Epistemological Differences Research Articles

Building the pluriverse with care

The decolonial concept of the pluriverse challenges the idea of a single world with different paradigms, and instead points to a matrix of multiple distinct yet connected worlds. In so doing, the pluriverse highlights radical ontological and epistemological difference and the implications of such difference for politics. Care and the Pluriverse: Rethinking Global Ethics, my own contribution to decolonial scholarship in international political theory, focuses specifically on the question of how to build a pluriversal ethics. This article engages with Kimberly Hutchings, Fiona Robinson, and Vivienne Jabri’s commentaries on the book, and ultimately argues that vulnerability can serve as a generative meta-ethical orientation for building the pluriverse with care.

Defining aphasia: Content analysis of six aphasia diagnostic batteries

Clear operational definitions of constructs are necessary to ensure that research findings are meaningful and interpretable. In the field of aphasiology, aphasia is often defined to the effect of “aphasia is an acquired language disorder often due to brain injury that affects expressive and receptive language.” To contribute to our understanding of the construct of aphasia, we conducted a content analysis of six diagnostic aphasia tests: the Minnesota Test for the Differential Diagnosis of Aphasia, the Porch Index of Communicative Ability, the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination, the Western Aphasia Battery, the Comprehensive Aphasia Test, and the Quick Aphasia Battery. These chosen tests have historical prominence, with several in regular clinical and research use today. We hypothesized that the content of the aphasia tests should be very similar since they all purport to identify and characterize (if present) aphasia, with recognition that there may be some subtle differences in test content stemming in large part to epistemological differences in the test makers’ views of aphasia. Instead, we found predominantly weak Jaccard indices, a similarity correlation coefficient, between test targets. Only five test targets were found in all six aphasia tests: auditory comprehension of words and sentences, repetition of words, confrontation naming of nouns, and reading comprehension of words. The qualitative and quantitative results suggest that the content across aphasia tests may be more disparate than expected. We conclude by discussing the implication of our results for the field, including the importance of updating, if necessary, the operational definition of aphasia through conversation with a broad audience of interested and affected people.

‘In Contemplation only’: Revisiting the Debate between the Chalcedonians and Anti‐Chalcedonians on the Reality of the Natures of Christ

AbstractAlthough a theological exchange of ideas between Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians flourished at the end of the twentieth century, the ecumenical achievements of these discussions have been met with notable objections and critiques by theologians. This article focuses on one key notion that was highlighted for having been left unresolved in the ecumenical discussions, namely the concept of the difference of the natures of Christ ‘in contemplation only’ (ἐν ϑεωρίᾳ μόνῃ). The essay revises the traditional Chalcedonian perspective with regard to the interpretation of difference in contemplation, which considers it to be based on the assumption of a real distinction between the natures after Incarnation. The argument shows that this view was intended to form a response to the anti‐Chalcedonian notionalist interpretation, according to which the natures are only conceptually differentiated. By reconstructing the philosophical background of some notable sixth‐century Chalcedonian theologians, along with Cyril of Alexandria as the main theological source for the anti‐Chalcedonians, the essay will suggest that they bear the influence of opposing philosophical perspectives on conceptualization. The argument will show how some of the theological differences between the Chalcedonians and Cyril follow closely opposing attitudes in ancient philosophy towards fictional entities and conceptual constructivism. The conclusion will advocate that future ecumenical dialogues should take into account the relevance of these epistemological differences.

Always Be Prepared

Always Be Prepared

The Embedded Agroecology of Coffee Agroforestry: A Contextualized Review of Smallholder Farmers’ Adoption and Resistance

Contemporary ecology and agronomy point to the many benefits of agroforestry crop systems for the provision of ecosystem services by regenerating native ecologies, and in many contexts, socio-economic benefits for coffee farmers, especially the contribution of nitrogen-fixing trees’ litter to soil nutrition and water retention. However, the implementation of agroforestry in coffee cultivation is thus far incomplete and uptake has been uneven. In this paper, we examine the adoption and non-adoption of agroforestry coffee growing techniques as a reflection of the historical, social and cultural embeddedness of smallholder coffee cultivation. It is structured as a narrative literature review contextualized with the results of surveys of smallholder coffee farmers in Colombia, Malawi and Uganda regarding their perceptions of agroforestry coffee in their respective contexts. Findings suggest that coffee farmers’ perceptions of agroforestry and the decision to implement or remove it are influenced by factors included in the notion of embeddedness, involving social relations, historical memory and formal and informal institutions, as well as practical capabilities. Intention and action are sometimes discordant due to the complex interactions of these institutional factors, and they often conflict with outside interveners’ expectations based on epistemological differences. The study illuminates some of the main sources, manifestations and dimensions of the social embeddedness of agricultural practices which mediate the perception of current practices, the sacrifice implied by potential changes, the credibility of theories linking action with outcome and the desirability of expected outcomes.

Transferring makerspace activities to the classroom: a tension between two learning cultures

This case study aimed to investigate teachers’ reflections on the transfer of makerspace activities into classrooms. Primary and secondary STEM teachers participated in a Continuous Professional Development programme about makerspaces. Data were collected in the form of written reflections and semi-structured interviews after the teachers conducted makerspace activities in their classes. A thematic approach was used for data analysis. The results showed that teachers identified possibilities: Connections to learning objectives in STEM subjects; Motivating and engaging students; Stimulating collaboration; Stimulating creativity; and challenges: Problem of assessment; Lack of digital competence; Lack of high-tech equipment. However, the teachers did not reflect upon the cultural, ontological, and epistemological differences between makerspaces and formal schooling. Thus, we argue that it is difficult ‘to eat the cake and have it too’, i.e. to fully reconcile both the maker-culture and demands of formal schooling. Rather, we suggest three ways to connect makerspace culture with formal education.

Collective empiricism at the Paris Observatoire in the late seventeenth century

ABSTRACT This article discusses the epistemic practices developed by astronomers at the Paris Observatoire in the late seventeenth century. It compares their approach with the research carried out by Tycho Brahe at the Uraniborg Observatory about a century earlier. The article will focus on three selected epistemological differences between the research at the Observatoire and at Uraniborg. The first is a different way of founding and legitimating astronomy. Tycho understood astronomical research as part of a humanistic philosophical worldview. Cassini and his colleagues at the Observatoire emphasised the empirical nature of astronomy and its practical utility for the state. The second difference was the collectivisation of knowledge. While Tycho approached research in an individualistic way, the astronomers from the Observatoire stressed the importance of collective and coordinated collaboration. The third change was the institutionalisation of science in the context of the administration of the modern absolutist state, which provided research with long-term continuity. The article shows that the practice of collective empiricism connected the astronomers of Paris with other empirical science representatives throughout Europe.

Fences or stacks: theoretical considerations regarding references in patents

Patent citations are an important indicator for studying science and technology interaction. Yet, empirical and conceptual studies of referencing practices in patents are largely lacking, which has resulted in an under-theorised understanding of patent citations. This study analyses previous research on patent citations and discusses these in relation to citation theories developed within science studies and bibliometrics. The ambition is, however, to advance beyond a comparative approach by adding an additional layer of analysis in which the overarching rhetorical function of references in patents and papers is considered. The analysis shows how referencing in patents have distinguishing characteristics in terms of who cites, the temporality of referencing, national and international context, quantity of references, and incentives for citing. These characteristics are discussed using the concept of fencing and stacking. Fencing illustrates how references in patents are used to demarcate claims, while the stacking of references in scientific papers is an act of cumulative persuasion. Substantial rhetorical and epistemological differences exist in how references are used in patents and papers, and these differences have implications for how citations patterns can be interpreted. The conceptualisation of referencing as fencing and stacking is suggested as a possible framework for interpreting empirical studies of patent citations. Overall, it is argued that a further theoretical, and empirical, understanding of referencing practices in patents are need in order to contextualise and problematise patent citations, and their current use in research and policy.

Managing the moral expansion of medicine

Science and technology have vastly expanded the realm of medicine. The numbers of and knowledge about diseases has greatly increased, and we can help more people in many more ways than ever before. At the same time, the extensive expansion has also augmented harms, professional responsibility, and ethical concerns. While these challenges have been studied from a wide range of perspectives, the problems prevail. This article adds value to previous analyses by identifying how the moral imperative of medicine has expanded in three ways: (1) from targeting experienced phenomena, such as pain and suffering, to non-experienced phenomena (paraclinical signs and indicators); (2) from addressing present pain to potential future suffering; and (3) from reducing negative wellbeing (pain and suffering) to promoting positive wellbeing. These expansions create and aggravate problems in medicine: medicalization, overdiagnosis, overtreatment, risk aversion, stigmatization, and healthism. Moreover, they threaten to infringe ethical principles, to distract attention and responsibility from other competent agents and institutions, to enhance the power and responsibility of professionals, and to change the professional-beneficiary relationship. In order to find ways to manage the moral expansion of medicine, four traditional ways of setting limits are analyzed and dismissed. However, basic asymmetries in ethics suggest that it is more justified to address people’s negative wellbeing (pain and suffering) than their positive wellbeing. Moreover, differences in epistemology, indicate that it is less uncertain to address present pain and suffering than future wellbeing and happiness. Based on these insights the article concludes that the moral imperative of medicine has a gradient from pain and suffering to wellbeing and happiness, and from the present to the future. Hence, in general present pain and suffering have normative priority over future positive wellbeing.

Queering the Screen: Spectral Figures and German-Taiwanese Encounters in Monika Treut’sGhosted

In queer German director Monika Treut’s film Ghosted (2009), a plethora of screen apparatuses, including cameras, laptops, and cellphones, mediate encounters among the German protagonist, Sophie Schmitt; her Taiwanese girlfriend, Ai-ling; and Ai-ling’s spectral doppelgänger, Mei-li. Examining how the screen bestows visibility on the otherwise elusive figure of the queer Asian woman while limiting her freedom, this article explores how the comparatively more fluid apparitional lesbian challenges the domesticating effect of racially charged looks by destabilizing various borders between life and death, past and present, the real and the imaginary. Although Treut valorizes the ghost’s unfathomable nature as its source of power, a full acceptance of the spectre’s opacity and epistemological differences inherently conflicts with the desire to bridge German and East Asian cultures.

(Re) evaluating improvisation in commedia dell’Arte

The performance history of commedia dell’arte is full of tantalising clues about the genre’s relationship with the practice of live improvisation, research into which is often frustrated by ontological and epistemological differences between the ‘what happened’ approach of historians and the ‘how to’ approach of performers. The ephemerality of historical performance, compounded by the doubly ephemeral practice of improvisation, puts commedia dell’arte in a place where methodology and mythology struggle for supremacy, and what is performed as commedia today has become a contested area. Within this chapter I will explore three themes that I hope will shed add to this debate and my overall purpose is to demystify a proposed historical improvisational method and make it more accessible.

Communication about distress and well-being: Epistemic and ethical considerations.

Communication about well-being and distress involves multiple stakeholders, including experts by experience (EBE), researchers, clinical practitioners, interpreters, and translators. Communication can involve a variety of discourses and languages and each of the stakeholders may employ diverging epistemologies to understand and explain experiences. These epistemologies may link to different sources of authority and be articulated using particular linguistic resources. Epistemic injustice can occur when stakeholders, intentionally or unintentionally, fail to recognise the validity of other stakeholders’ ways of conceptualising and verbalising their experience of well-being and distress. Language lies at the heart of the risk of epistemic injustice involved in the process of expressing well-being and distress as seen in: 1) the interface between divergent discourses on well-being and distress (e.g., biomedical vs. spiritual); and 2) communications involving multiple linguistic resources, which can be subdivided into multi-language communications involving a) translation of assessment measures, and b) interpreted interactions. Some of the challenges of multi-language communication can be addressed by translators or interpreters who strive for conceptual equivalence. We argue, however, that all stakeholders have an important role as “epistemic brokers” in the languaging of possible epistemological differences. Effective epistemic brokering requires that all stakeholders are reflexively and critically aware of the risks of epistemic injustice inherent in multi-language communication. The article concludes with a set of prompts to help raise stakeholder awareness and reflexivity when engaging in communication about well-being and distress.

Solidarity acts in the context of language diversity: Students’ encounters with epistemological difference

This study investigates how grade five students in a multilingual mathematics classroom where the language of instruction (Swedish) is the only shared language act to inhabit the learning space in solidarity as they encounter epistemological difference. The study contributes with empirical knowledge on students’ solidarity acts when they engage in explanatory conversations in whole class or small group discussions. Theoretically, the study contributes with coordination of Levinasian conceptions of solidarity and inferentialism to capture solidarity in epistemological dimensions of explanatory conversations among students. The study provides 4 different events that illuminate students’ solidarity acts in encounters with epistemological difference. The events include willingness to accept otherness, substituting oneself for the other, disruption and idiolect bridging, and endurance in giving reasons when being asked nonnormatively appropriate questions.

The Classical-Quantum Dichotomy from the Perspective of the Process Algebra.

The classical-quantum dichotomy is analyzed from the perspective of the Process Algebra approach, which views fundamental phenomena through the lens of complex systems theory and Whitehead’s process theory. Broadly, the dichotomy can be framed in terms of differences in ontology (phenomena and their behavior) and differences in epistemology (theoretical languages used in their description). The Process Algebra posits a reality, generated by processes, whose fundamental characteristics include becoming, generativity, transience, locality, and contextuality. From this perspective, the classical-quantum dichotomy appears to be a false dichotomy—it arises because of stereotyped, strawman-like depictions of what it means to be classical or quantum. A more careful examination reveals that reality is unitary, that whether a system behaves in a quantum or classical manner depends upon its particularities, in particular, whether it is complex or not, and how information flows govern its dynamics.

Reaching into the basket of doom: Learning outcomes, discourse and information literacy

Learning outcomes form a type of arrangement that holds the practice of information literacy within higher education in place. This paper employs the theory of practice architectures and a discourse analytical approach to examine the learning goals of five recent English-language models of information literacy. Analysis suggests that the practice of information literacy within higher education is composed of 12 common dimensions, which can be grouped into two categories, Mapping and Applying. The Mapping category encompasses learning outcomes that introduce the learner to accepted ways of knowing or what is valued by and how things work within higher education. The Applying category encompasses learning outcomes that encourage the learner to implement or integrate ideas into their own practice, including to their own questions, to themselves or to their experience. Revealing what is prioritised as well as what is less valued within the field at the present time, these findings also raise questions about supposed epistemological differences between models, the influence of research, and the language employed within these documents. This paper represents the third and final piece of work in a research programme that is interrogating the epistemological premises and discourses of information literacy within higher education.

The “Ontological Turn” in the Social Sciences: The Return of Epistemology

In recent decades, there has been a significant increase in ontological research in the social sciences, the content and direction of which are described as an “ontological turn”. These studies set the formation of a new social ontology as their main goal. The article reveals the basic principles and content of this new social ontology, identifies controversial issues inherent in such a method of its renewal, and formulates guidelines for the return of epistemology to overcome the undesirable consequences of the “ontological turn”. Criticism of the «ontological turn» and the rationale for the return of epistemology are argued as follows; in the first section of the article, two possibilities of constructing a social ontology are considered, those of the essentialist ontology of mainstream sociology and the “flat ontology” of assemblage. The second section provides a critical analysis of three consequences of the “ontological turn”: the problematization of the idea of the autonomous social; the neutralization of the a priori ontological reasoning of social research; and the denial of the real outside beyond the assemblage. In the third section, the consequences of the “ontological turn” are considered in the context of the current discussion about the role of ontology in the social sciences, which is expressed through the opposition of a priori ontological and instrumental-pragmatic justification of social research. To overcome such consequences, the following guidelines for the return of epistemology are formulated: the “underdetermination” of reality by theories; the epistemological difference between the conceptual reality of an object and its ontological reality; and the equality (covariation) of ontology and epistemology.

Constructing Identities: Amos Tutuola and the Ibadan Literary Elite in the wake of Nigerian Independence

Constructing Identities: Amos Tutuola and the Ibadan Literary Elite in the wake of Nigerian Independence

Protocol for a meta-narrative review on research paradigms addressing the urban built environment and human health

BackgroundUrban health is a field of research and practice that has attracted the interest of various disciplines. While it is encouraged for diverse disciplines to contribute to a multidisciplinary field of study such as urban health, this often results in tensions, conflicts or competition between the different traditions that stem from different epistemological backgrounds.This meta-narrative review aims to identify and describe the multiple paradigms and articulate the underlying epistemological, ontological, methodological, and aetiological differences in their approaches. Articulating the paradigms not only contributes to the advancement of research, but also provides a framework for understanding the different policy beliefs and ideas policy actors hold and apply in the policy process.MethodsWe apply the meta-narrative method to systematic literature review which includes the following six iterative phases. The planning phase includes the finalisation of the review protocol and assembly of review team. The search phase includes a comprehensive literature search in key databases and a double-sided systematic snowballing method. We will search multidisciplinary databases including Web of Science, Scopus and ProQuest, and topic-specific databases including Urban Studies s (EBSCO), MEDLINE, and EMBASE from their inception onwards. Bibliometric analyses of this literature will be used to triangulate the mapping of the paradigms. The mapping phase includes identifying the dominant paradigms and landmark publications through agreement with the review team. In the appraisal phase, the literature will be assessed by their respective quality standards, followed by data extraction to identify the individual narratives in the conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and instrumental dimensions of each paradigm. The synthesis phase will review the data to compare and contrast and identify the overarching meta-narratives. The recommendation phase will include dissemination of the findings from the review.DiscussionThe meta-narrative review will reveal the how the different paradigms conceptualise, frame and prioritise urban health issues, their preferred methodologies to study the phenomenon, and the nature of the solutions to improve human health. This review will assist researchers and practitioners in understanding and interpreting evidence produced by other traditions that study urban health. Through this, urban health researchers and practitioners will be able to seek coherence in understanding, explaining, and exploring the urban health phenomenon.Systematic review registrationOpen Science Framework (https://osf/io/tn8vk)

The world as it is versus how it should be: epistemological differences and convergences between science and design

The purpose of this essay was to critically discuss whether there are and what are the epistemological differences between scientists and designers. These two characters are worked out in the form of extreme stereotypes. The scientist is the ultimate representative of a traditional and positivist view of science, which seeks to explain in a value-free way how the world is. While the designer represents all those who act guided by proposals of value to transform the world, not just explain it. In these two different ways of acting and creating knowledge, Peirce's three types of logical inference would play a fundamental role, induction and deduction being the central tools for the scientist and abduction of the designer's own thinking. Throughout the work, we present a critique about this split, demonstrating that this is an artificial and inadequate division, since both characters work with the three types of inference. In this way, both would be, contrary to what the literature defends, epistemologically very similar.

Apprehending the Environment: Watersheds of Art and Science

Watershed: Art, Science, and Elemental Politics, held at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 10–21 September 2018, brought together art and science concerns around knowledge systems, water insecurity and threats to human survival. The program included work from India, the U.S., Peru and South Africa: installations and exhibitions, walks and performances, poetry and book readings across the university campus. These events were integrated into panels and seminars. The bringing together of artists, scientists, policy-makers and activists was the first of the watersheds captured by the title; it was the first occasion for these fields, reflecting wide differences in epistemology and practice, to come together in a South African context. This special section includes many of the Watershed artists writing of their work in relation to the physical setting, where reduced rainfall is also predicted, and temperature rise will certainly exceed the global average [3].Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city and economic center, depends on electricity largely generated by coal, while its water is purchased from neighboring Lesotho. At the time of Watershed, Johannesburg’s water supply was relatively stable, but countrywide, there had been long-term drought and harsh water restrictions. Extractive and manufacturing industry, patterns of consumption and waste, contribute to environmental degradation, multiplying the effects of temperature changes, rainfall patterns, and lake, river and groundwater depletion. These local crises and their larger global scales provided the context of Watershed.The university is also literally on the watershed that drains into the Limpopo, Vaal and Orange rivers. On the highest point, the Origins Centre, Watershed seminars were held and the work of several artists shown, including that of Christine Dixie and Hannelie Warrington-Coetzee (in this section) and Lucia Monge. The street running up the hill to the watershed ridge bisects the downtown campus; this was where Marcus Neustetter performed Pushing against the Watershed, as he and Christo Doherty describe in this section. In Hyena Sculpture, Warrington-Coetzee traced the high points of the watershed; she supplemented her sculptures with an animated “walk” by four hyenas across the watershed, and guided members of the public along it. Myer Taub, in Traces of the Spruit, took participants beyond the campus to follow polluted streams (spruits) drawing from the watershed. Others went beyond the city to reflect on environmental damage related to the country’s economic base. Dixie’s work, Below the Sediments (in this section), a series of five panels of brushed metal and polymer sheets, focuses on the use and waste of water for fracking in the semi-arid Karoo; Monge, in Mi Niño, Your Dry Spell, Their Waterfall, examined plant ecology and adaptative mechanisms in the Namaqua desert. Brian House’s work, Acid Love (in this section), references the history of the city, chemical processes and long wall mining and its overflow onto physical and social environments; House’s work on lethal acid mine drainage links with concerns of Atul Bhalla.Bhalla’s work, Looking for Lost Water (Explorations at the Cradle), was located in the atrium of the Chamber of Mines [1, 2]. The work (Fig. 1) included 18 14-foot screens printed with the image of the landscape around Johannesburg’s commercially abandoned mines, much of it granite stained by acid mine drainage. The screens defined the inner atrium area, where video and photographs depicted the physical landscape of Johannesburg’s illegal mines. Here thousands of young men, who have traveled without documentation from neighboring countries, work up to four kilometers underground in dangerously unsafe conditions. The improvised sorting barrels—pendukha—displayed in the center of the work are used by artisanal miners to separate gold particles from the rock in which they are embedded; the sounds of rock breaking down in these barrels echoed through the atrium. The barrels were decorated with gold leaf brought by Bhalla from India. The installation drew attention, without didacticism, to inequality, danger and poverty.Zen Marie’s Paradise Fallen installation (in this section) is based on work on Réunion Island (Indian Ocean) and in Dakar, Senegal (Atlantic), and complements works referencing South Africa’s history and ecology. Through videos, large-scale drawings and photo litho plates, Marie attends to the impact of early imperialism, slavery and incarceration on these oceans.As Watershed’s contributors illustrate, creative work allows for other modes of apprehending the current water crisis in South Africa, the ecological costs of mining and industrialization and the continued echoes of colonialism. Complementing, extending and at times challenging the science discourse of Watershed, the artistic work highlighted how globalization, commodity capitalism, industrialization and politics all impact on the management and rights to and precariousness of water.