Epistemological Justification Research Articles

The Role of Intertheoretical Connections in the System of Sciences (by the Example of Applying the Information Approach to the Theory of Evolution)

Introduction. The process of intertheoretical adaptation of the conceptual apparatus is considered on the example of transferring the terminology of information theory and thermodynamics to the field of evolution theory. The author analyzes the grounds for such adaptation, its validity and epistemological justification. Methodology and sources. Methodologically, the work is based on a logical analysis of primary sources and research literature, as well as on the application of philosophical reflection. Results and discussion. The paper shows that conceptual transfer is a type of heuristic that allows one to advance in understanding problems that are not initially solvable within a separate discipline. Reformulation of scientific problems in another language allows us to explain the features of a number of phenomena and better understand their mechanisms. The conceptual transference in the course of intertheoretic adaptation is not complete: some concepts do not find a direct analogy, others change their original meaning and have a limited scope. The disadvantage of conceptual adaptation is the insufficient validity of its foundations, since it is often based on informal methods of scientific knowledge, such as analogy, modeling, etc. Conclusion. In the case of stagnation of a mature scientific theory, conceptual can pose new problems and give new methodological approaches, which serves as a new incentive for the development of the established theory

Phantom Time: Literary History at the Edge of the Nation

Phantom Time: Literary History at the Edge of the Nation

ІДЕЇ КАНТІВСЬКОЇ ФІЛОСОФІЇ В РЕЦЕПЦІЇ УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ДУМКИ (У ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯХ П. КОПНІНА, В. ШИНКАРУКА, М. БУЛАТОВА, А. САВЧЕНКО)

The article covers the experience of reconstruction of Kant's logical and methodological conception of the norms and rules of posing questions (problems, problems) in the natural sciences and in the sciences of the pure mind. His epistemological justification of the problem of scientific knowledge is noted. The main focus is on the substantiation of the reception of Kantian philosophy in the works of P. Kopnin, V. Shinkaruk, M. Bulatov, and A. Savchenko. The article is devoted to the study of Kant's philosophy at the Taras Shevchenko State University in the 80's of the XX century. The importance of Kant's philosophy in a professional university environment and its influence on the development of domestic philosophical thought are considered. In the first half of the XX century, the mainstream of national philosophy was the idealistic direction. Kant's place in the development of domestic philosophy, especially his ethical teaching, was decisive. Kantian freedom has in its content the spiritual components: philosophical, psychological, religious – and defines Kant's place in national philosophy in the 80's of the XX century. Thus, considering Kant's philosophy in its own self-worth and integrity, concreteness, as a value in itself (not ignorant, of course, is the fact that it is an integral part of German classical philosophy), not only legitimate, but necessary. Most of the works are devoted to various (separate, individual) problems of Kant's philosophical system, the classification of which is carried out on several grounds. As a rule, researchers proceed from the division of Kant's work into two periods – critical and critical. There is a tendency (still weak) of research at the methodological level of communication between the pre-critical and critical periods.

Аксиоматизация дисквотационной теории истины и аргумент неконсервативности

The paper considers the possibilities for the axiomatization of disquotational truth theory in perspective of the general S. Shapiro’s non-conservative argument against deflationary concept of truth. It shows that in a generalized formulation, Shapiro’s argument cannot be automatically extended to any axiomatic formulation of the disquotational theory. It also shows that the epistemological justification of the suitable class of substitutions for the T-scheme is the key to constructing an adequate axiomatic disquotational theory.

An epistemological critique of social entrepreneurship definitions

If entrepreneurship is amid jungle of theories and has many theorists, its social orientation or what is known as social entrepreneurship (SE) is amid arid land of theories and suffers under-theorizing which could be inherently stemmed from its diversely proposed definitions. To be situated in an embryonic pre-paradigmatic phase, getting to a more unanimous definition in this realm is the first step in laying a solid foundation for SE theorizing. As a pioneering study, the paper aims to investigate the epistemological foundations of SE definitions critically to propose a more convergent definition for SE. To fulfill this goal epistemological justifications for the definitional components of SE are presented. Therefore, it was necessary to rely on the relevant philosophical schools of thought in Epistemology (e.g. Empiricism, Internalism, Externalism, Verificationism and Falsificationism); first to discuss the controversies and oppositions to some components of the definitions for their exclusion and then to justify some other definitional components which are mostly accepted by the scholars for their inclusion in a final SE definition. Critical approach has helped us in specifying the maneuvering of thoughts in this field and determining the epistemological and definitional boundaries of SE. Finally, a more epistemologically-supported and justified definition was presented at the end of the paper. Moreover, one of the potential contributions of this paper could be its consensus-making impact among SE scholars in defining SE phenomenon, which could also pave the way for future theorizing in SE. The originality of the paper lies in the application of Internalism, Externalism, Verificationism and Falsificationism concepts to SE definitions.

Positivism and its limitations for strategic intelligence: a non-constructivist info-gap critique

Knowledge underlies rational choice between options. Predictive optimization is the prioritization of options according to their predicted outcomes based on available knowledge. The epistemological justification of predictive optimization is based on positivism, which asserts that facts and laws about the world exist and are discoverable. However, knowledge of human affairs in strategic adversarial interactions is often severely limited and erroneous: residual uncertainty is often vast. This results especially from deception and innovation by the adversary which introduce deep Knightian uncertainty. Consequently, predictive optimization is unreliable: outcomes may differ substantially from predictions. An alternative strategy for prioritization of options is info-gap robust satisficing: achieve critical goals (that are adequate but perhaps suboptimal) over a wide range of deviation of reality from current knowledge. The epistemological justification of robust satisficing is based on extending positivism to acknowledge and manage the unknown. Prioritization of options by robust satisficing manages both the limitations of knowledge and the need for achieving critical goals. This critique of positivism is not constructivist. Rather, we extend positivism to account for highly deficient knowledge. We present several examples and conclude by discussing the relation between inductive, abductive and deductive inference.

What is extreme about Mises’s extreme apriorism?

There is something extreme about Ludwig von Mises’s methodological apriorism, namely, his epistemological justification of the a priori element(s) of economic theory. His critics have long recognized and attacked the extremeness of Mises’s epistemology of a priori knowledge. However, several of his defenders have neglected what is (and what has long been recognized by his critics to be) extreme about Mises’s apriorism. Thus, the argument is directed less against Mises than against those contributions to the secondary literature that assert his methodological moderation while overlooking what the most prominent critics have found extreme about Mises’s apriorism. Defending Mises as a merely moderate apriorist because he held only a narrow part of the foundation of economics to be a priori is a straw-man defense against criticisms of his apriorism as epistemologically extreme.

Structural Reasoning

In this paper we give a general definition of structural reasoning, followed by a typology that instantiates the definition in mathematical practices. Five major categories of structural reasoning, some with subcategories, are offered: (a) pattern generalization, (b) reduction of an unfamiliar structure into a familiar one, (c) recognizing and operating with structure in thought, (d) epistemological justification and (e) reasoning in term of general structures. The first four categories of this typology are illustrated by field-based events of secondary mathematics teachers’ mathematical behaviors. The potential contribution of the typology to research in mathematics education is that its elements can be used as indicators and conceptual labels of empirical observations. The potential contribution of the illustrative field-based events is that they can serve as initial models for structural reasoning phenomena to be examined by researchers.

The theory of knowledge in contemporary epistemology

Contemporary philosophy in the west has begun with emphasizing “subjectivism” and the theory of “knowledge”. Discussing the nature of knowledge leads inevitably to investigating the nature of “belief”. However, it is important to note that knowledge is always something more than mere belief. To demarcate between truthful and untruthful belief we must have certain criteria. In this essay, an analytical approach has been adopted to first present a historical review of the meanings of “knowledge” and then to discuss the three parameters of knowledge (belief, truth, justification) in contemporary epistemology. The main ideas with regard to truthful belief and epistemological justification are investigated within the framework of two approaches: foundationalism and coherentism. Keywords: knowledge; epistemology; belief; truth; justification

What is Extreme About Misess Extreme Apriorism?

There is something extreme about Mises’ apriorism, namely, his epistemological justification of the a priori element(s) of economic theory. His critics have long recognized and attacked the extremeness of Mises’ epistemology of a priori knowledge. However, several of his defenders have glossed or ignored what is (and what has long been recognized by his critics to be) extreme about Mises’ apriorism. Thus, the argument is directed less against Mises than those contributions to the secondary literature that assert his methodological moderation while glossing or plainly ignoring what the most prominent critics have found extreme about Mises’ apriorism. Defending Mises as a merely moderate apriorist because he held only a narrow part of the foundation of economics to be a priori is a straw-man defense against criticisms of his apriorism as epistemologically extreme.

Linking as voting: how the Condorcet jury theorem in political science is relevant to webometrics

A webmaster's decision to link to a webpage can be interpreted as a "vote" for that webpage. But how far does the parallel between linking and voting extend? In this paper, we prove several "linking theorems" showing that link-based ranking tracks importance on the web in the limit as the number of webpages grows, given independence and minimal linking competence. The theorems are similar in spirit to the voting, or jury, theorem famously attributed to the 18th century mathematician Nicolas de Condorcet. We argue that the linking theorems provide a fundamental epistemological justification for link-based ranking on the web, analogous to the justification that Condorcet's theorems bestow on majority voting as a basic democratic procedure. The analogy extends to the practical limitations facing both kinds of result, in particular due to limited voting/linking independence. However, we argue, referring to the theoretical developments inspired by the jury theorem, that some of the pessimism expressed in the webometrics literature regarding the possibility of a "theory of linking" may be unjustified. The present study connects the two academic disciplines of webometrics in information science and epistemic democracy in political science by showing how they share a common structure. As such, it opens up new possibilities for theoretical cross-fertilization and interdisciplinary transference of concepts and results. In particular, we show how the relatively young field of webometrics can benefit from the extensive and sophisticated literature on the Condorcet jury theorem.

The Pragmatic Turn in Democratic Theory

The pragmatic turn away from epistemology could mean a number of things for the definition of the future of political theory. First, political liberalism would mark a distinct departure from comprehensive liberalism that is based solely on epistemological justification of fundamental liberal notions. Second, the pragmatic turn would cause Rawls to modify his long-time emphasis on constructivism, moving from Kantian constructivism to political constructivism, and implicitly adopting more substantive approach. Third, the fact of pluralism would radically open up the question of the foundation for consensus, which would lead to an emphasis on constitutionalism. Fourth, this move, innovative as it was, would lead to the establishment of an association between constitutional interpretation and public reason. Finally, this set of moves associated with the pragmatic turn would essentially set up a series of constraints when it comes to evaluating public reason from an international perspective.

Towards an Internalist Conception of Justification in African Epistemology

In current discussions on African epistemology, the issue of justification of beliefs has mainly been considered from an externalist perspective, such that justification is described as achievable merely through the means of empirical verification and social context of discourse. However, this results in a knowledge-gap since both internalist and externalist perspectives are needed to arrive at a holistic notion of epistemic justification. Consequently, the objective of this article is to fill this gap by employing the methods of conceptual and critical analysis to attempt an internalist interpretation of epistemic justification in the quest for a more balanced view of African epistemology. Key Words Internalism, African Epistemology, African Beliefs, Justification

Using a drama-based education programme to develop a ‘relational’ approach to care for those working with people living with dementia

The argument explored in this paper is that a ‘system’ approach to care can have a potentially detrimental effect on, what is assumed here to be, the most important aspect of providing care and that is the relationship between the person that provides care and the person with dementia who is in receipt of care. A contrast between the medical model and a person-centred approach to providing care is discussed and the epistemological assumptions of the person-centred model are described and critiqued with reference to Levinas. The concept of the ‘non-intentional’ is introduced, based on the ideas of Levinas, and used to critique mainstream approaches to the delivery of care. Levinas’ work is used to provide the epistemological justification for what is described here as a ‘relational’ approach to care. Discussion explores the use of a drama-based educational programme to foster a relational approach amongst carers.

FUZZY SIMILARITY AND COUNTERFACTUALS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF DEFAULT RISK: THE EUROZONE CRISIS AND THE ARGENTINEAN SOLUTION

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)1. INTRODUCTIONThe events that followed the 2008 financial crisis have shown that countries believed to be shielded against financial turmoil were much frailer than thought. Since then numerous voices pointed out the resemblance of the situation in the most challenged countries of the Eurozone with Argentina in 2001 [4][5][10][15a]. As it is well known, the convertibility of the Argentinean peso allowed the banks to carry dollar-nominated accounts, making their balance sheets susceptible to financial fragility at rapid exchange rate changes. While the latter were forbidden by law, the current account deficits and the increasing difficulties to pay back external obligations ended up forcing a default of the debt and a sharp and disordered devaluation of the currency. These events seemed, at the beginning, a source of endless mishaps but ended up (together with a rapid improvement of the international prices of Argentinean exports) creating the conditions for a fast rebound of the Argentinean economy [5] [9] [15a].It is no wonder then than a chorus of experts in various fields started recommending Greece (and eventually other EU members) to follow the Argentinean path [4] [5] [10] [14] [15a] [17] [18]. These arguments, based on rough analogies, deserve a closer analysis, which we intend to carry out in this paper. While this macroeconomic scenario has been analysed once and again in the macroeconomic literature (as well as by pundits and politicians), since the basis of comparison is a single case a strong justification in needed for making this assessment. Helmer and Rescher's ([13]) provide, fortunately, a sound foundation for such procedure. A counterfactual analysis based on the similarity of the two cases is the key. We focus here on such an exercise. To wit: are really the troubled euro-economies and 2001 Argentina so similar? And, if so, to what extent should be expect them to default on their debt and abandon the euro, as seen in the perspective of the 2001 devaluation of the peso? The answers to these questions require the formulation of an appropriate notion of similarity among economies and the exploration of means to infer future events out from analogies.The approach to be followed in this paper consists in applying Zadeh's ([25]) notion of fuzzy similarity to the comparison of the economic status of different nations. This formalization is intended to capture similarities among crisp objects. Nevertheless it is based on degrees of membership to sets of objects, namely those that satisfy some rather imprecisely defined (i.e. fuzzy) properties. While other approaches to similarity have been explored in the literature (e.g. [1] [2] [3] [8] [21] [24]) ours provides the right combination of soundness and simplicity required by the particular problem at hand. We find that 2001 Argentina and the troubled Eurozone countries belong to a common (fuzzy) equivalence class. From this we will draw the degree of possibility to be assigned to a devaluation and change of currency in the light of the events in Argentina a decade and a half ago.The plan of the paper is as follows. In section 2 we will provide a conventional account of the current economic situation in some European countries and 2001 Argentina. In section 3 we will discuss the epistemological justification for counterfactual analyses and the conditions under which they can be performed. In section 4 we introduce a version of fuzzy similarity and its application to the evaluation of future consequences in similar situations. In section 5 we apply it to the comparison of the aforementioned economies and draw conclusions for the Eurozone. Finally, section 6 concludes.2. CRISATVIA AND ARGENTINAThe pervasiveness of systemic risk and fragility in some Eurozone economies forces a comparison with the crises in emergent countries at the end of the 1990s and particularly with the end of the convertibility regime in Argentina. …

A LÍNGUA E A LITERATURA: REFLEXÕES PARA UMA PEDAGOGIA COALESCENTE

O ensino da língua e da literatura, nas Escolas Básicas e Secundárias e também no Ensino Superior, ao longo dos últimos cinquenta anos, foi objeto de grandes mudanças, nas motivações epistemológicas, nos métodos pedagógicos e nos conteúdos programáticos. Entre os aspetos que mais solicitam um refletido questionamento, encontra-se a degradação do tempo escolar de leitura literária e a sintonia ou disjunção pedagógica entre a língua e a literatura.
 A lecionação do português desempenhava consensualmente a missão de “enriquecer e aperfeiçoar” o uso da língua culta, modelada na expressão literária, e abrangia o ensino da gramática normativa e a lição dos clássicos.O estudo da gramática, como ancilar da aprendizagem do latim, começara já no final do século XVIII, mas a disciplina de língua portuguesa,incluindo a história da literatura, foi instituída como núcleo essencial do ensino público pelos meados do século XIX, a partir da criação dos Liceus. A motivação epistemológica encontrava-se na ciência da Filologia, herança principal da cultura clássica e da tradição humanista e europeia, cultivada nas Universidades. A Filologia era entendida num âmbito alargado, integrador das “artes sermocinales”, da produção literária e das ciências da palavra transmitida pela memória escrita.
 A partir dos anos sessenta do século passado, verificou-se uma amplíssima e apressada transformação na frequência escolar, no objeto de ensino,nos conteúdos programáticos e nas metodologias didáticas. “Descontinuaram-se” os Liceus e a Filologia, desenvolveram-se as artes e as semióticas visuais; multiplicaram-se as teorias científicas e alteraram-se as terminologias linguístico-literárias da mediação pedagógica. Ocorreram também outras decisivas mudanças, tais como a desescolarização do latim, a ocupação audiovisual dos ócios e tempos livres em prejuízo do tempo de leitura, a desverbalização do colóquio quotidiano, e uma drástica obliteração da memória literária clássica, na escola e no espaço de circulação da palavra pública.
 Esta nova “administração” da palavra parece ter degradado globalmente o uso da língua e a vivência literária. Simultaneamente, na programação escolar julgou poder otimizar-se a competência dos «aprendentes» insistindo numa doutrina didática quase exclusivamente baseada nas teorias linguísticas e na exercitação dos discursos elementares, «aliviados» da complexidade e interação literária. Polarizou-se a disjunção língua e literatura, sem vantagem verificada para o ensino da língua, e obliterou-se a grande memória patrimonial que distingue a riqueza dos idiomas.
 O que é óbvio é que o texto literário interage e exercita a disponibilidade criativa e funcional da língua. E, por cúmulo, o património literário lusófono é um excelente tesouro dos recursos criativos da língua portuguesa, e oferece exemplos de leitura apelativa e motivadora e de incontestável eficácia, para o estudo e provimento da competência linguística, a todos os níveis e para todos os discursos.

Active Externalism and Epistemic Internalism

Internalist approaches to epistemic justification are, though controversial, considered a live option in contemporary epistemology. Accordingly, if ‘active’ externalist approaches in the philosophy of mind—e.g. the extended cognition and extended mind theses—are in principle incompatible with internalist approaches to justification in epistemology, then this will be an epistemological strike against, at least the prima facie appeal of, active externalism. It is shown here however that, contrary to pretheoretical intuitions, neither the extended cognition nor the extended mind theses are in principle incompatible with two prominent versions of epistemic internalism—viz., accessibilism and mentalism. In fact, one possible diagnosis is that pretheoretical intuitions regarding the incompatibility of active externalism with epistemic internalism are symptomatic of a tacit yet incorrect identification of epistemic internalism with epistemic individualism. Thus, active externalism is not in principle incompatible with epistemic internalism per se and does not (despite initial appearances to the contrary) significantly restrict one’s options in epistemology.

Qualitative Comparative Analysis in Critical Perspective

Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) appears to offer a systematic means for case-oriented analysis. The method not only offers to provide a standardized procedure for qualitative research but also serves, to some, as an instantiation of deterministic methods. Others, however, contest QCA because of its deterministic lineage. Multiple other issues surrounding QCA, such as its response to measurement error and its ability to ascertain asymmetric causality, are also matters of interest. Existing research has demonstrated the use of QCA on real data, but such data do not allow one to establish the method’s efficacy, because the true causes of real social phenomena are always contestable. In response, the authors analyze several simulated data sets for which true causal processes are known. They find that QCA finds the correct causal story only 3 times across 70 different solutions, and even these rare successes, on closer examination, actually reveal additional fundamental problems with the method. Further epistemological analyses of the results find key problems with QCA’s stated epistemology, and results indicate that QCA fails even when its stated epistemological claims are ontologically accurate. Thus, the authors conclude that analysts should reject both QCA and its epistemological justifications in favor of existing effective methods and epistemologies for qualitative research.

Justification, Pluralism and Pragmatism

This article explores the problems and possibilities of offering a compelling Peircian epistemic justification of liberal institutions, primarily via critical engagement with the work of Cheryl Misak, and uses this to make some wider points about the criteria for a successful justification of liberalism in conditions of pluralism. Though the article argues that Misak’s argument fails to take seriously enough the problem that pluralism poses for the justification of liberal politics in modern democratic societies, and that in this sense a version of political liberalism is superior, it nevertheless ends by tentatively suggesting an alternative account of a Peircian epistemological justification that has some potentially promising and attractive features.

Avoiding Monocultures in the European Union: The Case for the Mutual Recognition of Difference in Conditions of Uncertainty

The European Union is a unique blend of harmonized practice and mutual recognition of different regimes. In this paper, we conclude that arguments for continued diversity are more significant than the existing literature recognizes. We build on the Varieties of Capitalism argument for trading on (rather than effacing) comparative institutional advantages, as well as Sabel and Zeitlin’s for the learning potential of ‘directly deliberative polyarchy’. We link these to the emphasis in non-EU focused literature on the lack of robustness implied by one-size fits all. Diversification of gene pool, model or policy regime is essential insurance against unforeseen threats. We also focus on dangers of epistemic closure implied by analytical monocultures in conditions of uncertainty, and on epistemological justifications for disciplined eclecticism in regulation and analysis. The relevance to banking and fiscal union and other policy areas is briefly considered, as are the dangers posed by an emerging German Consensus.