Theory Change Research Articles

Reflections on Agroecology and Social Justice in Malwa-Nimar

Recent literature has positioned agroecological transitions as a way of repairing the ‘metabolic and epistemic rift’ brought about by industrial agriculture. Deeper appreciation of the interconnectedness and interpenetration between humans and nature has been at the heart of much thought about agroecology. Social and epistemic justice have been incorporated as almost inherent to the definition of agroecology for many involved in theorising about it worldwide, especially thought coming out of Latin America on ‘emancipatory agroecologies’. In view of the historical inequalities in agriculture in Malwa-Nimar, India, along caste, gender and class lines, this research seeks to explore the extent to which agroecology as currently practiced is emancipatory, and what challenges exist to overcoming structural inequalities. Findings show that, while more privileged farmers are able to find ways to repair the metabolic and position themselves as agents of epistemic change, sustaining their agroecological practice within current economic structures makes them dependent on relationships with labour and networks that may reify historical social and epistemic inequalities. This points to a need to embed the agroecology movement in a larger process of systems change in the region that seeks social-justice-centred rural transformation.

When New Experience Leads to New Knowledge: A Computational Framework for Formalizing Epistemically Transformative Experiences.

The discovery of a new kind of experience can teach an agent what that kind of experience is like. Such a discovery can be epistemically transformative, teaching an agent something they could not have learned without having that kind of experience. However, learning something new does not always require new experience. In some cases, an agent can merely expand their existing knowledge using, e.g., inference or imagination that draws on prior knowledge. We present a computational framework, grounded in the language of partially observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs), to formalize this distinction. We propose that epistemically transformative experiences leave a measurable "signature" distinguishing them from experiences that are not epistemically transformative. For epistemically transformative experiences, learning in a new environment may be comparable to "learning from scratch" (since prior knowledge has become obsolete). In contrast, for experiences that are not transformative, learning in a new environment can be facilitated by prior knowledge of that same kind (since new knowledge can be built upon the old). We demonstrate this in a synthetic experiment inspired by Edwin Abbott's Flatland, where an agent learns to navigate a 2D world and is subsequently transferred either to a 3D world (epistemically transformative change) or to an expanded 2D world (epistemically non-transformative change). Beyond the contribution to understanding epistemic change, our work shows how tools in computational cognitive science can formalize and evaluate philosophical intuitions in new ways.

Novel Expression of Apical Bile Acid Transport (ASBT) More Proximally Than Distal Ileum Contributing to Enhanced Intestinal Bile Acid Absorption in Obesity.

Dietary lipid absorption is facilitated by bile acids. In the Zucker rat (ZR) model of obesity, bile acid absorption, mediated by the apical sodium bile acid transporter (ASBT), was increased in villus cells from the distal ileum. However, whether ASBT may be de novo expressed more proximally in the small intestine during obesity to facilitate additional bile acid absorption is not known. For this, starting from the end of the ileum to the mid jejunum, caudal-orally, five intestinal segments of equal length (S1-S5) were separated from lean and obese ZRs (LZR and OZR). Intestinal mucosa obtained from these segments were used for total RNA extraction, RT-qPCR and 3H-TCA uptake. The results showed that bile acid absorption along with the mRNA expression of ASBT and FXR progressively decreased caudal-orally in both LZRs and OZRs but was significantly higher in all small intestinal segments in OZRs. The expression of GATA4 was absent in the distal ileum (S1) in both LZRs and OZRs, but steadily increased along the proximal length in both. However, this steady increase was significantly reduced in the comparative obese proximal intestinal segments S2, S3, S4 and S5. The expressions of bile acid-activated G-protein-coupled bile acid receptor TGR5 and S1PR2 were unaltered in segments S1-S4 but were significantly increased in OZR S5. The paradigm changing observation of this study is that ASBT is expressed more proximally in the small intestine in obesity. This likely increases overall bile acid absorption and thereby lipid absorption in the proximal small intestine in obesity.

Ambiguous Loss: A Loved One’s Trauma

Research on interpersonal trauma tends to focus on the effects of traumatic encounters on those one who directly undergo the experience. In this paper, I seek to understand the experiences of the friends and family of the one who has undergone trauma, a paradigmatic case being the relatives of veterans (O’Nell, 1999). I argue that one way we can understand the experiences of friends and relatives is through Pauline Boss’ concept of ambiguous loss (Boss, 1986, 2007). The kind of ambiguous loss relevant for our purposes is when a family member is physically present but psychologically absent, for example, in the case of a relative with advanced dementia. This is what I purport happens in some instances of traumatic experience. I argue that third-person traumatic encounter can be experienced as a loss due to the changes in the person who has undergone the traumatic encounter and that this, in turn, causes changes in the person experiencing the loss and their relationship with their traumatised family member. I argue that first-person traumatic encounter is a transformative experience (Paul, 2014), i.e., an experience which causes personal and epistemic changes in the subject undergoing it, and that third-person traumatic encounter can also be a transformative experience.

„Sempre s’è visto, e vede“

Abstract Against the background of epistemic change in the early modern period, the article examines the literary staging of experience in the epic works of Moderata Fonte (Tredici canti del Floridoro, 1581), Margherita Sarrocchi (La Scanderbeide, 1623) and Lucrezia Marinella (L’Enrico, ovvero Bisanzio acquistato, 1635). With cross-references to Fonte’s and Marinella’s treatises on gender theory, the analysis of exemplary passages shows that the three women authors exploit the evidential quality of the agonistic scenes in their epic poems in order to rebalance the relationship between experience and habit in the context of gender issues. By doing so, they use evidentia (gr. enárgeia) in its entire spectrum as a rhetorical, epistemological, visual and also legally connoted dispositive.

Playful stances for developing pre-service teachers’ epistemic cognition: Addressing cognitive, emotional, and identity complexities of epistemic change through play

BackgroundTeachers who show more developed epistemic cognition teach better and promote more and better learning in their students. Studies indicate that teacher training impacts little on student teachers’ epistemic cognition development. One of the difficulties of epistemic cognition interventions is that, beyond the conceptual level, epistemic change implies identity challenge and emotional distress. Both benefit from a playful setting to be managed. We designed and implemented a university course as a socio-constructivist playful training experience. In a previous study, using growth curve analysis, we showed that this course promoted epistemic cognition development in student teachers. AimsIn this study we analyzed the experience of the course participants to characterize the lived process of change and to propose ways of understanding the relationship between a game-based course and epistemic change. ParticipantsTwenty-five female student teachers in their second, third, or fourth year of study participated in the study. MethodsBoth small and whole group interactions from 15 training sessions, and 8 individual interviews after the course, were recorded and qualitatively analyzed to explore the students’ experiences. ResultsThe analysis allows us to acknowledge changes in the students’ attitudes towards the course, their roles in the classroom, and conceptual understandings that we organized in four phases from initial bewilderment and resistance, to the active and applied integration of knowledge. ConclusionsWe discuss how different levels and layers of playfulness can sustain the difficulties student teachers’ face during their epistemic change process.

Re-thinking the Concept of Cultural Competency in Nursing Care of Older Adults.

The influx of migrants to Canada has resulted in a shift in the country's demographic landscape. Individuals often interpret and approach health and wellness through the lens of their cultural heritage, which has led to stereotyping behaviors and discriminatory practices, exacerbating the notion of "Othering". Immigrant older adults are likely to experience discrimination in a more dreadful way in the form of societal isolation and marginalization due to the collective systems of power such as ageism, ableism, and racism. This paper results from continuous thought-provoking discussions initiated by the first author (AM) in her doctoral program at the University of Western Ontario for the Philosophy of Nursing Science course, taught and facilitated by the second author (SM). After studying the course materials on "revolutionary science" and reflection on the process of paradigm shift introduced by Thomas Khun and engaging in critical discussions on a range of relevant philosophical concepts such as bio-power, othering, silencing and ignorance, marginalization, oppression, neoliberalism, health equity, and social justice, we have been prompted to rethink the concept of cultural competence in nursing education and healthcare practices, particularly in the context of nursing care of older adults. Therefore, in this paper, we will critique the concept of cultural competency in the context of an anti-racist and anti-oppressive lens and suggest a pivotal response to move towards an inquiry-driven approach based on cultural humility and respect in the nursing care of older adults.

Prospects for Time-Domain and Multi-Messenger Science with AXIS

The Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite (AXIS) promises revolutionary science in the X-ray and multi-messenger time domain. AXIS will leverage excellent spatial resolution (<1.5 arcsec), sensitivity (80× that of Swift), and a large collecting area (5–10× that of Chandra) across a 24-arcmin diameter field of view at soft X-ray energies (0.3–10.0 keV) to discover and characterize a wide range of X-ray transients from supernova-shock breakouts to tidal disruption events to highly variable supermassive black holes. The observatory’s ability to localize and monitor faint X-ray sources opens up new opportunities to hunt for counterparts to distant binary neutron star mergers, fast radio bursts, and exotic phenomena like fast X-ray transients. AXIS will offer a response time of <2 h to community alerts, enabling studies of gravitational wave sources, high-energy neutrino emitters, X-ray binaries, magnetars, and other targets of opportunity. This white paper highlights some of the discovery science that will be driven by AXIS in this burgeoning field of time domain and multi-messenger astrophysics. This White Paper is part of a series commissioned for the AXIS Probe Concept Mission; additional AXIS White Papers can be found at the AXIS website.

Conversations in geography: Journeying through four decades of history and philosophy of geography in the United Kingdom

This article offers a critical appraisal of institutionalised knowledge production and exchange on the history and philosophy of geography in the United Kingdom. We examine broad epistemic trends over 41 years (1981–2021) through an analysis of annual conference sessions and special events convened by the History and Philosophy of Geography Research Group (HPGRG) of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers (RGS-IBG). We show how organisational, sociocultural, and epistemic changes were coproduced, as expressed by three significant findings. Organisationally, the group emerged through shared philosophical interests of two early career geographers at Queen's University of Belfast in 1981 and received new impetus through its strategic plan 1995–1997, which inspired long-term research collaborations. Socioculturally, the group's activities contributed to national traditions of geographical thought and praxis in masculinist academic environments, with instances of internationalisation, increasing feminisation, and organisational cooperation. Epistemically, the group's events in the 1980s shaped contextualist, constructivist, and critical approaches, and coproduced new cultural geography, but the emphasis shifted from historically sensitive biographical, institutional, and geopolitical studies of geographical knowledges, via critical, postcolonial, and feminist geographies of knowledge-making practices in the 1990s, to more-than-human and more-than-representational geographies in the early twenty-first century.

On the social epistemology of psychedelic experience

ABSTRACT Both traditional and recent accounts of the beneficial and therapeutic effects of psychedelic experiences tie these effects to specifically epistemic changes, for example the enabling of spiritual or psychological insight, or disruption of problematic beliefs or thought patterns. While these alleged benefits have sometimes been thought to be facilitated by false or even delusional beliefs , recent philosophical discussion strikes a more optimistic tone, arguing that the epistemic risks involved with psychedelic drug use tend to be relatively benign and outweighed by epistemic benefits . In this paper, we seek to nuance this picture by drawing attention to the crucial role played by social factors in determining the epistemic effects of psychedelic experiences. We argue that the very openness of mind and heightened sense of clarity and certainty that is often thought to facilitate the epistemic benefits of psychedelic drug use, also make the user more vulnerable to adverse epistemic influence from the social environment, to a degree not acknowledged in the current literature. Examining the epistemic influences of the social environment is thus important for understanding the necessary precautions of informed consent and overall safe drug use.

La argumentación dialógica: Tres ejemplos en diferentes momentos de desarrollo

Argumentation is a social situation that allows individuals to elaborate arguments for or against a certain position and to recognize, evaluate and consider both their points of view and their mates’. As a result, the cognitive benefit is undoubtedly unlimited, allowing even the epistemic change and the negotiation of sense with others. The article aims to illustrate how the category "argumentative episode" appears at different times. Three examples of interactional situations were presented: a. argumentative episodes made by 5 and 6 year-olds in different types of verbal productions, b. socio-cognitive composition, social-emotional affinity and argumentative episodes in the collaborative comprehension of frequency tables in sixth and seventh grade; c. group composition and argumentation in the resolution of a dilemmatic task, in university students. The argumentative episode that refers to the socio-cognitive situation was used, in which an individual sends a based verbalization as an answer to a question or in opposition to the others pose (conflict). In the three described situations, it was observed that the predominance of argumentative episodes is different: young children tend to produce the first type of arguments (answer to a question) while older persons present type 2 arguments (conflict). For the second type of argumentative episode to occur; the individual needs a group of cognitive skills that are developed throughout life. As they grow up, the impact made by the social variables of interaction becomes greater. Our studies highlight the educational value of argumentation due to its dual communicative and social functionality.

From Effects of Governance to Causes of Epistemic Change

In this paper I argue that the attempts by science studies to identify epistemic effects of new governance instruments have largely failed. I suggest two main reasons for this failure. The first reason is that neither quantitative nor qualitative studies of effects of governance instruments meet the respective methodological standards for establishing causality. While much of this could be repaired, the second reason is more severe: given the complex causal web between governance and knowledge production and the multi-level nature of causation, a strategy that starts from a particular governance instrument and tries to identify its effects cannot work. I propose to reverse this strategy by starting from the observation of epistemic change and applying a strategy of “causal reconstruction” (Mayntz), which identifies the causes of this epistemic change and among them the contribution by governance. This approach has the advantage of starting from well-identified change. Challenges posed by the new approach include the empirical identification of epistemic change and the need to integrate sociological methods in science policy studies.

Sueños, miedos, alegrías, tristezas (SMAT): técnica investigativa-participativa con niñas, niños y adolescentes

(analítico)La participación de la población infantil en la investigación implica un cambio epistémico con claras implicaciones metodológicas. En este texto presentamos una herramienta novedosa para investigar con niñas, niños y adolescentes: el SMAT (sueños, miedos, alegrías y tristezas). Es una versión del análisis de debilidades, amenazas, fortalezas y oportunidades adaptada a la realidad vivencial y discursiva infantil que ha mostrado su viabilidad en la investigación con infancias, incluso durante el contexto pandémico. El texto aclara la lógica metodológica de la herramienta, aporta claves para su uso y presenta ejemplos de resultados obtenidos en diferentes contextos (originándose en la investigación participativa, pero mostrando también su utilidad en diseños convencionales de investigación) que muestransu versatilidad y pertinencia para el estudio del discurso de la población infantil. Palabras clave: Infancia; metodología; participación. Tesauro Europeo de la Educación.

Irreducible representations of the Poincaré group with reflections and two-fold Wigner degeneracy

Not all complete set of spinors can be used as expansion coefficients of a quantum field. In fact, Steven Weinberg established the uniqueness of Dirac spinors for this purpose provided: (a) one paid due attention to the multiplicative phases for each of the spinors, and (b) one paired these to creation and annihilation operators in a specific manner. This is implicit in his implementation of the rotational symmetry for the spin half quantum field. Among the numerous complete set of spinors that are available to a physicist, Elko occupies a unique status that allows it to enter as expansion coefficients of a quantum field without violating Weinberg’s no go theorem. How this paradigm changing claim arises is the primary subject of this communication. Weinberg’s no go theorem is evaded by exploiting a uniquely special feature of Elko that allows us to introduce a doubling of the particle-antiparticle degrees of freedom from four to eight. Weinberg had dismissed this degeneracy on the ground that, “no examples are known of particles that furnish unconventional representations of inversions.” Here we will find that this degeneracy, once envisioned by Eugene Wigner, in fact gives rise to a quantum field that has all the theoretical properties required of dark matter.

Opportunities and limits of lunar gravitational-wave detection.

A new era of lunar exploration has begun with participation of all major space agencies. This activity brings opportunities for revolutionary science experiments and observatories on the Moon. The idea of a lunar gravitational-wave detector wasalready proposed during the Apollo programme. The key characteristic of the Moon is that it is seismically extremely quiet. It was also pointed out that the permanently shadowed regions at the lunar poles provide ideal conditions for gravitational-wave detection. In recent years, three different detector concepts were proposed with varying levels of technological complexity and science potential. In this paper, we confront the three concepts in terms of their observational capabilities based on a first more detailed modelling of instrumental noise. We identify important technological challenges and potential show-stoppers. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Astronomy from the Moon: the next decades (part 2)'.

Paul Feyerabend’s Contribution: The Anarchic Sunset of the Philosophy of Science

Abstract: The author places Feyerabend's contribution within a line of thought on science that ideally opens with the Wienerkreis, and which in some way ends with Feyerabend. This trend has always been based on a series of demarcations, ranging from the opposition between meaningful and meaningless statements (the Vienna Circle), or between scientific and non-scientific statements (Popper), or between normal and extraordinary science (Kuhn), to the demarcation between progressive and regressive research programs (Lakatos) — up until Feyerabend, the former student of Popper, who puts an end to the perspicuity of every demarcation. The conclusion that “anything goes” when it comes to doing rigorous science marks the clearly unsuccessful conclusion of this large-scale historical trend. Philosophical attention thus shifts from descriptions of the scientific method to an analysis of the concrete historical production of scientific ideas and discoveries, in a movement that rehabilitates a Hegelian, historical approach in the empirical sciences.
 The author outlines the contemporary approach that no longer sees the whole of knowledge and scientific practice as a series of methodologies aimed at faithfully mirroring nature, construing it instead as a thought-constituted organism subject to Darwinian criteria of selection and mutation. The biological metaphor of the organism that survives by adapting to external reality replaces the claim to foundational scientific validity on the basis of a priori paradigms.

Surfing stress: A practical and paradigm changing approach to improving personal resilience

Surfing stress: A practical and paradigm changing approach to improving personal resilience

Global value chains participation and gender inequalities in Sub-Saharan Africa: Importance of women education

In the current climate of international trade paradigm changing, this paper empirically investigates the effects of global value chains (GVCs) participation on gender inequalities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from 1990 to 2015. The study also highlights the role of women's education in the relationship between GVC participation and gender inequalities. The static panel model specification, followed by the estimation technique robust to cross-sectional dependence augmented by country- and year-fixed effects, enabled to overcome cross-sectional dependence, endogeneity, heteroscedasticity, and error autocorrelation. The findings show that GVC participation is beneficial in reducing gender inequalities in SSA. However, these results indicate that SSA countries must turn towards the upstream GVCs participation to better control gender inequalities. Furthermore, the study finds that GVC participation in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors decreases gender inequalities compared to other sectors. Moreover, improving women's education increases the effects of reducing gender inequalities through GVC participation, especially in the manufacturing and service sectors. These outcomes are useful for policymakers.

Acid attacks and epistemic (in)justice: Violence, everyday resistance and hermeneutical responsibilities in the Indian Hindi film Chhapaak

AbstractBy taking into consideration films as a method of dissemination of knowledge, the article examines the relationship between epistemic change, an understanding of epistemic injustice, and the prior epistemic convictions of characters, as well as everyday resistance, in the film Chhapaak, translated as Splash, an Indian Hindi‐language biographical drama film that portrays the life of Laxmi Agarwal, a survivor of an acid attack. The first section of the article contextualizes the story of the film through the trajectories of acid attacks in India. This is followed by discussions on epistemic injustice and collective wrongdoing through the lived realities of acid attack victims and survivors as depicted in the film. The article also highlights how these individuals exhibit everyday resistance and strive to bring about transformation in society. The article concludes with discussions on the epistemic, socio‐cultural, and hermeneutical responsibilities of people that can make society a safe place for all, especially girls and women in India. The article concludes by examining the epistemic, socio‐cultural, and hermeneutical responsibilities that individuals must undertake in order to create a secure environment for all members of society, with a particular focus on girls and women in India.

Feyerabend and Kuhn on Monism and Pluralism

Feyerabend had many interlocutors in his controversial career, and one of them was Kuhn. One key point of contention in their interaction was the divergence between the monism inherent in Kuhnian normal science and Feyerabend’s pluralism about the content and methodology of science and other systems of knowledge. In this paper I offer my perspective on this disagreement. After presenting Feyerabend’s critique of Kuhn, I argue that the disagreement between Kuhn and Feyerabend on this point was not as radical as it may appear. Feyerabend respected the autonomy of diverse cultural and epistemological traditions, and such traditions are often monistic within themselves, in the manner of Kuhnian normal science. On the other hand, Kuhnian revolutions require the presence of competing paradigms at least during periods of extraordinary science. I propose a pluralist position that can accommodate local monism, but ultimately recommends going beyond monism for the purpose of productive interactions between different systems of practice. Such a pluralism can incorporate the advantages of both Feyerabend’s liberal epistemology and Kuhn’s advocacy of disciplined normal science.