Theory Laden Research Articles

The Quixotic Quest for Objectivity in Observation

The Quixotic Quest for Objectivity in Observation

Understanding Logical Evidence, With Lessons From The Paradoxes

In this paper, I discuss the relation between logical theory and evidence in the context of an anti-exceptionalist approach to logic. I hold not only that current versions of anti-exceptionalism failed to appreciate the fact that logical evidence is theory laden, but also that benefits for the view are expected when we engage with the appropriate philosophy of science. I make the discussion more vivid by considering the cases of both the Liar and Russell paradoxes, and disputes between the classical and dialetheist approaches to them. Disputes between these parties involve different understandings of the logical terminology involved in the evidence (the paradoxes), and they illustrate how the data gets contaminated with theory. As a result of the discussion, I conclude that pragmatical considerations are better guides to evaluate disputes in such cases, with scientific fertility being the criterion of legitimacy for a logical system.

Norwegian Clinicians’ Experiences of Learnability and Usability of SCID-II, SCID-5-PD and SCID-5-AMPD-I Interviews: A Sequential Multi-Group Qualitative Approach

The DSM-5 presents two competing diagnostic frameworks for personality disorders: the standard categorical model and the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD). The AMPD was initially criticized for being too complex and theory laden for clinical implementation. Though inter-rater reliability studies have contested initial claims of the model’s complexity, little attention has been paid to how clinicians experience the usability and learnability of either model. We interviewed twenty Norwegian clinicians about their experiences with either the SCID-II/5-PD (n = 9), SCID-5-AMPD-I (n = 8), or both (n = 3). Separate thematic analyses were conducted for SCID-II/5-PD and SCID-5-AMPD-I groups, and group themes were compared. We identified four themes for each group, relating to required skills, training, challenges and information gained through the interview. We found that training and clinical experience were considered to be important for both interviews. Moreover, the SCID-5-AMPD-I was considered to rely more explicitly on theory specific to the development and content of the AMPD model in general and the LPFS specifically We also identified shared and unique challenges and shortcomings of each interview. We comment on how our findings relate to the debate surrounding the AMPD, and recommend development of clear training guidelines for both interviews.

Discussing What Would Happen: The Role of Thought Experiments in Galileo’s Dialogues

AbstractThought experiments play an important epistemic, rhetorical, and didactic function in Galileo’s dialogues. In some cases, Salviati, Sagredo, and Simplicio agree about what would happen in an imaginary scenario and try to understand whether the predicted outcome is compatible with their respective theoretical assumptions. There are, however, also situations in which the predictions of the three interlocutors turn out to be theory laden. Salviati, Sagredo, and Simplicio not only disagree about what would happen, but they reject one another’s solutions as question begging and sometimes even dismiss one another’s thought experiments as misleading or nonsensical.

Feeling Austere

Feeling Austere

The Role of an Implicit Assumption of Causality in the Methodology of Empirical Research

The purpose of the article is to point out the causal ladenness of empirical data in the social sciences. This is a kind of theory ladenness, representing implicit assumptions about the deterministic nature of political processes. The nonlinear and chaotic nature of social phenomena requires the collection of data not only about the current state of the system, but also about the evolution of the system. Using an example, we illustrate that the conclusions made on the basis of information about the final state can be very different from the conclusions made on the basis of monitoring the dynamics of the system. Low-importance factors can have big consequences in a chaotic case and, vice versa, there takes place fading of causality: considerable efforts can lead to more than modest results. For the successful management of political life, it is important to be able to identify the impacts that lead to great consequences.

Australia’s National Human Rights Action Plans: traditional or modern model of planning?

This inquiry has sought to assess for the first time the effectiveness of three of Australia’s National Human Rights Action Plans (NHRAP) in realising human rights and show that among other factors, the traditional concept of planning, which is still predominant in international human rights law, can play a key part in generating different problems in the way of an effective action plan. This focused case study was informed by four sources of data, including an online survey of 37 experts, an in-depth interview and secondary data, qualitative and quantitative. As the results of this mixed methods research indicate, the first two of Australia’s NHRAPs were only ‘slightly effective’ in implementing human rights. These two plans are beset by six fundamental and four subordinate problems which all stem from, inter alia, traditional planning. On the contrary, Australia’s current NHRAP which steps away from the very nature of traditional planning is more effective than the first two. The current experience of Australia, particularly in the areas of women’s rights and children’s rights, has a number of important implications for future practices. These include, but are not limited to, conducting a baseline study, linkage to the universal periodic review, evidence-based, theoretical foundation, extensive consultation and integrated governance approach. This all suggests a strategic shift towards the modern model of planning which is multi-level, participatory, top-down bottom-up, and theory laden.

Experimental background and theory ladenness of experimentation

Experimental background and theory ladenness of experimentation

Aspects of Theory-Ladenness in Data-Intensive Science

Recent claims, mainly from computer scientists, concerning a largely automated and model-free data-intensive science have been criticized by several philosophers of science. The debate suffers from lack of detail regarding the actual methods used in data-intensive science and in which ways these presuppose theoretical assumptions. I examine two widely used algorithms, classificatory trees and nonparametric regression, and argue that they are theory laden in an external sense, regarding the framing of research questions, but not in an internal sense, concerning the causal structure of the examined phenomenon. With respect to the novelty of data-intensive science, I draw an analogy to exploratory experimentation.

A Necessary Dialogue

This article is premised on the understanding that there are multiple dimensions of the case–theory relation and examines four of these: theory of the case, theory for the case, theory from the case, and a dialogical relation between theory and case. This fourth dimension is the article’s key contribution to theorizing case study. Dialogic engagement between theory and case study creates rich potential for mutual formation and generative tension. The article argues that the process of constructing and conducting the case is theory laden, while the outcomes of the study might also have theoretical implications. Case study research that is contextually sensitive and theoretically astute can contribute not only to the application and revision of existing theory but also to the development of new theory. The case thus provides a potentially generative nexus for the engagement of theory, context, and research.

Perception is Theory Laden: The Naturalized Evidence and Philosophical Implications

This paper proposes a set of criteria for an appropriate experiment on the issue of the theory ladenness of perception. These criteria are used to select a number of experiments that use: belief-based ambiguous figures, fragmented figures, or memory color. Crucially, the data in experiments of this type are based on the participant’s qualitative visual experience. Across many different types of experimental designs, different types of stimuli, and different types of belief manipulation, these experiments show the impact of belief/theory on visual perception. Using an ecological validity argument, I conclude that attention-based interpretations of these findings are not successful because the relevant epistemological issues only require that we examine final perception, in the sense of visual awareness of the everyday world. Finally, I argue that the epistemological consequences of theory-ladenness can be reduced by using a top-down/bottom-up theoretical framework and by adopting appropriate methodological procedures to data derived from individual observations.

The Theory-Ladenness of Experiment

Theory-ladenness is the view that observation cannot function in an unbiased way in the testing of theories because observational judgments are affected by the theoretical beliefs of the observer. Its more radical cousin, incommensurability, argues that because there is no theory-neutral language, paradigms, or worldviews, cannot be compared because in different paradigms the meaning of observational terms is different, even when the word used is the same. There are both philosophical and practical components to these problems. I argue, using a procedurally-defined, theory-neutral experiment that paradigms are indeed commensurable. The practical problems of theory ladenness include experimental design, failure to interpret observations correctly, possible experimenter bias, and difficulties in data acquisition. I suggest that there are methods to deal with these problems, although sometimes they cannot be dealt with completely. I believe that the philosophical problems of theory-ladenness have been solved, although the practical problems remain.

Practice Theory: Seeing the Power of Art Teacher Researchers

Practice Theory: Seeing Power of Art Teacher Researchers Buffington, M.,& Wilson McKay, S. (Eds.). (2013). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association. 310 pp. ISBN 978-1 -890160-57-9In Practice Theory: Seeing Power of Art Teacher Researchers (2013), editors Melanie Buffington and Sara Wilson McKay both theorize and show practice as theory laden to position teacher-research as an important tool in reworking narrative of thepowerless teacher/'Powerless teachers, according to Buffington and Wilson McKay, see themselves as unable to make pedagogic decisions outside of narrowly prescribed boundaries determined by outside entities.Teachers who internalize this narrative are often resigned to a perceived inability to make change, resulting in pedagogical cultures of compliance, or practices in which individuals are reluctant to work toward professional growth. The editors draw on educational and critical theory along with their practices as teachers in pK-12, museum, and higher-education settings to present a counter-construct: that of teacher, in which teachers resist a limited and limiting definition of themselves, their students, their practices, and their profession. Powerful teachers enact a critical stance toward to promote active engagement in their pedagogy as a means toward positive change in their practices and in world. They recognize and honor tacit knowledge they possess, and make a conscious commitment to struggle to generate new knowledge. Art teachers can accomplish powerful through research in which the cognitive dissonance between old and new information is reflective moment when art teachers become alive, when superficial habits of classroom behaviors give way to reflective practice leading to passionate teaching (p. 6).The primary audience for Practice Theory is beginning art education researchers.The organization, content, and tone of book all contribute to its appropriateness and value for novices interested in ways research is relevant to and can into their practices as artists, thinkers, and teachers. Buffington and Wilson McKay, both faculty members in Virginia Commonwealth University's (VCU) graduate program in Art Education, have assembled an impressive grouping of contributions from art education researchers and provided a substantive introduction to a range of research approaches in a manner that has great potential for addressing many beginning teacher-researchers' anxieties about what research is and can be (Buchanan, 2012), as well as moving teachers toward embodiment as powerful teachers.The book is organized thematically into five sections that address broad areas in art education research. Section I: Teaching, Research, and Power consists of six chapters written by Buffington and Wilson McKay that address theory, research topics, and research paradigms, and their relevance to issues of power. A particularly valuable feature of this section for beginning researchers and faculty members working with students new to research is sidebar commentary made by Amy Bergh, a graduate student in Art Education at VCU. Bergh's contributions provide perspective that demonstrates ways thinking and practice can grow beyond initial anxieties through study, action, reflection, and interaction with peers and mentors. Other contributors to this section offer insights into methodologies and methods, identifying a research topic, and common data-gathering and analysis strategies.The remaining four sections focus on ways art education research addresses big questions regarding practices, people, meaning, and change. While specific methodological approaches are grouped within each section, editors are careful to point out that groupings are not intended to be exclusionary or proscriptive-but are a way of illustrating potential fit in relationships between purposes, questions, methodological approaches, and methods chosen. …

Assessing DSM–5 Level of Personality Functioning From Videotaped Clinical Interviews: A Pilot Study With Untrained and Clinically Inexperienced Students

Several authors have raised the concern that the DSM–5 Level of Personality Functioning Scale (LPFS) is relatively complex and theory laden, and thus might put high requirements on raters. We addressed this concern by having 22 untrained and clinically inexperienced students assess the personality functioning of 10 female psychotherapy inpatients from videotaped clinical interviews, using a multi-item version of the LPFS. Individual raters’ LPFS total scores showed acceptable interrater reliability, and were significantly associated with 2 distinct expert-rated measures of the severity of personality pathology. These findings suggest that, contrary to the previously mentioned concerns, successfully applying the LPFS to clinical cases might require neither extensive clinical experience nor training.

Varieties of reference and realism

This is a collection of excellent papers which cover a wide range of issues, as the union of the items listed in the title suggests. But it is not an easy collection for a reader to navigate or a reviewer to review. The editors do not provide a summary of the papers, and some authors do not provide a ready summary of what they are going to argue. Readers are left to plunge in—but they may be none the worse for that. The editors set out a number of standard challenges for realism. Do our perceptual systems bring us into contact with the real world as it is, or do they present the world in ways which are dependent on these systems? Do our perceptual acts pick out real objects or features of the world? This last question can be rephrased semantically for our contact with the unobservables of science; do the theoretical terms of our science mange to refer to unobservable objects, events and properties out there in the world (despite the fact that there is a history of our sciences being wrong about these in the past)? And then, there is the hoary old issue with which the correspondence theory of truth is confronted (from Spinoza to Davidson and Rorty): is it possible to perform the trick of standing outside the deliverances of our perceptual systems and sciences to compare the veracity of these with how the world is in some unmediated fashion? The bugbear for the realist is said to be a triumphant epistemological constructivism which claims that it is not possible to perform this trick. Such a constructivism adds to the herculean tasks facing the realist since it embraces issues to do with the theory ladenness of perception, semantic indeterminacy of meaning, reference and translation, the collapse of the seeing and seeing as distinction, and much else as well. These and other problems would seem to make the life of a realist a tough one; solving these problems sets out a philosophical agenda for realism’s survival. Just how well does

Theory driven experimentation in particle physics

J. Woodward and S. Schindler agree that experimentation being motivated / driven by the theory it tests (Tt) is an epistemically benign form of theory-ladenness (TL). Despite their agreement, they describe two distinct forms of tested- theory drivenness (TD). I argue that TD Schindler describes is a particularly severe form of TL. I label it strong TD. It kicks in early in the measurement during the operation of the apparatus, preceding the stages at which inferences on the status of the observed phenomena are made. I briefly present a classical toy-case as an instance. The elimination of strong TD by calibrating the instrument based on a different operational theory is arguably accomplishable in the toy-case. Strong TD, however, is ubiquitous in particle physics where, contrary to what A. Franklin and Woodward argue, the experimental environment prevents calibration from eliminating it. Instead, a strategy of incrementally widening experimental loop confronts the problem, e.g. in the discovery of J/Ψ particle. I discuss why the context of the particle physics experiments is conducive to this strategy, whether it eliminates strong TD, and whether it remains a genuine epistemic problem within such a context. Weak TD as sketched by Woodward involves P being predicted by Tt or P being deemed an important physical value as the motivation for performing measurement of P. It is not a form of TL in a traditional sense, but in the context of experimentation in particle physics, I argue that it is an acute socio-epistemic problem, perhaps more acute than the possibility of TL.

Uncovering/discovering: Querying knowledge in early modernity

From the late fifteenth century, westerners have held the next two–three centuries ‘‘their’’ modern ‘‘age of discovery.’’ Over past decades scholars have increasingly replaced ‘‘discovery’’ by ‘‘invention,’’ as Fleming amusingly shows in an ample footnote of titles, observing in his Introduction that this constructivist ‘‘retroping’’ still leaves ‘‘discovery’’ primary, with ‘‘invention’’ as a deconstructive ‘‘peripeteia,’’ reversal of fortune, that ‘‘depends upon, and re-projects as normative, that fortune’’ (2). This collection of essays ponders whether and how discovery itself may be the mother of such inventions. He offers three major cases. The translatio of classical letters that grounded humanism caused its champions to go looking for the texts no one had yet bothered to seek: they ‘‘motivated discovery by translatio,’’ not the reverse. Praise goes to a text’s explicator, not to Petrarch’s fisherman who accidentally discovers a gem in his catch (3). The Protestant effort to discover the uninterpreted Bible was countered by Tridentine Catholicism’s effort to retain its ‘‘established chain of redactions and interpretations,’’ insisting on history and tradition to reject the new ‘‘discovery trope,’’ even as many Protestants denied that discovery was at issue: they were just uncovering eternal divine truth (4-5). Science, thirdly, set out to discover material truth, only to find that what was seen was but ‘‘an index to what is true,’’ that experiments and their technology showed objects other than they appeared, offering the searcher a potentially infinite regress, thus requiring observation to be always theory laden and making ‘‘allegory—not literalism—typif[y] the new-scientific conception of data-interpretation’’ (6). In turn, this implied that discovery, in science at least, had its limits. Fleming sees here Galileo’s and Newton’s efforts in biblical exegesis as emblematic: They turn to allegorical and non-literal readings. Their ‘‘hermeneutics of discovery’’ lays down a rule of ‘‘this far—but no further’’ (7). As the religious and humanist cases imply,

Implications for theory - a challenge for researchers?

Implications for theory - a challenge for researchers?

Politics and Practice in Economic Geography edited by Adam Tickell, Eric Sheppard, Jamie Peck and Trevor Barnes

Politics and Practice in Economic Geography edited by Adam Tickell, Eric Sheppard, Jamie Peck and Trevor Barnes

Perbandingan antara Etika Jürgen Habermas dan Richard Rorty sebagai Prinsip Dasar Bertindak Manusia

Ethics without doubt is an issue in every scientific field. Questions on ethics are not merely questions on the responsibility of one or two specific individuals, but rather as what have been defined accurately by Immanuel Kant in Critique of Practical Reason – as question of all humanity as a thinking creature and the freedom of choice on, “what should I do”. From Kant’s definition, we may infer that if human can not think and not free in determining their choice, it would be almost impossible to hope for moral responsibility. However this article does not mean to give a full and historical description on ethics, but a sketch on discourse of contemporary ethics which is represented by two famous philosophers, Jürgen Habermas from the tradition of Critical Theory from Frankfurt School, dan Richard Rorty with “Neo-Pragmatism”. Habermas proposes “discourse ethics” while Rorty proposes ethic concepts through his “liberal-ironists”. It is hoped that the assembly of readers may gain an insight of the unavoidable ethics problems since every ethical position must be theory laden and the theory itself has historical characteristics (the characteristics, origin and historical context of the schools behind it). Therefore ethics is a neverending reflection although it has been started from 2500 years ago. Ethics invites us from specific sciences to enter its general discourse which unavoidably all-encompassing in its nature.