Epistemology Commons^™

Where Epistemology And Metaphysics Touch In Lois Lowry's The Giver, Seth Vannatta

Far West Popular Culture Association Annual Conference

In Lois Lowry’s dystopian young adult novel, The Giver, the veil of perception— the gap between appearance and reality— is woven into the community as a policy measure meant to establish Sameness—the effort to insure a world without conflict, inequality, difference, pain, or freedom of choice. But a question lingers in the premise of the novel’s community. Given that our options for bridging the gap amount to building a bridge of experience across it or digging a tunnel of existence under it, has the bridge been sabotaged to render perception spurious, or has the tunnel been blocked to alter reality …

A Festival Of Form: Score, Anthony Elia

Bridwell Library Research

"A Festival of Form" was both an event at Bridwell and Perkins School of Theology and a conceptual piece of music that lasted several days. In this rendering, the "piece of music" was articulated in a fluid combination of activities that included works by other composers, including John Cage. The activities involved--from lectures, conversations, and meals to actual performances of both short works and especially the world-record breaking rendition of "Organ2/ASLSP" played by Christopher Anderson--comprise the entirety of "A Festival of Form" as performance piece. The challenge of this work is that unlike nearly any other music, it is purposely …

Knowledge Through Divine Light: Ghazali’S Notions Of Mystical Cognition, Maisara Maasoum Marzouk

The Undergraduate Research Journal

Illumination, or knowledge through divine light, is a type of mystical cognition that Abu Hamid Ghazali regarded to be the cause of his rescue from his famous skeptical crisis. According to him, this type of divine knowledge is the apex of knowledge, to which all other sciences are subordinate. The receptive organ of this knowledge is the heart, a divine and cognitive subtlety that is distinct though related to the physical heart. Such is done by removing the veils that obstruct divine light from reaching it by means of the science of unveiling. The disclosure of knowledge that occurs once …

Book Review: Reckonings: Numerals, Cognition, And History By Stephen Chrisomalis, Milton Rosa, Daniel Clark Orey

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This review of Reckonings shares our thoughts on the diverse insights presented by Stephen Chrisomalis’s version of the history of numerical notation. Chrisomalis suggests that members of distinct cultural groups write numbers as an active choice in accordance with their own sociocultural contexts, which reflect the influences of historical, cognitive, social, economic, political, environmental, and cultural factors. This book integrates comparative, cognitive, and evolutionary understandings on numerical cognition with historical and linguistic evidence on the use and transformation of numeral systems through the historical advancement of numeracy. Chrisomalis offers an interesting historical perspective on numbers that builds upon three main …

Theory Of Knowledge In The Tretise Of Al-Gazali “Al-Kistasu-Lmustakim” (Right Scales), Kodirov Davronbek

The Light of Islam

Today, one of the urgent tasks of the social sciences is the construction of the Third Renaissance in our country, the transfer of the heritage of our ancestors to the younger generation, and their education in the spirit of moral and spiritual ideas based on Islamic philosophy. Therefore, it is important to study and research the sources that underlie the religious and philosophical views that have been formed and consolidated in our country for centuries. One of these philosophical writings is Al-Qistasu-l-Mustakim (Right scales) by Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad alGhazali, a thinker, lawyer, philosopher, and mystic who lived and …

The Scope Of Inductive Risk, P.D. Magnus

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

The Argument from Inductive Risk (AIR) is taken to show that values are inevitably involved in making judgements or forming beliefs. After reviewing this conclusion, I pose cases which are prima facie counterexamples: the unreflective application of conventions, use of black-boxed instruments, reliance on opaque algorithms, and unskilled observation reports. These cases are counterexamples to the AIR posed in ethical terms as a matter of personal values. Nevertheless, it need not be understood in those terms. The values which load a theory choice may be those of institutions or past actors. This means that the challenge of responsibly handling inductive …

Justified, Evidently False Belief, Levi Yakuber

Bouwsma Paper Contest

In The Theory of Epistemic Rationality, Foley writes that the framing goal of epistemic rationality is, “now to believe those propositions which are true and now not to believe those propositions which are false,” with respect to non-trivial propositions.1 This “nowness” for truth distinguishes epistemic rationality from other domains of rationality, on the basis that epistemic rationality is concerned only with now believing what is true, regardless of what believing the truth will mean for one’s other goals as a person. Though very restrictive, this is the founding framework of the epistemic domain. Epistemic rationality being concerned only with the …

History, Cognition And Nostromo: Conrad’S Explorations Of Torture, Trauma, And The Human Rage For Order, Richard Ruppel

English Faculty Articles and Research

Focusing on Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo, this essay historicizes the treatment of what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder, demonstrating how Conrad anticipated our current understanding and treatment of the illness. The second part of the essay addresses Nostromo’s treatment of historiography. Part three is concerned with epistemology and the relationship between neurological discoveries concerning the gap between perception and consciousness, relating those discoveries to Conrad’s use of delayed decoding.

Invisible Things: An Inquiry Into The Laws Of Nature, Abigail Tulenko

Scripps Senior Theses

What are the laws of nature? Are they abstract entities that govern physical processes? Or are they merely useful summaries that describe patterns in nature? In this thesis, I explore offer arguments for the former view– what is known as inflationism regarding laws of nature. It is my hope that by excavating and evaluating the role epistemological concerns have played in this debate, we may find new avenues to break this long-standing metaphysical stalemate

Dismantling The Master's House: Epistemological Tensions And Revelatory Interventions For Reimagining A Transformational Family Science, Janine Jones, Andrea G. Hunter, Shuntay Z. Tarver

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

Using Audre Lorde's The Master's Tools as an epistemic guide, we propose two practice interventions for family science (FS) transformative praxes. The first, inspired by the thought of philosopher Charles Mills, challenges FS practitioners (research, practice, and policy) to explore differences in peripheral and positivist & post‐positivist (P&PP) ideologies responsible for differences in beliefs regarding the salience or non‐salience of power differentials within FS. The second, inspired by the thought of philosopher Rudolph Carnap, encourages FS practitioners to consider differences in peripheral and P&PP practitioners' understandings of what FS is at its core, and the beliefs and actions guided by …

Ethnic Nationalism In Postcolonial Disputes: The Epistemic Re-Evaluation Of Interest-Driven Knowledge Claims, Hahyeon Lee

Senior Independent Study Theses

This thesis combines the disciplines of political science and philosophy to illuminate the conceptual links between ethnic nationalism, postcolonial disputes, and epistemology. In doing so, it proposes a novel understanding of postcolonial disputes that moves beyond the politics of national sentiments and socially constructed historical memory to one that also recognizes the epistemic stakes in the contestation. To this end, the research question is stated as, “If postcolonial disputes are intensified by ethnic nationalism, are postcolonial disputes an instance of epistemic subjectivism?” To answer the question, the thesis pursues two objectives (the empirical and the philosophical) that ultimately tie in …

To Integrate Or To Assimilate: An Epistemic Analysis Of Racial Segregation In Education, Nandini Mittal

CMC Senior Theses

Color has been the demarcating factor in systematically separating particularly Black and white communities, insofar as barring access to education, housing, transportation, and basic civil rights. In the fight against segregation, and a movement towards integration, the area that this we have notoriously failed in is education. This paper is an opportunity to combine the practical with the epistemological (relating to beliefs about knowledge acquisition and validity) and question the hidden or coded elements that are associated with social integration. Where do we draw the line between the social integration and assimilation? I will be exploring the concept of epistemological …

The Wrongness Of Belief: An Analysis Of Rima Basu’S Work On Doxastic Wronging, Sophie Gitlin

CMC Senior Theses

It is undisputed that our actions have the power to wrong others; every decision we make that turns into action can directly or indirectly affect people. This sentiment is less obvious and less accepted when it comes to beliefs. This thesis explores doxastic wronging, or the idea that we can wrong others based on what we believe about them. Through several case studies, I attempt to modify Rima Basu’s criteria of what constitutes a doxastic wrong and develop a modified interpretation of the view that says in order to wrong others by belief the agent must (1) be a participating …

Facultas Marginem: Assessing Disability Data And Public Aau Universities’ Affirmative Action Plans For Systemic Barriers Facing Faculty With Disabilities, Joseph Carlton Barry

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

This dissertation contributes to education equity scholarship produced by academics seeking to develop understandings of disability, Persons with Disabilities (PWD), and how both are situated amongst faculty in institutions of higher education. As such, this dissertation centers on a study of public US universities belonging to the Association of American Universities (AAU). This study looks for institutional level associations between respective rates by which college and university faculty with disabilities (FWD) are employed, certain aspects of disability policy drawn from each institution’s 2020 Affirmative Action Plans (AAP), and various other instances of empirical disability data (EDD).

While this study contributes …

Constructing A Well-Being: Exploring Knowledge Construction In Dbt Skills Training Using Art And Activity Theory, Elizabeth Bailey

Wayne State University Dissertations

Through Arts-based Research, constructed within the theoretical basis of the Activity System, participants engaged with dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) program content to develop a cohesive and meaningful project. Participants are conceptualized as reliable experts in their own experience, and as active agents of knowledge construction. Participants generate profound and relevant insights into their experiences – insights that can enhance DBT practice, expand research methodology, and build conceptual connections across theories. The Arts-based Activity System offers a theoretically-backed methodology that can disrupt the harmful parallels between the development of the disorders DBT is intended to treat and the dominant research paradigm …

Pedagogical Virtues: An Account Of The Intellectual Virtues Of A Teacher, Noel L. Clemente

Philosophy Department Faculty Publications

The overlap between virtue epistemology and the philosophy of education has been dominated by discussions of the epistemic qualities of good learners, that is, the intellectual virtues that must be nurtured in students. Not much has been said about the epistemic qualities of good teachers expressed in virtue-theoretic terms. This paper offers a preliminary account of such qualities, which are designated as pedagogical virtues. I use Battaly's pluralist conception of intellectual virtue as a starting point, then describe a pedagogical virtue as an intellectual virtue with an other-regarding success or motivational component. I end with an elucidation of the pedagogical …

The Relationship Between Kindergarten To Grade 8 Principals’ Epistemological Beliefs And School Success, Leland Stuart Sanford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although current research links teacher effectiveness and student success to epistemological beliefs, little is known about how those beliefs influence principal leadership and school success. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which epistemological beliefs of K-8 principals predict school success in a large U.S. metropolitan area (LMA). The theoretical framework was Perry’s theory of epistemological development and Schommer-Aikin’s theory of personal epistemology. In this quantitative correlational study, epistemological beliefs of K-8 principals were measured with the Schommer-Aikins Epistemological Belief Inventory and school success with School Quality Rating Policy (SQRP). Data were collected through a convenient …

Who Gets To Know? Combating Colonial Epistemic Oppression, Timothy J. Cotter

Senior Independent Study Theses

This Independent Study thesis is divided into five chapters. In the introduction, I explain the focus of the paper. In the second chapter, “Landscapes of Epistemic Injustice,” I clarify the concept of epistemic injustice by breaking it down into hermeneutical injustice and testimonial injustice. I argue that we have obligations to each other as knowers and producers of knowledge, and the content of these obligations within a given situation depends upon the social position of both the speaker and the audience or audiences. In the third chapter, “Epistemic Oppression and Colonialism,” I contend that Western colonial projects frequently enact third-order …

Locating Uncertainty In Hospital Leader Sensemaking And Sensegiving Of Organizational Change: A Single Case Study, Sara E. Barry

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Leaders planning strategic change face significant ambiguity and uncertainty due to the complex, fast-paced, and volatile nature of organizational life. What one leader sees as an opportunity, another may view as a threat depending on their past experiences, their existing mental models, and their perceptions of uncertainty. Sensemaking and sensegiving theories provide a framework for how leaders retrospectively make sense of new and disorienting information through recursive cycles of interpretation, action, and learning, and seek to influence the meaning-making of others towards a shared vision of the strategic change. Despite decades of research using these theories, studies have yet to …

Toward Socially Equitable Conditions: Change In Complex Regulatory Systems, Katherine A. Hoffman

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this qualitative participatory action research was to explore how complexity is engaged and experienced in complex regulatory systems, and to understand how cannabis might be regulated in ways that lead to socially equitable conditions. This was accomplished by studying the lived experiences of governmental leaders charged with the responsibility of establishing regulatory frameworks for legalized cannabis where none previously existed. Using the learning history methodology, the study deeply explores the ways that complex systems coexist by capturing the lived experiences of research participants and enhance theoretical understanding of complex regulatory systems. Data collection occurred through reflective interviews, …