Contextualized Transitional Justice Policy Development In Uganda: Differentiating Between Normativity Types In Evidence-Based Problem Analysis,
2024
Binghamton University--SUNY
Contextualized Transitional Justice Policy Development In Uganda: Differentiating Between Normativity Types In Evidence-Based Problem Analysis, Saghar Shahidi Birjandian
Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal
This article discusses the fundamental impact of normativity on producing evidence-based guidance for context-sensitive transitional justice policy. It draws on lessons learned from Uganda’s complex transitional justice context and extensive fieldwork to demonstrate the necessity and the means to differentiate between belief-based normativity and evidence-based normativity in conducting problem analysis as a crucial site that determines the integrity of evidence-based guidance. It also establishes that evidence-based normativity guiding problem analysis must include empirical evidence of societal dynamics and views of affected communities or there is a significantly higher risk of belief-based normativity decontextualizing strategy development. Findings establish significant substantive differences …
Reading Feyerabend Between Philosophy Of Science, Hermeneutics – And God,
2024
Fordham University
Reading Feyerabend Between Philosophy Of Science, Hermeneutics – And God, Babette Babich
Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections
This essay seeks to make the case for reading hermeneutic philosophy of science with Feyerabend. In addition, there is the question of science, as Nietzsche raises this question along with Feyerabend’s programmatic recommendations for traditional philosophy of science. Including a discussion of method in history as in theology and philology, including Nietzsche’s hermeneutics, this essay reviews Feyerabend’s exchanges with Lakatos along with the resistance of mainstream philosophy of science to hermeneutics as such. A discussion of Feyerabend’s ‘gods’ engages what he invokes as ontological abundance as well as his criticism of the limitations of Popper’s critique of Parmenides requiring both …
The Basic Dualism In The World: Object-Oriented Ontology And Systems Theory,
2024
Portland State University
The Basic Dualism In The World: Object-Oriented Ontology And Systems Theory, Martin Zwick
Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations
Graham Harman writes that the “basic dualism in the world lies…between things in their intimate reality and things as confronted by other things.” However, dualism implies irreconcilable difference; what Harman points to is better expressed as a dyad, where the two components imply one another and interact. This article shows that systems theory has long asserted the fundamental character of Harman’s dyad, expressing it as the union of internal structure and external function, which correspond exactly to what Levi Bryant, characterizing Harman’s views, refers to as the intra-ontic and the inter-ontic, respectively. After interpreting Harman’s dyad in terms of the …
The Logical Reasoning Dilemma Of Llms: A Mapping Deficit In Representation Acquisition,
2024
University of Missouri-St. Louis
The Logical Reasoning Dilemma Of Llms: A Mapping Deficit In Representation Acquisition, Yiling Wu
Theses
Currently, Large Language Models (LLMs) based on the Generative Pre-trained Transformer architecture have made breakthroughs in multilingual language processing tasks and performed similar language processing capabilities to humans. However, their performance in dealing with tasks involving reasoning, especially logical reasoning, show significant shortcomings. In this paper, we argue that logical reasoning competence requires a certain type of representation acquisition capability. Based on this, in order to assess whether LLMs have the potential to overcome the shortcomings of their logical reasoning competence in their subsequent development, this work compares the representation acquisition processes of humans and LLMs. This comparison reveals that …
How Are Entanglement Entropies Related To Entropy Bounds?,
2024
Chapman University
How Are Entanglement Entropies Related To Entropy Bounds?, Emily Adlam
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
In this paper we seek to understand what current knowledge of entanglement entropies suggests about the appropriate way to interpret the covariant entropy bound. We first begin by arguing that just as in the classical case, a universal bound on the von Neumann entropy could have either an epistemic or ontological origin. We then consider several possible ways of explaining the bound as a consequence of features of the entanglement entropy. We discuss consider area laws in condensed matter and quantum field theory, arguing that they suggest an epistemic reading of the bound. We also discuss the ‘spacetime from entanglement’ …
Towards An Interdisciplinary “Science Of The Mind”: A Call For Enhanced Collaboration Between Philosophy And Neuroscience,
2024
University at Albany, State University of New York
Towards An Interdisciplinary “Science Of The Mind”: A Call For Enhanced Collaboration Between Philosophy And Neuroscience, Alessandra Buccella, Uri Maoz, Liad Mudrik
Psychology Faculty Articles and Research
In recent decades, the neuroscientific community has moved from describing the neural underpinnings of mental phenomena—as characterized by experimental psychology and philosophy of mind—to attempting to redefine those mental phenomena based on neural findings. Nowadays, many are intrigued by the idea that neuroscience might provide the “missing piece” that would allow philosophers (and, to an extent, psychologists, too) to make important advances, generating new means that these disciplines lack to close knowledge gaps and answer questions like “What is Free Will?” and “Do humans have it?.” In this paper, we argue that instead of striving for neuroscience to replace philosophy …
Consciousness And Physicalism,
2024
CUNY Graduate Center
Consciousness And Physicalism, Brian Mcgowan
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Physicalism is a philosophy of mind which attempts to explain consciousness as resulting from physical causes. The lack of a complete and consistent mathematical theory to explain physical causation has led other philosophers of mind to propose that consciousness is a nonphysical essence, property, or substance. However, the idea that physics can be defined atomically and/or deterministically leads to explanatory problems for consciousness, as well as for the dualisms which explain consciousness under these assumptions. This thesis advances a position called “continuous physicalism” which takes all material to result from deformations in the physical medium of space, and any changes …
Fragmentation And Some Applications,
2024
CUNY Graduate Center
Fragmentation And Some Applications, Joseph Bendana
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
This dissertation is an exploration of the idea that human minds are fragmented and its implications for some ongoing debates in the philosophy of mind and epistemology. Let Fragmentation be, minimally, the view that human cognitive information access is best modeled as having a structure that permits for selective, variable-mediated access, instead of a structure that enables always-on, global access. In chapter 1, I canvass the motivation for this view, its many variants, and some of the key open questions that it raises, situating this project in the broader landscape of work on the view. In chapter 2 I argue …
Knowledge Production And The Unthinkable: Weaving Stories Of Art, Gender, And Land,
2024
University of San Francisco
Knowledge Production And The Unthinkable: Weaving Stories Of Art, Gender, And Land, Christin Huntsman
Master's Theses
Colonialism is deeply and violently embedded in Western knowledge formation—dominant power structures produce epistemes that uphold and perpetuate colonial narratives. This kind of knowledge production forecloses other possibilities. Western discourse of truth becomes universalized to the point that other worldviews, other knowledges that do not conform to hegemonic norms, are suppressed or silenced. This thesis examines three areas of hegemony and erasure: art, gender, and land. First, the history of art clearly marks a delineation between Western elitist artistic masterpieces and non-Western ethnographic artifacts. Eurocentrism of art in the academy determines what counts as art and how art is categorized. …
Aristotle's Division Of The Sciences And The Impossibility Of A Science Of Everything,
2024
Duquesne University
Aristotle's Division Of The Sciences And The Impossibility Of A Science Of Everything, Christopher Lutz
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Aristotle’s division between practical, productive, and theoretical sciences is widely acknowledged, and it is uncontroversial to say that it organizes his texts. However, contemporary scholarship often treats the division of the sciences as a mere organizational structure without investigating its underlying principles. My dissertation seeks to correct this oversight by investigating the logical principles of Aristotle’s division of the sciences in the Posterior Analytics’ account of scientific knowledge (ἐπιστήμη). My central argument is that Aristotle sees the sciences as inherently divided, so that a demonstrative science of everything is impossible. By understanding why science is divided, we are better …
Canonical Extensions Of Quantale Enriched Categories,
2024
Chapman University
Canonical Extensions Of Quantale Enriched Categories, Alexander Kurz
MPP Research Seminar
No abstract provided.
40 Years Of Koyaanisqatsi: The Greatest Experimental Film Ever Made,
2024
Augustana College, Rock Island Illinois
40 Years Of Koyaanisqatsi: The Greatest Experimental Film Ever Made, Brian Thomas
Honors Program: Student Scholarship & Creative Works
The 1983 experimental film Koyaanisqatsi remains a visionary artistic work 40 years after it was initially released, because it continues to resonate in contemporary society by vividly depicting the intersection of human life and technology, prompting viewers to contemplate "life out of balance" and its implications. The film makes us question where life is headed and the ways in which we "live technology" today.
Embracing The Wound Of Contingency: Transcribing Reality In Supernatural Horror And Found Footage,
2024
Chapman University
Embracing The Wound Of Contingency: Transcribing Reality In Supernatural Horror And Found Footage, Mason Dax Dickerson
Film and Media Studies (MA) Theses
To counter both the form of critical thought first outlined by Kant that dispels absolute knowledge, as well as the dogmatic necessitarianism that asserts the universe must be one way for an absolute originary reason, Quentin Meillassoux argues for the “non-facticity of facticity” to implicate an absolute contingency or unreason structuring reality: in effect, anything could happen for no reason at all. Meillassoux suggests the trauma of the contingent event and the sudden impossibility of inductive science in its wake may be explored in an “Extro-Science Fiction” text (XSF) – but limits his examples to science fiction literature. Framing the …
What's In A Name? Plant Naming As Cultural Artifact And Story In The Midwestern United States,
2024
Bellarmine University
What's In A Name? Plant Naming As Cultural Artifact And Story In The Midwestern United States, Sophie Wesseler
Undergraduate Theses
This project sought to collect and contextualize the historical and contemporary names given to plants by inhabitants of the Midwestern United States, understanding plant names as cultural artifacts that can offer insight into the communities in which they were created and evolved. Formatted as a series of entries, this collection gathered these names and contextualized them within other artifacts of cultural significance, such as art or poetry, and alongside historical research on their origins and cultural environments. Examining plant names through the fields of linguistics, semiology, anthropology, cultural studies, taxonomy, and ethnobotany, this work traces the names of various plants …
Biological Teleology In The Modern World,
2024
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Biological Teleology In The Modern World, Kathryn Siena
Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)
In humans, the heart moves blood through the body. Does the heart therefore have a teleological explanation? Aristotelian teleology (described in Aristotle’s Physics) is the cause-for-the-sake-of-which, or the end towards which something moves. It is evident from current scientific knowledge that there is some sort of orientation of organisms toward an end. This orientation, following Aristotle’s definition of teleology, is conceptually distinct from efficient causation. This orientation is also metaphysically distinct from efficient causation because efficient causal explanations do not properly describe the orientation. However, two common ways of describing teleological explanations imply efficient causation as a metaphysical element. …
Philosophy In Science: Can Philosophers Of Science Permeate Through Science And Produce Scientific Knowledge?,
2024
Chapman University
Philosophy In Science: Can Philosophers Of Science Permeate Through Science And Produce Scientific Knowledge?, Thomas Pradeu, Maël Lemoine, Mahdi Khelfaoui, Yves Gingras
Presidential Fellows Articles and Research
Most philosophers of science do philosophy ‘on’ science. By contrast, others do philosophy ‘in’ science (PinS), that is, they use philosophical tools to address scientific problems and to provide scientifically useful proposals. Here, we consider the evidence in favour of a trend of this nature. We proceed in two stages. First, we identify relevant authors and articles empirically with bibliometric tools, given that PinS would be likely to infiltrate science and thus to be published in scientific journals (‘intervention’), cited in scientific journals (‘visibility’), and sometimes recognized as a scientific result by scientists (‘contribution’). We show that many central figures …
Zhu Guangya: Cultivator And Practitioner Of Spirit Of Scientists—Commemorating 100th Anniversary Of Birth Of Zhu Guangya, "General Of Distinguished Scientists",
2024
China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621900, China
Zhu Guangya: Cultivator And Practitioner Of Spirit Of Scientists—Commemorating 100th Anniversary Of Birth Of Zhu Guangya, "General Of Distinguished Scientists", Jianqiang Li, Leilei Cui, Xiangwan Du
Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)
Known as the "pillar scientist" and "general of distinguished scientists" in the Chinese engineering science community, ZHU Guangya was an outstanding strategic scientist and engineering master who had made outstanding contributions to China's science and technology. This study aims to deeply explore and reveal the core connotation, profound influence, and important contemporary value of ZHU Guangya's scientific spirit from six aspects: patriotism, innovation, truth seeking, dedication, collaboration, and talent cultivating, by reviewing his life journey and scientific contributions. At the same time, the study deeply analyzes how did ZHU Guangya integrate the above spirit into major national scientific research projects …
Towards Erasing The Distinction Between The Computational And Syntactic Accounts Of Scientific Theories,
2024
University of Missouri-St. Louis
Towards Erasing The Distinction Between The Computational And Syntactic Accounts Of Scientific Theories, Timothy Luft
Theses
One of the main goals of philosophy of science is to give a proper account of scientific theories and their structure. One way that accounts of the structure of scientific theories can be distinguished is by the mathematical or logical structures that they involve. For instance, syntactic accounts of scientific theories hold that theories are axioms in a logical framework, whereas semantic accounts are more liberal in the range of mathematical and logical structures they take as pertinent to the structure of scientific theories. Paul Thagard (1988) offers a computational account of scientific theories, which holds that theories are complex …
Between Fodor And Sellars -- A Middle Ground For Language-Like Neural Representations,
2024
University of Missouri-St. Louis
Between Fodor And Sellars -- A Middle Ground For Language-Like Neural Representations, Hanzhe Dong
Theses
The recent resurgence of the language of thought (LOT) hypothesis has drawn much attention. The history of philosophy and cognitive science has provided us with various versions of LOT. From Sellars to Fodor, theorists have offered us considerations on the vehicles, content, and functions of such a representation format. However, it’s been more than 50 years since Fodor’s publication on LOT (1975), and the resurgence suggests that we need a modern iteration of LOT to fit with recent developments in the study on cognition. Therefore, in this paper, I argue that we need a middle ground between Fodor and Sellars’s …
Uncomplicating The Complicated: The Definition Of Life,
2024
Georgia Southern University
Uncomplicating The Complicated: The Definition Of Life, Jennifer S. Primatic
Honors College Theses
The issue of defining life has long been debated by biologists and philosophers alike, but the issue surrounding it has been that the definition is overcomplicated and attempts to include so many definitions from previous scientific discussions. The proposed definition is– a living thing consists of an organic entity which, taken out of the ideal condition, will work toward sustaining itself without outside influence. This definition addresses many issues present in the previous definition, while also including organic entities which should be considered alive.
