Theory, Knowledge and Science Commons^™

Power, Knowledge, And Environmental Justice: The Dakota Access Pipeline Controversy, Mya Chapman

Honors Projects

In a time of rife political conflict and debate, it is important to understand the underlying power dynamics that permeate our society in America. As devised by French historian and philosopher Michel Foucault, power and knowledge are mutually constitutive forces that shape our social relations. Through the actions of certain discourses, distinct truths are cultivated that in turn, reinforce existing power structures. In this study, these concepts are applied to the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy in the form of a Foucauldian discourse analysis to understand how the pipeline remained operational in the face of great opposition. Written discourse in the …

Introduction To Sociology: Culture, Dr. Marcia Morrison Ph.D.

Open Educational Resources

Abstract

A Synthesis of Sociological Perspectives on Culture and Social Evolution This paper provides an in-depth exploration of culture as a foundational element in the study of sociology, dissecting its central components—knowledge, language, symbols, values, norms, and material objects—and their profound impact on society. Through the examination of cultural integration and diversity, the analysis foregrounds the dynamic tensions between assimilation and the preservation of subcultures, illustrating how these forces shape identities, relationships, and social cohesion in contemporary contexts. The discussion offers nuanced insights into the processes by which dominant and minority cultures interact, negotiate power, and navigate the challenges of …

Knowledge Ethics: Conceptual Preliminaries Scope And Justification, Norman Mooradian

School of Information Student Research Journal

This paper lays out the conceptual groundwork for a long-term project examining ethical issues raised when addressing the value of knowledge to a knowledge economy. The project includes a series of papers on specific topics that interrelate to the subjects of knowledge, ethics and organizations. While some of the planned articles for the project will have a practical focus, others, such as this one, will be conceptual in nature. The following outlines selected key concepts for an ethics of knowledge and their relationship with cognate areas of inquiry and practice.

Assertion And Its Many Norms, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Timothy Williamson offers the ordinary practice, the lottery and the Moorean argument for the ‘knowledge account’ that assertion is the only speech-act that is governed by the single ‘knowledge rule’ or norm, that one must know its content. I show that the emptiness of the knowledge account renders mysterious why breaking the knowledge rule should be a source of criticism. I then argue that focussing exclusively on the sincerity of the speech-act of letting one know engenders a category mistake about the nature of constraints on assertion. For Williamson and those in his tradition, assertion alls under purely epistemic norms. …

Drowning In Rising Seas: Navigating Multiple Knowledge Systems And Responding To Climate Change In The Maldives, Rachel Hannah Spiegel

Pitzer Senior Theses

The threat of global climate change increasingly influences the actions of human society. As world leaders have negotiated adaptation strategies over the past couple of decades, a certain discourse has emerged that privileges Western conceptions of environmental degradation. I argue that this framing of climate change inhibits the successful implementation of adaptation strategies. This thesis focuses on a case study of the Maldives, an island nation deemed one of the most vulnerable locations to the impacts of rising sea levels. I apply a postcolonial theoretical framework to examine how differing knowledge systems can both complement and contradict one another. By …