processes of informa­tization and digital transformation of education as a complex phenomenon. Using the theoretical con­cepts of complexity created in Russian and foreign philosophical thought, the authors prove the need to develop integrative approaches to assessing the transformations that take place in the process of in­formational changes in the sphere of education. The comparative analysis of existing models of the «сom­plex vision» of education in the process of its digital transformation and a critical review of its content revealed the advantages and disadvantages of using the principles of epistemology of complexity in the study of education. Education is a sphere of cogni­tive complication, where the development of creative and adaptive competencies necessary for success­ful implementation of activities in the conditions of the high-rate variability of the social environment takes place. Systematic update of the results and content of education, methods and organizational forms of academic work requires understanding of the complexity of this complicated process, since the changes in each of the components are interlinked, mutually complement and support each other. Orien­tation to the procedural rather than the substantial nature of the phenomena of the educational sphere should be ascribed to the advantages of the com­plexity approach to studying transformations of the educational sphere. Understanding the complexity of education involves addressing the organizational specifics of educational processes, the development of educational environment and pedagogical tech­nologies. The study of the transformation of educa­tion as a complex phenomenon involves the organi­zation of interdisciplinary interaction aimed at the synthesis and interaction of diverse forms of reflec­tion and study of education, which involves the use of transdisciplinarity principles.

Aligning Critical Physical Education Teacher Education and Models-Based Practice

In 1999, the New Zealand government released a Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum that reflected a fundamental shift from the traditional and dominant skill mastery approach. The new HPE curriculum was based on humanistic principles and supported by constructivist notions of teaching and learning within a critical pedagogy. Since this time, and a subsequent curriculum revision in 2007, the HPE curriculum writers have suggested that physical education (PE) teachers and physical education teacher education (PETE) students in New Zealand have struggled to understand the epistemological complexities and pedagogical implications of critical pedagogy in their practice. Therefore, this paper highlights the findings of a study that explored a New Zealand PETE program, in light of HPE within the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC). Additionally, and in light of the findings, the authors consider an examination of Kirk's (2013) concept of models-based practice as it could apply to the preparation and professional development of physical education teachers in New Zealand. The case study included nine volunteer participants, from a cohort of 32 students, who were nearing graduation from a critically oriented PETE program in New Zealand. Semistructured interviews were deployed and analyzed and reoccurring themes central to the purpose of the study identified and explored. The participants viewed movement contexts as being pivotal for learning in physical education and that the NZC had multiple educational aims and purposes. Participants also believed that PE teachers were required to move beyond direct instruction and implement a variety of teaching styles to achieve these multiple aims. However, the participants also shared misunderstandings and paradigmatic uncertainty around the critical and humanistic underpinnings of the NZC and failed to demonstrate an understanding of how this is enacted through critical pedagogy. The implications of this theory to practice nexus are further discussed in light of recent research debate around models-based practice.

Concepciones epistemológicas y didácticas de estudiantes avanzados del profesorado de educación primaria rural, en la provincia de Entre Ríos, Argentina.

Se presentan los resultados de una investigación que tuvo como objetivos identificar y analizar las concepciones epistemológicas y didácticas de futuros profesores de educación en primaria rural, en relación con la enseñanza de las Ciencias Naturales, lo cual posibilitaría comprender las cosmovisiones que inciden, determinan y condicionan la toma de decisiones sobre el qué y el cómo enseñar. Para ello se analizan entrevistas y planificaciones de clases, las cuales se interpretan a la luz de diferentes categorías en torno a las concepciones epistemológicas absolutista, relativista y la epistemología de la complejidad; y dentro de las posturas didácticas en relación con las corrientes tradicional, tecnicista, espontaneísta o activa y modelos alternativos. Los resultados obtenidos permiten señalar que los estudiantes avanzados del profesorado de educación primaria con orientación rural poseen concepciones epistemológicas en construcción acerca del conocimiento científico que varían desde el absolutismo cuando son entrevistados, hasta el relativismo y la perspectiva de la complejidad cuando planifican sus clases. En tanto que las posturas didácticas son fuertemente activas, complementadas con posicionamientos problematizadores y por indagación, tanto en las entrevistas como en las planificaciones.

COMPLEX HERMENEUTIC-PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH AS A RESEARCH ORIENTATION

The objective of this work is to present the Complex Hermeneutic-Phenomenological Approach as a research orientation based on two doctoral research papers. The justification for the development of this study lies in the opportunity to show how the Complex Hermeneutic-Phenomenological Approach addresses a phenomenon, ensuring no constraints, impositions or frameworks on pre-assumed bases. The Complex Hermeneutic-Phenomenological Approach takes Hermeneutics and Phenomenology as the philosophical orientation of the investigative process, in an inseparable perspective in which, a textualization and interpretation are developed in the light of the epistemology of Complexity, in search for understanding phenomena of human experience. We believe that this research can contribute with different educational areas interested on approaches that allow integration, interaction and dialogue between different knowledge as an opportunity for interlocution, interconnections and possibilities of interdisciplinary works, which can reflect on an a actions for a (re) construction of new vias to/for academic research.n