Epistemological Theory Research Articles

A unified epistemological theory of information processing

What does it mean for an agent faced with choice under uncertainty to “know” something? While a variety of mathematical methods are available to construct formal models to answer this question, the combination of different approaches may lead to unsettling paradoxes. I propose a unified theory that eliminates such inconsistencies by relying on a sharp conceptual distinction between information the decision-maker observes and how much of that information she can cognitively process. The resulting model allows for natural decision-theoretic characterizations of comparing different amounts of information.

Hallucinating Gonçalo M. Tavares Short Movies

Short Movies, by the Portuguese author Goncalo M. Tavares (2011), is hard to define in the field of literary or artistic genres. There are no movies in this book, just verbal descriptions of possible movies, usually marked by intense violence; but these descriptions, in turn, resemble to cinematic scripts, suggesting a set of shots, camera movements, the grammar of a montage. In this hybrid way of writing, the film is an object that remains both present and absent, continually summoned and always deferred. What operation is then required of the reader of this book, what gesture between reading and seeing, what theory of epistemology, what kind of controlled hallucination? In short, this essay proposes that Short Movies invites to the development of a subtle and painful art of suspicion.

A guide to critical thinking: implications for dental education.

Critical thinking is a key element of complex problem-solving and professional behaviour, which is a desirable skill for dental professionals. However, critical thinking is poorly defined in the clinical environment. Current research indicates the answers to critical thinking lie in educational theory, but the answer may be, instead, in epistemology theory. A review of the literature suggested that critical thinking in dentistry may relate to learning about the different lenses that a professional can adopt. Therefore, it may be prudent for dental professionals, especially those involved in the diagnosis of complex diseases in patients, to continue their learning, ensuring they become familiar with the different theoretical perspectives. Currently, this form of multiple theoretical perspective teaching is not included in the adult learning sector.

Impurism, pragmatic encroachment, and the Argument from Principles

The Argument from Principles, the primary motivation for impurism or pragmatic encroachment theories in epistemology, is often presented as an argument for everyone—an argument that proceeds from (reasonably) harmless premises about the nature of rationally permissible action to the surprising conclusion that one’s knowledge is partly determined by one’s practical situation. This paper argues that the Argument from Principles is far from neutral, as it presupposes the falsity of one of impurism’s main competitors: epistemic contextualism. As a consequence, hybrid positions combining impurism and contextualism—positions that impurists have sometimes hinted at in the literature—are, while logically consistent, ill-motivated. Once the impurist embraces contextualism, the Argument from Principles can no longer get off the ground. The paper concludes that those who make use of the Argument from Principles are committed to an invariantist impurism and their case in support of impurism can only ever be as strong as their case against contextualism. Given recent contextualist work on the semantics of ‘knowledge’-attributions, this is likely to turn out problematic for the impurists.

Melancholy, Narcissism and Hope in Truth

The fate of a ‘correlational’ approach to truth, which defines contemporary epistemological theories of knowledge, is described as inescapable by Quentin Meillasoux. If Meillasoux is right, then we are far from being able to hope in truth, if we are to follow the philosopher, Andrea Bellantone’s identification of correlation with narcissism and melancholia in La métaphysique possible. In order to understand correlation as narcissism and melancholy, one needs to reconsider the ineluctability of a metaphysical perspective, which pivots around the ultimacy of both being or reality, and the disclosive power of mind. According to Bellantone, human existence is faced with the overwhelming, superabundant and inexhaustible circumstance of being and its multiplicity. In the face of this multiple donation, one cannot avoid offering a joyous response, an appropriate counter-gift. As to what this gift is to be, this depends upon one’s intuitive and interpretative understanding of the import of being as such. Although this question is unanswerable, one cannot avoid it. Even a single being presents a saturated presence to one: a stone does not disclose all of itself, or all of its infinitely ramifying connections with other entities. A metaphysical answer to reality, a certain ‘taking’ of the real, even though one must ceaselessly modify this taking, is unavoidable.

Decolonizing higher education in Africa: Implications and possibilities for university libraries

Decolonizing higher education in Africa, a process inclusive of indigenous literacy, is an emancipatory transformative concept that is largely grounded on critical theory, critical theory of education, dependency theory, and Afrikology epistemology. The four theoretical perspectives espouse emancipation, transformation, liberation, empowerment, inclusivity, equality, co-existence and social justice, and, to some degree, are rooted in neo-Marxist radical paradigms and can be used as the theoretical lens for analyzing decolonization and indigenization.

Meno’s Paradox and First Principles in Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī

Abstract This article examines Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s (d. 606/1210) epistemology and his understanding of syllogistic reasoning through a consideration of Meno’s paradox. It focuses on later works, namely, al-Maṭālib al-ʿāliya, Kitāb al-Jabr, and al-Tafsīr al-kabīr as well as his treatment of the subject in al-Mulakhkhaṣ fī l-ḥikma. Informed by the theories of epistemology developed through the philosophical tradition of Meno’s paradox and first principles, Rāzī views all knowledge formed through syllogistic reasoning as dependent on axiomatic truths (al-badīhiyyāt), a concept with roots in both the philosophical and theological traditions. These first principles are formed immediately upon the presence of the requisite concepts in the mind, and thus comprise Rāzī’s implicit response to the paradox in that all subsequent knowledge does indeed require previous fundamental knowledge that is not sought nor acquired voluntarily. Finally, the article discusses a separate paradox implicit in Rāzī’s works, namely that he both asserts in sections treating divine determinism that no knowledge can in fact be acquired whatsoever while elsewhere emphasizing the fundamental importance of knowledge acquisition.

Logical ignorance and logical learning

According to certain normative theories in epistemology, rationality requires us to be logically omniscient. Yet this prescription clashes with our ordinary judgments of rationality. How should we resolve this tension? In this paper, I focus particularly on the logical omniscience requirement in Bayesian epistemology. Building on a key insight by Hacking (Philos Sci 34(4):311–325, 1967), I develop a version of Bayesianism that permits logical ignorance. This includes: (i) an account of the synchronic norms that govern a logically ignorant individual at any given time; (ii) an account of how we reduce our logical ignorance by learning logical facts and how we should update our credences in response to such evidence; and (iii) an account of when logical ignorance is irrational and when it isn’t. At the end, I explain why the requirement of logical omniscience remains true of ideal agents with no computational, processing, or storage limitations.

The politics of promise or threat and the praxis of hope: modeling a linguistic-phenomenological epistemology of practice for the assessment of alternative worldviews in media literacy

At the outset, I discuss selected conceptions of world images put forward by philosophers pertaining to human experience and the social construction of reality. Herewith, I am trying to clarify distinctions between appearances and experiences of things in the world and the abilities of humans to construe worlds beyond words, along with their being-in-world, and experiencing their in-the-world existence. Subsequently, I confront some epistemological theories about the complexity of scientific knowledge of the world and its fragmentary perception in psychophysiological cognition. What is relevant for the theme, I present the methods of the lived-through research in dealing with the ideology of promise or threat expressed by leaders of social movements who offer a hope for better worlds which are not here and not now but can be achieved in the future. Lastly, I submit proposals to approach the relationships between world and reality in their hierarchical ordering and semiotic modeling.

A lesson to learn? A study of how various ranks and police leaders understand and relate to experience-based learning

ABSTRACT Improvement through experience-based learning is on the agenda of the Norwegian police. This paper will examine how ‘experience-based learning’ is understood and practiced by police leaders of different ranks within crisis management. The study’s analysis is based on in-depth interviews with Incident Management (IM) police staff members, such as the district chief of police, the chief of IM staff and the control room supervisors. The paper presents three findings. First, the analysis shows there is a difference in the various police ranks in the perception of the term. Second, the police leaders, across the ranks, share an understanding that the police are not sufficiently good at learning and developing practice from experience due to cultural issues within the organisation. Third, there are differences in police leaders’ views as to the extent to which closing reports form the basis for changes in practice. The paper discusses the conditions required for experience-based learning as an approach to developing crisis management in the police. The paper argues that improving the police service through experience requires that leaders share a common understanding of the term ‘experience-based learning’ and its pre-condition such as reflection. The paper suggests that it is necessary for police leaders responsible for EBL to get an opportunity to learn how to learn from EBL, preferably by attending higher education. In this way, the facilitation of EBL can be based on epistemological theory and science.

A research model in didactics of programming

This paper presents a research model in didactics of programming elaborated within the theoretical framework of the epistemological theory of Jean Piaget. That theory explains the construction of scientific knowledge based on empirical studies made by Piaget over many years. The model arises from the analysis of the results of the application of principles of the theory, especially the triad of intra-inter-trans stages, to the empirical study of the construction of the concepts of algorithm, data structure and program. The elaboration of the model is a contribution to the development of the didactics of programming and, in general, of the didactics of computer science, since the model can be used in other computer science topics. Didactics is a specific area within computer science, with its own foundations and methods, which studies in depth topics related to education in the discipline. Two empirical studies about the construction of knowledge of algorithms and data structures, and of the corresponding programs as executable objects, are briefly described to illustrate the model.Both examples use a search algorithm (binary and linear) and the implementations are in the programming language C.

Identifying logical evidence

Given the plethora of competing logical theories of validity available, it’s understandable that there has been a marked increase in interest in logical epistemology within the literature. If we are to choose between these logical theories, we require a good understanding of the suitable criteria we ought to judge according to. However, so far there’s been a lack of appreciation of how logical practice could support an epistemology of logic. This paper aims to correct that error, by arguing for a practice-based approach to logical epistemology. By looking at the types of evidence logicians actually appeal to in attempting to support their theories, we can provide a more detailed and realistic picture of logical epistemology. To demonstrate the fruitfulness of a practice-based approach, we look to a particular case of logical argumentation—the dialetheist’s arguments based upon the self-referential paradoxes—and show that the evidence appealed to support a particular theory of logical epistemology, logical abductivism.

Dark Clouds and Silver Linings: An Epistemological Lens on Disaster Recovery

ABSTRACT Changing environmental conditions are creating conditions that are leading to an increasing number of disasters. University libraries are at risk of impact from these disasters. The nature of library collections and services is highly intertwined with the physical spaces within the institutions. Thus, the consequences of these disasters have a significant effect on the knowledge ecosystem. Epistemological theories have rarely been explored and yet are important theoretical foundations to frame disaster recovery activities. Traditionally disaster management and recovery have lacked theoretical frameworks and been operationally focused. Approaches have been based on a rationalist framing of the problem and a presumption that there is a justified truth belief that the previous state is the ideal state. In this article, the nature of knowledge through three epistemological approaches is explored and tested on two case studies. Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand) and the Australian National University (Australia) are used to assess the operational and epistemological issues of disaster recovery. The paper reflects on challenges to the role of the library and the application of epistemological theories to learn lessons for future approaches to disaster recovery. It poses questions about how libraries can take the opportunity to rethink in the digital environment.

Textocracy, or, the cybernetic logic of French theory

This article situates the emergence of cybernetic concepts in postwar French thought within a longer history of struggles surrounding the technocratic reform of French universities, including Marcel Mauss’s failed efforts to establish a large-scale centre for social-scientific research with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, the intellectual and administrative endeavours of Claude Lévi-Strauss during the 1940s and 1950s, and the rise of communications research in connection with the Centre d’Études des Communications de Masse (CECMAS). Although semioticians and poststructuralists used cybernetic discourse critically and ironically, I argue that their embrace of a ‘textocratic’ perspective – that is, a theory of power and epistemology as tied to technical inscription – sustained elements of the technocratic reasoning dating back to these 1920s efforts to reform French universities.

The trajectory and work of Fernando González Rey: paths to his Theory of Subjectivity (Trayectoria y obra de Fernando González Rey: caminos hacia su Teoría de la Subjetividad)

The aim of this paper is to present and discuss certain fundamental biographical and theoretical aspects in the proposal and development of Fernando González Rey’s Theory of Subjectivity. Thus, it highlights his early participation in the Cuban Revolution, the first advances in his studies (1968–73), his concern surrounding the study of Personality (1973–97) and, finally, his development of the Theory of Subjectivity and Qualitative Epistemology (1997–2019). We specifically highlight the critical dialogue with cultural-historical psychology, especially with L. Bozhovich and L. Vygotsky. We also outline his main theoretical concepts related to the Theory of Subjectivity. Finally, his Theory of Subjectivity is analysed as a complex ‘macro-theory’, with a critical and subversive vocation, open to the generation of new spaces of intelligibility that facilitate the study of the creative and generative character of human phenomena.

The Myth of the Given today: Perspectives of realistic epistemology

The article deals with the reception of Wilfrid Sellars’s The Myth of the Given. The Problem consists in the ontological status of reality and the possibility of empirical knowledge. The ideas of well-known representatives of modern analytical epistemology are analyzed: J. Searle, H. Putnam, J. McDowell, G. Evans, C. Peacocke, W. Child, T. Rockmore, etc. An attempt is made in the article to show that The Myth of the Given is losing its relevance in modern humanistic realism where the world is already becoming a symbolic construct within the epistemological framework. Experience as such is no longer deemed as a linguistic phenomenon in modern epistemology. Sellars’s argumentation is convincing only if universalism, in terms of the interpretation of experience and reality, is criticized from the standpoint of radical pluralism of epistemological theories. In this case, indeed, no “Given” exists, viewed as a correlation between the substance of Sensitivity and the only possible world of Reality. It is illustrated that modern analytical epistemology is an arena of competition between two leading positions in the interpretation of the world: externalism and internalism. Despite the contradiction between these theoretical positions, they are in accord in recognizing a pluralistic worldview, which is, moreover, of a “humanistic” nature. These theories address neither “the given” nor “the world of facts”. The main trouble with The Myth of the Given is the lack of criteria of objectivity in any act of experience.

A Philosophical Reflection on what negritude meant for Senghor

This work is not meant to carry out a general study on the concept of ‘negritude’. It concentrates on Senghor’s understanding and explanation of negritude. With this we will try to establish a basic epistemological foundation for the Negro-African. From this basic ground, other truth and ingenuity about his personality can be established for the singular purpose of affirming his identity.Hence, by understanding the nature and meaning of negritude as Senghor explains, it can serve as the basis of African enquiry into the wider world in line with the epistemological theory of foundationalism which seeks for the most basic beliefs that are infallible which can serve as foundation for all other knowledge. Thus, with the truth of negritude as foundation the Negro- African can have a basic epistemological ground upon which he can rest to assert other truths about himself and in this manner could affirm his identity and meaningful contribution to the global existence so much as other races in this multi-raced world. This work will adopt three methodologies in line with the theme under discussion. It employs expository, analytic and hermeneutic approaches. First of all, the Senghor’s Negritude Movement and its ideology will be exposed. There will be an analysis of Senghor’s negritude for a better comprehension. Finally the Negritude Movement will be interpreted hermeneutically in the light of the foundation lists theory.

Public reason and reliability democracy

The article starts with a sketch of Prijic Samarzija?s hybrid theory. After that, it provides an overview of the virtue epistemology theory, to which she attributes a relevant influence on her own position, as well as that of reliability democracy which constitutes her view about democratic legitimacy. Secondly, her proposal is discussed and confronted with a slightly amended version of the leading liberal democratic theory of democratic legitimacy, formulated and defended by John Rawls.

Exceeding Self-Awareness and Being Aware of the External World

This paper focuses on the approaches of two rationalist philosophers, namely Avicenna from the East, and Descartes from the West, on the epistemic relationship between the human mind and the external world. The introspective reflection of both philosophers is the starting point on which they establish their epistemic structure spanning a passage over this gap. Their engagement in this introspection bears some considerable similarities and distinctions which allow me to do a comparison between some of their epistemic theories which are based on their rationalism and explain how a person exceeds self-awareness to be aware of the external world. Taking a detailed look at the two thinkers' methodologies and their approaches to self-awareness, the effort tries to analyze systematically their epistemological theories explicating the cognitive relationship between the mind and the external world. In the course of the discussion, Avicenna’s theory concerning the actualization of quiddity either with the mental or with the objective existence is compared with Descartes’ meditations according to which through a dynamic series of mental exercises the mind follows in its journey from an absolute doubt to an absolute certainty. The discussion leads to raise some fundamental questions of their expositions proceeding from self-reflection to the awareness of the outer world. Although the critical discourses in the history of philosophy on the ideas of the two philosophers assist me in this research, the methodology of this research is concerned with the conceptual analysis rather than historical influences.

Setting up New Identity: Prova Teknike

This paper focuses on the approaches of two rationalist philosophers, namely Avicenna from the East, and Descartes from the West, on the epistemic relationship between the human mind and the external world. The introspective reflection of both philosophers is the starting point on which they establish their epistemic structure spanning a passage over this gap. Their engagement in this introspection bears some considerable similarities and distinctions which allow me to do a comparison between some of their epistemic theories which are based on their rationalism and explain how a person exceeds self-awareness to be aware of the external world. Taking a detailed look at the two thinkers' methodologies and their approaches to self-awareness, the effort tries to analyze systematically their epistemological theories explicating the cognitive relationship between the mind and the external world. In the course of the discussion, Avicenna’s theory concerning the actualization of quiddity either with the mental or with the objective existence is compared with Descartes’ meditations according to which through a dynamic series of mental exercises the mind follows in its journey from an absolute doubt to an absolute certainty. The discussion leads to raise some fundamental questions of their expositions proceeding from self-reflection to the awareness of the outer world. Although the critical discourses in the history of philosophy on the ideas of the two philosophers assist me in this research, the methodology of this research is concerned with the conceptual analysis rather than historical influences.