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Michael H.G. Hoffmann

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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Changing Philosophy Through Technology: Complexity And Computer-Supported Collaborative Argument Mapping (Pre-Print), Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2015

Changing Philosophy Through Technology: Complexity And Computer-Supported Collaborative Argument Mapping (Pre-Print), Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Technology is not only an object of philosophical reflection but also something that can change this reflection. This paper discusses the potential of computer-supported argument visualization tools for coping with the complexity of philosophical arguments. I will show, in particular, how the interactive and web-based argument mapping software “AGORA-net” can change the practice of philosophical reflection, communication, and collaboration. AGORA-net allows the graphical representation of complex argumentations in logical form and the synchronous and asynchronous collaboration on those “argument maps” on the internet. Web-based argument mapping can overcome limits of space, time, and access, and it can empower users from …


Hume's Argument That Empirical Knowledge Cannot Be Certain, From The Enquires (Argument Map), Michael Hoffmann Jan 2015

Hume's Argument That Empirical Knowledge Cannot Be Certain, From The Enquires (Argument Map), Michael Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

This argument map reconstructs David Hume's famous skeptical argument in logical form. The argument is open for debate and comments in AGORA-net (http://agora.gatech.edu/). Search for map ID 9857.


Argument Map: Deductive Argument Visualization Stimulates Reflection On Implicit Background Assumptions, Michael Hoffmann Dec 2014

Argument Map: Deductive Argument Visualization Stimulates Reflection On Implicit Background Assumptions, Michael Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

This argument map justifies the claim that using only deductive argument schemes in computer-supported argument visualization stimulates reflection on some of one's implicit background assumptions.


Argument Map: Loewi's Argument That Neuro-Transmission Works With Chemical Signals Instead Of Eletrical (Short Version), Michael Hoffmann Dec 2014

Argument Map: Loewi's Argument That Neuro-Transmission Works With Chemical Signals Instead Of Eletrical (Short Version), Michael Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

This argument shows how the hypothesis that muscles are probably stimulated exclusively by chemical signals and not by electrical ones can be justified by Loewi's experimentum crucis.


Argument Map: Devoloping Scientific Hypotheses And Experimental Designs In Form Of An Argumentation. Loewi's Crucial Experiment On Chemical Neurotransmission, Michael Hoffmann Nov 2014

Argument Map: Devoloping Scientific Hypotheses And Experimental Designs In Form Of An Argumentation. Loewi's Crucial Experiment On Chemical Neurotransmission, Michael Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

This argument map presents Paul Loewi’s crucial experiment in which he showed that neural transmissions of signals are chemical in nature, not electrical, in form of an argumentation. The map can be used in science education to show how the formulation of hypotheses should be related to a corresponding determination of experimental designs.


Sparrow's 2012 Argument That Robotic Weapons Are Desastrous For Peace (Argument Map), Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2014

Sparrow's 2012 Argument That Robotic Weapons Are Desastrous For Peace (Argument Map), Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

This argument map represents the argumentation of Sparrow, R. (2012). "Just say No" to Drones. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, M 1932-4529/12(SPRING 2012), 56-63. doi: 10.1109/MTS.2012.2185275. The argument map is open for debate in AGORA-net, search for map ID 9712.


Heyns's 2013 Argument That All States Should Declare Moratoria On Lethal Autonomous Robots (Argument Map), Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2014

Heyns's 2013 Argument That All States Should Declare Moratoria On Lethal Autonomous Robots (Argument Map), Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

This argument map represents an argumentation from Heyns, C. (2013). Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns (Vol. A/HRC/23/47). S.l.: United Nations. Human Rights Council. The argument map is open for debate in AGORA-net, search for map ID 9206.


Heyns's 2013 Argument In The Guardian That Lethal Autonomous Robots (Lars) Should Be Banned (Argument Map), Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2014

Heyns's 2013 Argument In The Guardian That Lethal Autonomous Robots (Lars) Should Be Banned (Argument Map), Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

This argument map represents the argumentation of Heyns, C. (2013). Robot wars: after drones, a line we must not cross. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/19/robot-wars-drones-life-death-decisions. The argument map is open for debate in AGORA-net, search for map ID 9205.


Understanding Ill-Structured Engineering Ethics Problems Through A Collaborative Learning And Argument Visualization Approach, Michael H.G. Hoffmann, Jason Borenstein Feb 2013

Understanding Ill-Structured Engineering Ethics Problems Through A Collaborative Learning And Argument Visualization Approach, Michael H.G. Hoffmann, Jason Borenstein

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

As a committee of the National Academy of Engineering recognized, ethics education should foster the ability of students to analyze complex decision situations and ill-structured problems. Building on the NAE’s insights, we report about an innovative teaching approach that has two main features: first, it places the emphasis on deliberation and on self-directed, problem-based learning in small groups of students; and second, it focuses on understanding ill-structured problems. The first innovation is motivated by an abundance of scholarly research that supports the value of deliberative learning practices. The second results from a critique of the traditional case-study approach in engineering …


Why The Presentation Of Arguments In Logical Form Has Advantages, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2013

Why The Presentation Of Arguments In Logical Form Has Advantages, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

An argument map, created in AGORA-net, that justifies the claim that the representation of arguments in logical or deductive form has advantages (zoom in to read it).


Understanding Controversies And Ill-Structured Problems Through Argument Visualization. Curriculum And Learning Materials For Problem-Based Learning In Small Groups Of Students Who Work Autonomously On Projects With The Interactive Agora Software, Including An Exemplary Reader On Genetically Modified Plants, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Dec 2011

Understanding Controversies And Ill-Structured Problems Through Argument Visualization. Curriculum And Learning Materials For Problem-Based Learning In Small Groups Of Students Who Work Autonomously On Projects With The Interactive Agora Software, Including An Exemplary Reader On Genetically Modified Plants, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

No abstract provided.


Powerful Arguments: Logical Argument Mapping, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2011

Powerful Arguments: Logical Argument Mapping, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

This paper argues that deductive arguments are "powerful" when the goal is to stimulate reflection on one's own reasoning. Powerful arguments are defined as arguments that leave only one choice for a potential opponent: either to accept the conclusion or to defeat one of its premises. In the first part, the paper presents an argument for the thesis that so defined powerful arguments are possible when we do not only provide reasons as premises of an argument, but also what is called an "enabler." An "enabler" is that premise in an argument that guarantees that the reason provided in this …


Cognitive Effects Of Argument Visualization Tools, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2011

Cognitive Effects Of Argument Visualization Tools, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

External representations play a crucial role in learning. At the same time, cognitive load theory suggests that the possibility of learning depends on limited resources of the working memory and on cognitive load imposed by instructional design and representation tools. Both these observations motivate a critical look at Computer-Supported Argument Visualization (CSAV) tools that are supposed to facilitate learning. This paper uses cognitive load theory to compare the cognitive efficacy of RationaleTM 2 and AGORA.


Analyzing Framing Processes In Conflicts And Communication By Means Of Logical Argument Mapping, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2011

Analyzing Framing Processes In Conflicts And Communication By Means Of Logical Argument Mapping, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

The primary goal of this chapter is to present a new method—called Logical Argument Mapping (LAM)—for the analysis of framing processes as they occur in any communication, but especially in conflicts. I start with a distinction between boundary setting, meaning construction, and sensemaking as three forms or aspects of framing, and argue that crucial for the resolution of frame-based controversies is our ability to deal with those “webs” of mutually supporting beliefs that determine sensemaking processes. Since any analysis of framing in conflicts and communication is itself influenced by sensemaking—there is no “frame-neutrality”—the main problem for an analyst is to …


“Theoric Transformations” And A New Classification Of Abductive Inferences, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2010

“Theoric Transformations” And A New Classification Of Abductive Inferences, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Based on a definition of “abductive insight” and a critical discussion of G. Schurz’s (2008) distinction of eleven “patterns of abduction” that he organizes in four groups, I suggest an even more comprehensive classification that distinguishes 15 forms in an alternative structure. These forms are organized, on the one hand, with regard to what is abductively inferred—singular facts; types; laws; theoretical models; or representation systems—and, on the other, with regard to the question whether the abductive procedure is selective or creative (including a distinction between “psychologically creative,” as in school learning, or “historically creative”). Moreover, I argue that theoretical-model abduction—which …


Lam Map Of Nagel's Core Argument In "The Problem Of Global Justice" (2005), Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2010

Lam Map Of Nagel's Core Argument In "The Problem Of Global Justice" (2005), Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

This map is also available online: http://tinyurl.com/23vweqm


Lam Map Of Thomas Nagel (2005), The Problem Of Global Justice, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2010

Lam Map Of Thomas Nagel (2005), The Problem Of Global Justice, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

This map is also available online: http://tinyurl.com/22o9q9q


The Debate About The Stern-Review And The Economics Of Climate Change, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2010

The Debate About The Stern-Review And The Economics Of Climate Change, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

This map is -- in a different form, with linked sub-maps -- also available online: http://tinyurl.com/y9jlsxv


Argument Visualization In The Political Arena: The Debate On Global Climate Engineering, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2009

Argument Visualization In The Political Arena: The Debate On Global Climate Engineering, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

A map that shows a certain point in a fictitious deliberation which is supposed to be ongoing and open-ended, driven by the motive of participants to support or to criticize any of the assumptions mapped out so far by further arguments. This map is mainly based on recent publications on geo-engineering


Learning From People, Things, And Signs, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2007

Learning From People, Things, And Signs, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Starting from the observation that small children can count more objects than numbers—a phenomenon that I am calling the “lifeworld dependency of cognition”—and an analysis of finger calculation, the paper shows how learning can be explained as the development of cognitive systems. Parts of those systems are not only an individual's different forms of knowledge and cognitive abilities, but also other people, things, and signs. The paper argues that cognitive systems are first of all semiotic systems since they are dependent on signs and representations as mediators. The two main questions discussed here are how the external world constrains and …


The Complementarity Of A Representational And An Epistemological Function Of Signs In Scientific Activity, Michael H.G. Hoffmann, Wolff-Michael Roth Jan 2007

The Complementarity Of A Representational And An Epistemological Function Of Signs In Scientific Activity, Michael H.G. Hoffmann, Wolff-Michael Roth

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Signs do not only “represent” something for somebody, as Peirce’s definition goes, but also “mediate” relations between us and our world, including ourselves, as has been elaborated by Vygotsky. We call the first the representational function of a sign and the second the epistemological function since in using signs we make distinctions, specify objects and relations, structure our observations, and organize societal and cognitive activity. The goal of this paper is, on the one hand, to develop a model in which both these functions appear as complementary and, on the other, to show that this complementarity is essential for the …


Limits Of Truth: Exploring Epistemological Approaches To Argumentation, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2005

Limits Of Truth: Exploring Epistemological Approaches To Argumentation, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Some proponents of epistemological approaches to argumentation (Biro, Siegel, Lumer, Goldman) assume that it should be possible to develop non-relative criteria of argument evaluation. By contrast, this paper argues that any evaluation of an argument depends (a) on the cognitive situation of the evaluator, (b) on background knowledge that is available for this evaluator in a certain situation, and (c)—in some cases—on the belief-value-system this person shares.


Logical Argument Mapping: A Method For Overcoming Cognitive Problems Of Conflict Management, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2005

Logical Argument Mapping: A Method For Overcoming Cognitive Problems Of Conflict Management, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

A crucial problem of conflict management is that whatever happens in negotiations will be interpreted and framed by stakeholders based on their different belief-value systems and world views. This problem will be discussed in the first part of this article as the main cognitive problem of conflict management. The second part develops a general semiotic solution of this problem, based on Charles Peirce's concept of "diagrammatic reasoning." The basic idea is that by representing one 's thought in diagrams, the conditions that determine interpretations can become visible, we can "experiment" with them, and we can change them eventually. The third …


How To Get It. Diagrammatic Reasoning As A Tool Of Knowledge Development And Its Pragmatic Dimension, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2004

How To Get It. Diagrammatic Reasoning As A Tool Of Knowledge Development And Its Pragmatic Dimension, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Discussions concerning belief revision, theory development, and "creativity" in philosophy and AI, reveal a growing interest in Peirce's concept of abduction. Peirce introduced abduction in an attempt to provide theoretical dignity and clarification to the difficult problem of knowledge generation. He wrote that "An Abduction is Originary in respect to being the only kind of argument which starts a new idea." These discussions, however, have led to considerable debates about the precise way in which Peirce's abduction can be used to explain knowledge generation. The crucial question is that of understanding how we can get the new elements capable of …


Learning By Developing Knowledge Networks. A Semiotic Approach Within A Dialectical Framework, Michael H.G. Hoffmann, Wolf-Michael Roth Jan 2004

Learning By Developing Knowledge Networks. A Semiotic Approach Within A Dialectical Framework, Michael H.G. Hoffmann, Wolf-Michael Roth

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

A central challenge for research on how we should prepare students to manage crossing boundaries between different knowledge settings in life long learning processes is to identify those forms of knowledge that are particularly relevant here. In this paper, we develop by philosophical means the concept of a dialectical system as a general framework to describe the development of knowledge networks that mark the starting point for learning processes, and we use semiotics to discuss (a) the epistemological thesis that any cognitive access to our world of objects is mediated by signs and (b) diagrammatic reasoning and abduction as those …


Peirce's "Diagrammatic Reasoning" As A Solution Of The Learning Paradox, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2003

Peirce's "Diagrammatic Reasoning" As A Solution Of The Learning Paradox, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

How can we reach “new” levels of knowledge if “new” means that there is something “evolved” that cannot be generated simply by deduction or by induction from what has been given before. The paper’s first goal is to show that two paradigmatic attempts at solving this so-called “learning paradox,” Plato’s apriorism and Aristotle’s inductivism, form two horns of a dilemma: While the inductivist cannot justify any representation of data without assuming a priori given hypotheses, the apriorist cannot justify why a certain application of given ideas is correct without being caught in an infinite regress. The second goal is to …


Lernende Lernen Abduktiv: Eine Methodologie Kreativen Denkens, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2003

Lernende Lernen Abduktiv: Eine Methodologie Kreativen Denkens, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

No abstract provided.


Die Paradoxie Des Lernens Und Ein Semiotischer Ansatz Zu Ihrer Auflösung, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 2000

Die Paradoxie Des Lernens Und Ein Semiotischer Ansatz Zu Ihrer Auflösung, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

No abstract provided.


Mathematik Als Prozess Der Verallgemeinerung Von Zeichen: Eine Exemplarische Unterrichtseinheit Zur Entdeckung Der Inkommensurabilität, Michael H.G. Hoffmann, Manfred Plöger Jan 2000

Mathematik Als Prozess Der Verallgemeinerung Von Zeichen: Eine Exemplarische Unterrichtseinheit Zur Entdeckung Der Inkommensurabilität, Michael H.G. Hoffmann, Manfred Plöger

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

No abstract provided.


Problems With Peirce's Concept Of Abduction, Michael H.G. Hoffmann Jan 1999

Problems With Peirce's Concept Of Abduction, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Abductive reasoning takes place in forming "hypotheses" in order to explain "facts." Thus, the concept of abduction promises an understanding of creativity in science and learning. It raises, however, also a lot of problems. Some of them will be discussed in this paper: After analyzing the difference between induction and abduction (1), I shall discuss Peirce's claim that there is a "logic" of abduction (2). The thesis is that this claim can be understood, if we make a clear distinction between inferential elements and perceptive elements of abductive reasoning. For Peirce, the creative act of forming explanatory hypotheses and the …