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The article offers the author's insight on the transformation of liberal public sphere, which was originally outlined by sociologist Jűrgen Habermas, into a global context. She states that aspects of political theorization are being affected by conditions including capital movement by neoliberalism, human rights violations, and religious identity. She mentions that the deliberate model of public sphere outlined by Habermas contributes to critical and constructivist theories of democracy.

From Plato to contemporary educators of Learning Sciences today, the aim of hard work is to reveal the nature of learning, how man learns, and how it could be perfected. As a result, different learning theories were created with cumulative effects of society, politics, and scientific developments. This paper outlines the crossroad of the conceptualizations of these learning theories and their social, political, and scientific contexts. The study was designed as a phenomenological study through which PhD students' conceptualizations of learning theories were aimed to be understood. The reflection papers they wrote on seven learning theories (Behaviorism, Connectionism, Operant Conditioning, Affective Learning, Social Learning Theory, and Constructivism) were analyzed through a contrapuntal lens to understand the sociology of learning theories. The reflection papers as a data source reflected the close ties of learning theories and their social, political, and scientific background. Students discussed each learning theory with their original concepts and timely backgrounds. The data obtained from student reflection papers outlined how learning theories are conceptualized within their own social, political, and scientific contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on sociologist Sergio Sismondo's paper on constructivism. Sismondo's paper puts into focus disagreements and differences in understanding between those who have been associated with constructivism and those who are not. In defining ontology as part of historical experience, constructivism makes a characteristic shift, it takes a philosophical question or concept and reconstructs it within the domain of empirical analysis and theory. Constructivism owns many questions to philosophy, a fact picked up very well in Sismomdo's paper. What is often less understood is that, for constructivist studies, what is important and what is not just the question, it is the shift. In other words, these studies display mentality towards philosophical concepts, and it is where they run to and how they reformulated the issue that account for their own interest. Sismondo misconstrues the thesis that the world is a consequence, rather than merely a precondition, of scientific accounts. This is the sense in which he makes it appear as if the material world were an automatic consequence of scientific knowledge.

Teaching can be challenging, especially when teachers are under-prepared to enter a workforce with a constantly changing landscape. Preparing teachers for STEM content has generated multiple approaches from varying perspectives. While some scholars advocate for content expertise, others promote pedagogy or social context as approaches for translating STEM content for students. Yet, many contend that teachers must be culturally knowledgeable to respond to student diversity effectively. While these arguments are valuable and needed, many have not considered the interconnectedness of these approaches, often used in silos. This conceptual paper unpacks some of these arguments using the social constructivism theory of learning as the epistemic lens to examine and interpret what STEM teacher knowledge should encompass in the 21st-century diversified classroom. After thoroughly evaluating the core elements of three commonly used teacher constructs, this paper presents an integrative, holistic teacher knowledge—culturally responsive pedagogical knowledge (CRPK) framework that considers the necessary qualities that teachers must possess that are functional, content-focused, and pedagogically inclusive. The proposed CRPK construct would be a valuable programmatic tool for teacher preparation, curriculum development, and classroom praxis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anales de la Cátedra Francisco Suárez is the property of Anales de la Catedra Francisco Suarez and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper argues that the categorical authority of love's imperatives is derived from a sentimental contract. The problem is defined and the paper argues against two recent attempts to explain the authority of love's demands by Velleman and Frankfurt. An argument is then set out in which it is shown that a constructivist approach to the problem explains the sources of love's justifications. The paper distinguishes between the moral and the romantic case but argues that the sources of authority are paralleled in each. The paper ends by asking what we are to say when the demands of morality and the demands of love conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Relaciones Internacionales (1699-3950) is the property of Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain, International Relations Studies Group (GERI) Law Faculty and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, we examine how nature is defined and perceived and address the conflict between constructivism and essentialism. By exploring modern perspectives on the concept of nature that stem from the field of social sciences, we will review the analysis of Murray Bookchin's dialectical naturalism regarding the very essence of nature. We argue that dialectical naturalism offers a dynamic developmental concept of nature that goes beyond the context of constructivism and supports that the truth of nature can be conceived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Inciso is the property of Universidad La Gran Colombia, Seccional Armenia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper considers non-standard analysis and a recently introduced computational methodology based on the notion of ① (this symbol is called grossone). The latter approach was developed with the intention to allow one to work with infinities and infinitesimals numerically in a unique computational framework and in all the situations requiring these notions. Non-standard analysis is a classical purely symbolic technique that works with ultrafilters, external and internal sets, standard and non-standard numbers, etc. In its turn, the ①-based methodology does not use any of these notions and proposes a more physical treatment of mathematical objects separating the objects from tools used to study them. It both offers a possibility to create new numerical methods using infinities and infinitesimals in floating-point computations and allows one to study certain mathematical objects dealing with infinity more accurately than it is done traditionally. In these notes, we explain that even though both methodologies deal with infinities and infinitesimals, they are independent and represent two different philosophies of Mathematics that are not in a conflict. It is proved that texts (Gutman et al. in Found Sci 22(3):539-555, 2017; Gutman and Kutateladze in Sib Math J 49(5):835-841, 2008; Kutateladze in J Appl Ind Math 5(1):73-75, 2011) asserting that the ①-based methodology is a part of non-standard analysis unfortunately contain several logical fallacies. Their attempt to show that the ①-based methodology can be formalized within non-standard analysis is similar to trying to show that constructivism can be reduced to the traditional Mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a substantial literature in the tradition of constructivism and sociological new institutionalism that suggests the existence of shared EU norms. Yet, the issue of how EU norms are adopted and/or contested in EU member states remains underexamined. In the paper, we therefore study the public discourse on citizenship in Latvia and examine how the discourse relates to EU norms on citizenship, minority rights and in the broader sense human rights. The analysis takes its empirical starting point in the period after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and focuses on how the issue of statelessness was discussed in the Latvian online media. Looking at how the contested term ('statelessness') achieves different meanings in the Latvian discourse, and how the domestic actors try to reformulate the EU norms in question, we aim at a better understanding of the diffusion of norms within the context of a regional organization. The conclusion indicates that apart from the EU human rights norm, there are several different articulations of statelessness (i.e. othering, security and instrumental) that are present in the discourse. This has enabled Latvian governments to stress their commitment to human rights promotion, while simultaneously facing criticism regarding the country's stateless inhabitants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been tectonic shifts in the Indo-Pacific region, impacting relations among international actors, including traditionally close partners like Vietnam and India. By using the approach of realism and constructivism in international relations, this paper discusses Vietnam and India's approach to the Indo-Pacific region to expand their substantive strategic relationship. The paper finds out that geopolitical changes in the Indo-Pacific directly influence the bilateral relation and create challenges as well as opportunities. By using the SWOT model, the paper analyzes driving factors and challenges to the Vietnam-India relations. Through the findings, it suggests both countries need to take advantages of the regional cooperation to further Vietnam-India's strategic comprehensive partnership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the paper entitled "Towards a paradigmatic foundation for accounting practice" by Nørreklit, Nørreklit and Mitchell as a way to open a debate about whether a "paradigm of accounting practice" exists and, if so, the nature of the methodological approach that would be needed to discover its nature. Design/methodology/approach - The paper employs a critical, reflective discursive analysis. Findings - The main finding is that there is a confusion in the paper by Nørreklit et al. about the nature of a "paradigm of accounting practice", which, if it exists, should be a "skeletal theory" (Laughlin), rather than a methodology. The conclusion of the commentary is that a "paradigm of accounting practice", using this understanding, might exist, but that Nørreklit et al.'s argument for the use of "pragmatic constructivism", as a methodology for its discovery, is open to question. Research limitations/implications - The implication of the argument of this commentary is that the search for "paradigm of accounting practice" is important and should be pursued but the choice of an appropriate methodology for this discovery still needs further consideration. Originality/value - Nørreklit et al., and this commentary, re-energise an important debate and concern about paradigms in accounting that was present in the literature in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The search for a "paradigm of accounting practice" and how best it can be discovered is an important consideration for the future development of accounting thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most serious problem facing epistemological research is how to establish solid foundations for epistemology within a recursive system of knowing. The aim of this paper is to respond to this problem by presenting some outlines for a dynamic theory of epistemology. This theory suggests that the most basic unshakeable unit of epistemology is a process of differentiation, which is a self-referential activity. This paper elaborates on this thesis and illustrates its relevance to solving the problem of embodiment in Piaget's genetic epistemology. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I make the arguments that I see supporting a view of how we can come to know the world we live in. I start from a position in second order cybernetics which turns out to be a Radical Constructivist position. This position is essentially epistemological, and much of this paper is concerned with the act of knowing, crucial when we try to develop an understanding of what we mean when we discuss a field of knowing (knowledge), which is at the root of science. The argument follows a path in which I discuss the essential role of the observer in observing, the creation of constancies between different observings and their exteriorisation as objects which are then represented and used in communication with and between other observers, each unique (and therefore each observing in its own way). This leads to the assertion that the qualities we associate with the objects of our universes are attributes, rather than properties inherent in the objects themselves. At each step in the argument I explore consequences for how we understand the world, in particular through science. I show limitations, new insights and understandings, and re-evaluate what we can expect to gain from science. One change is the shift from noun to verb in the consideration of processses – for instance, the study of living rather than life. In this way, I intend to show not only that Radical Constructivism is sensible, but that it does not preclude us having a science. In contrast, it can enrich science by taking on board the sensible. In the process, which science is seen to be the more basic is challenged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Roca: Revista Científico-Educacional de la Provincia de Granma is the property of Universidad de Granma, Departamento Editorial and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Política & Sociedade: Revista de Sociologia Política is the property of Revista Politica & Sociedade and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The use of video recordings for the production of knowledge has spread all over society. This paper presents an empirical study of the processes of interpretation of audio-visual recordings. It draws on an example in the context of police work, including the investigation of recordings of police violence. With a theoretical background in communicative constructivism, special attention is given to situated bodily forms of "making things visible" performed by the participants. Interpretation is not understood as purely cognitive but rather as a communicative process. It is elaborated on presenting results of (reflexive) videography of practices of video-interpretation. However, the specifics of the work are not only brought upon situatively, but are embedded in an institutional and organizational context. This paper draws on the concept of work arcs, that allow to highlight the trans-situative linkage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revue Quebecoise de Droit International is the property of Revue quebecoise de droit international and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The dynamic relations between mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan over the past few decades have attracted many scholars to explain and predict this interesting phenomenon using various theoretical approaches. Economic integration theory has received the most academic attention, anticipating that economic interdependence will generate a spillover effect on political integration. However, political reality has illustrated the inadequate explanatory power of this theory. Based on this understanding, the present article develops a new analytical framework derived from the revised social constructivism and argues that Beijing's policy toward Hong Kong and Taiwan is a mixed strategy incorporating three dimensions, namely force, interest and legitimacy; this is labelled the 'divided rules policy'. These three dimensions are working simultaneously and compatibly with different emphases, depending on Beijing's assessment and judgement on the specific political situation in Hong Kong and Taiwan. To elaborate Beijing's policy logic in realpolitik, this article considers two critical turning points that occurred in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the Hong Kong White Paper and 31 Measures, as case studies, and it predicts that the relations of mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan will grow tighter than they were before. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary to Nescolarde-Selva and Usó-Doménech's (Reality, systems and impure systems. Foundations of Science ) links ideas in their paper to radical constructivism and raises two questions. (1) Would it be helpful to substitute the constructivist notion of viability for the traditional notion of truth with its connotations of relating language and reality? (2) Is the link made to issues in ontological philosophy important since the implicit constructivist epistemology of the paper considers mathematical ideas are just as real as ideas about objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes Maurizio Ferraris's "minimal realism" with the aim of showing that his criticisms of correlationism and constructivism are not convincing. Ferraris preserves both a substantivist vision of the objects of knowledge and a substantial difference between sensible things and concepts. These two issues prevent his Manifesto of New Realism from being considered the founding moment of the "new realism." The paper concludes with a reflection on those aspects that should be considered and avoided when proposing a philosophical realism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to explore the career trajectories of Black South African female academics at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Their lived experiences continue to include the political uncertainties of race and gender. Global scholarship on the challenges experienced by Black women in academia is palpable; the South African landscape is distinctive, resultant from the complex intersections of apartheid and the 2004 higher education transformation process. Fourteen in-depth interviews were conducted with 14 black female academics from five different campuses at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. They were invited to recount their lived experiences as academics. Notable themes that emerged when examining race and gender included the old boys' network, the leadership paradox of feminised leadership versus the "queen bee" as well as the impact of stress. The theoretical framework that underpins this paper is social constructivism with a specific focus on intersectional theory. The intersectional theory will give context to race and gender identity in the experience of academics. The South African government documents intersectional experiences recorded in legislation that addresses disparities that existed during apartheid; nonetheless, these intersectional experiences of disadvantage are perpetuated. The dimensions of race and gender play a critical role in academia, while transformational legislation is responsible for facilitating gendered targets. These findings seek to provide a tool of support for Black women, as they continue to be exposed to innumerable challenges, including perfunctory appointments, remuneration incongruence and inconsistencies in the apportionment of research funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a commentary to a paper by Erik Paredis (2011). It is firstly argued that the theories of technology, as distinguished by Feenberg, cannot adequately explain the different interpretations of the role of technology in the transition towards sustainability, as Paredis argues. Secondly, the basic argument of Paredis is countered that transition research is fundamentally handicapped by its constructivists roots to discriminate between options. Finally it is argued that a third strand of transition research exists that is explicitly interventionist, and that nurtures specific technology in context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a response to a comment written by Richard Laughlin on a previous paper by the authors, which appeared in Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Volume 23 Number 6. Design/methodology/approach - The paper addresses three issues central to the analysis of the comment on their past paper. Findings - In addressing each of the issues in turn the authors clarify their analysis. Originality/value - The paper provides an argument for the development of a paradigm for accounting practice derived from the use of pragmatic constructivism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework (pragmatic constructivism) for a new paradigm for accounting practice. The paradigmatic base of practice is an important element in explaining, understanding, justifying and defending practice. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is designed to argue the case for the use of pragmatic constructivism as a basis for the development of a paradigmatic foundation of accounting practice. To achieve this, pragmatic constructivism is explained and its application to accounting is illustrated and contrasted with the traditional paradigm of realism. Findings - The analysis shows how the use of a less reductionist paradigm than realism can assist accountants both in the creation of a rationale and a defence for practice. Research limitations/implications - The analysis is exploratory in the sense that a new paradigmatic framework is outlined and used to illustrate its potential to develop a paradigm for practice. The creation of a full practice paradigm for accounting is beyond the scope of one paper. Hence this analysis should be viewed as only a first step towards developing a paradigm of accounting practice. Originality/value - The proposal of pragmatic constructivism for this purpose is novel to the accounting literature. The value of its application lies in its potential to explain and defend accounting practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his last papers about deontic logic, von Wright sustained that there is no genuine logic of norms. We argue in this paper that this striking statement by the father of deontic logic should not be understood as a death sentence to the subject. Rather, it indicates a profound change in von Wright’s understanding about the epistemic and ontological role of logic in the field of norms. Instead of a logical constructivism of deontic systems revealing a necessary structure of prescriptive discourse, which marked his earlier efforts, he adopted the view that such systems should be seem as mere objects of comparison, i.e. as providing practical standards of rationality for norm-giving activity. Within such view he proposed an interpretation of standard deontic logic in such a way to free deontic logicians from the philosophical difficulties related to the so-called Jørgensen’s dilemma and deontic paradoxes. This effort, as we claim in the present paper, is an application of Wittgenstein’s therapeutic method to dissolve philosophical difficulties caused by the use of logical tools to model relations between norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his paper 'Wang's Paradox', Michael Dummett provides an argument for why strict finitism in mathematics is internally inconsistent and therefore an untenable position. Dummett's argument proceeds by making two claims: (1) Strict finitism is committed to the claim that there are sets of natural numbers which are closed under the successor operation but nonetheless have an upper bound; (2) Such a commitment is inconsistent, even by finitistic standards. In this paper I claim that Dummett's argument fails. I question both parts of Dummett's argument, but most importantly I claim that Dummett's argument in favour of the second claim crucially relies on an implicit assumption that Dummett does not acknowledge and that the strict finitist need not accept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we suggest that constructivism has the potential to inform research in strategic management. The realist paradigm currently dominates strategy research, and constructivism, a well-established tradition in the philosophy of science, is often ignored. However, a study of strategy literature and research reveals that it is drawn upon more frequently than is explicitly acknowledged. Constructivism occupies a methodological space characterized by ontological realism and epistemological relativism. Ontological realism is an important cornerstone of a field as applied as strategy, while epistemological relativism helps us explore the constructed nature of the field, where the researcher is an active participant rather than a reactor or information processor. In this paper, we demonstrate the precedents and possibilities for constructivist research in strategic management. We examine some of the existent constructivist works in the strategy literature, and point to specific techniques, including historical analysis, to demonstrate how this perspective may advance the boundaries of strategy research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As international relations are directly related to societies and social/sociopsychological dynamics, the main axes of the IR theorising refer to social sciences to the point of making the IR studies a branch of them. However, they also differ fundamentally from them since they constitute a purely intersubjective field, including their "actors". Social sciences, while also operating in intersubjectivity, have their independently present and accessible actors, therefore a certain anchor in the objectivity. Social sciences theorise and build explicative narratives of genetic nature for phenomena and events, which are independently assessable on that ontological ground. The IR theorising, by importing social sciences' theoretical grounds and genetic approaches into their purely intersubjective sphere without being validly able to produce a similar anchor, bring serious ontological and temporal complications into their study of IR phenomena and events. These complications are amplified by a particular branch of the IR theorising, the constructivism, as it also theorises-thereforenarrates the IR intersubjectivity itself on social sciences' grounds and through their genetic approach, which are exogenous to IR. On the other hand, the IR phenomena and events may be studied in their pre-theoretical, immediate, postgenetic, intersubjective appearance/givenness on their own ontological and temporal grounds. Phenomenology, with contributions from the phenomenological ontology, already provides such an attempt with fundamental notions and tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructivism's founding assumptions are being questioned by its proponents and opponents in a quest for alternatives to, or refined forms of, that theoretical approach. This paper suggests that such questioning may indicate that science and technology studies (S&TS) is ready to reconsider another approach based on Heideggerian phenomenology. Some innovators and innovation scholars appear ready to move on to this alternative approach to knowledge. They seem to have opened to the Heideggerian alternative by confronting the practical inadequacies of orthodox science and engineering. This paper suggests that S&TS is facing a similar confrontation with the inadequacies of constructivism's founding assumptions. The alternative approach explored involves a partnership with 'Being' that decentres the subject, but without resorting to heterogeneous agency or to realism. This partnership is based on understanding the implications of the interplay between 'Being' granting and withholding knowledge. This paper suggests that S&TS may now be ready to look at this interplay as an alternative to people constructing knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper defines 'grammatical competence,' 'sociolinguistic competence,' 'discourse competence,' and 'strategic competence.' The various stages of 'communicative competence' and 'strategic competence' are explained based on psychological teaching-learning theories such as 'Behaviourism,' 'Cognitivism,' 'Constructivism,' and 'Social Constructivism.' It points out that 'strategic competence' is based on one's basic 'communicative competence.' It explains the 'strategic competences' that are embedded in Polonius's advice to Laertes and Ophelia in Hamlet. It does not fail to point out human efforts to master 'strategic competence' from the time of antiquity without mastering 'communicative competence,' that is needed to accomplish it. In this context, the paper insists on the point that reading of Shakespearean plays will play a pivotal role in transforming the 'communicative competence' of the students into 'strategic competence.'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Natures Sciences Sociétés is the property of EDP Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ihde has developed what he calls a postphenomenology and a material hermeneutics of human-technology relations (in particular, he distinguishes between embodiment, hermeneutic, alterity and background relations), as well as a concomitant cultural hermeneutics that maps technologies' cultural embeddedness. As such he argues against an overly theoreticist approach to our predicament that he observes in both Ihde and Stiegler, irrespective of their empirical (Ihde) or transcendental (Stiegler) stance, and suggests a profoundly experiential approach, i.e., a philosophizing I from i experience rather than I about i it. Together with a select group of other philosophy of technology scholars, they set out to reflect upon points of convergence and divergence between their respective frameworks - postphenomenology in the case of Ihde and what may be called "techno-phenomenology" and "general organology" in the case of Stiegler - as well as on the near-future form that philosophy of technology should take, in a world struggling with multiple global crises - the planetary ecological crisis being the gravest and most challenging one. As Ihde declares at the end of his 2010 book I Heidegger's Technologies i : 'Philosophies of technology need to renew themselves constantly, just as the technologies themselves change' (Ihde [10], 139). [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Bajo Palabra: Journal of Philosophy is the property of Bajo Palabra: Journal of Philosophy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper addresses the notion of communicative action on the basis of Alfred Schutz' writings. In Schutz' work, communication is of particular significance and its importance is often neglected by phenomenologists. Communication plays a crucial role in his first major work, the Der sinnhafte Aufbau der sozialen Welt from 1932, yet communication is also a major feature in his unfinished works which were later completed posthumously by Thomas Luckmann: The Structures of the Life World (, ). In these texts, Schutz sometimes refers to 'communicative action,' and he comes to ascribe a crucial role to communication within the domain of the life world he calls everyday life. Based on Schutz' texts, I shall first attempt to critically reconstruct the defining features of his notion of communication and communicative action. As a result, it emerges that Schutz' notion of communication, particularly in its early incarnation, seems to be, at first glance, characterized by a dichotomy between virtual communication, that is communicative action in a narrow sense, and non-virtual communication. As I want to show with respect to the seemingly established dichotomous distinction between 'mediated' and 'immediate social action,' Schutz himself started to overcome this dichotomy. Based on this thesis, I will try to sketch a basic outline of a theory of communicative action, a theory less formulated by Schutz' than built on Schutz' writings. As the idea of communicative action, and particularly the transgression of the distinction between mediated and immediate action, affects the very structures of the life-world described by Schutz and Luckmann, I will ultimately demonstrate that any mundane phenomenology of the life-world requires a triangulatory method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista FAMECOS - Mídia, Cultura e Tecnologia is the property of EDIPUCRS - Editora Universitaria da PUCRS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Call an argument a 'happy sorites' if it is a sorites argument with true premises and a false conclusion. It is a striking fact that although most philosophers working on the sorites paradox find it at prima facie highly compelling that the premises of the sorites paradox are true and its conclusion false, few (if any) of the standard theories on the issue ultimately allow for happy sorites arguments. There is one philosophical view, however, that appears to allow for at least some happy sorites arguments: strict finitism in the philosophy of mathematics. My aim in this paper is to explore to what extent this appearance is accurate. As we shall see, this question is far from trivial. In particular, I will discuss two arguments that threaten to show that strict finitism cannot consistently accept happy sorites arguments, but I will argue that (given reasonable assumptions on strict finitistic logic) these arguments can ultimately be avoided, and the view can indeed allow for happy sorites arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to encourage an ethos of care in the study of science and technology. It starts with a reading of Bruno Latour’s notion of ‘matters of concern’ as favouring an awareness of the ethico-political effects of constructivist accounts in STS. Introducing attention to concern brings us closer to a notion of care. However, there is a ‘critical’ edge to care that Latour’s politics of things tends to disregard. Drawing upon feminist knowledge politics, I propose to treat matters of fact and sociotechnical assemblages as ‘matters of care’ and argue that engaging with care requires a speculative commitment to neglected things. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, various methodological issues surrounding the sociological study of sport are explored. Through an imagined dialogue between two graduate students at a hockey game, this work brings together three divergent approaches to social enquiry: Positivist Grounded Theory, Constructivist Grounded Theory, and Actor-Network Theory. This paper challenges conventional writing on method in two ways: (a) assembling three divergent approaches within a single work, and (b) employing a scripted narrative as a means of exploring methodological issues. Through this innovative approach, many of the overlaps and tensions between these theories/methods are captured. In so doing, numerous methodological questions about the sociological study of sport, as well social science research more generally are raised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soft systems methodology is very important in systems research. It closely joints with and interacts with philosophy of science. The paper first analyses the philosophical basis of soft systems methodology (SSM) and the change of the philosophical paradigms underpinning the change from classical systems engineering to SSM. It then explores how SSM, as applied hermeneutics and constructivism, partially influences the development of philosophy of natural science and philosophy of social science. It finally arrives at the conclusion that the relationship between hard systems methodology (HSM) and SSM is inter-exclusive and inter-complementary in different aspects at the same abstract level rather than the relationship between the universal and the particular at different language levels. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of an on-going doctoral study, a constructivist approach to grounded theory is being used to develop an integrated model of knowledge management (KM) for the leading Irish construction organisations. Using multiple data collection methods; employees in a number of these organisations have participated, from recent graduates through to senior managers. While the need to effectively manage knowledge within large construction organisations is well recognised, a gap exists between the theory of KM and its implementation in practice. This paper considers the research in terms of its philosophical position, the use of grounded theory and the research methods utilised, from theoretical and practical perspectives. Progress in the study thus far is presented and future directions considered in achieving theoretical saturation and a well developed model. It is anticipated that the study will contribute to the field of construction management where further empirical research into KM is required. Much previous research in the area of KM in construction has focussed solely on technological, cultural or strategic issues in the development of KM models. The developed integrated model will form the basis of education and guidance resources on KM for the leading Irish construction organisations. As a traditional and pragmatic industry, the rationale for using grounded theory is provided from the viewpoint that it requires researchers to focus upon developing theory which produces explanations that are recognisable to the subjects of the research. In order to ensure the credibility of the developed model, it will be evaluated by industry as part of a pilot KM education programme, with further refinement if necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bayesian epistemology postulates a probabilistic analysis of many sorts of ordinary and scientific reasoning. Huber ([2005]) has provided a novel criticism of Bayesianism, whose core argument involves a challenging issue: confirmation by uncertain evidence. In this paper, we argue that under a properly defined Bayesian account of confirmation by uncertain evidence, Huber's criticism fails. By contrast, our discussion will highlight what we take as some new and appealing features of Bayesian confirmation theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Philosophers commonly wonder what a constructivist theory as applied to practical reasons might look like. For the methods or procedures of reasoning familiar from moral constructivism do not clearly apply generally, to all practical reasons. The paper argues that procedural specification is not necessary, so long as our aims are not first-order but explanatory. We can seek to explain how there could be facts of the matter about reasons for action without saying what reasons we have. Explanatory constructivism must assume constructive “norms of practical reasoning” which yield particular truths without assuming them. But philosophers often mistakenly assume that only “formal” norms of reasoning could fulfill this role. The paper describes a further possibility: norms of reasoning can be “situation-specific” and yet retain truth-independent authority. Though we might doubt whether such norms can be independently defended, we should not doubt the possibility or coherence of constructivism about practical reasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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As society moves to a post-industrial posture, technology rescales human activities into new contexts. A changed context makes meaning different. In that new setting, complexity appears because problems arise scaled outside prevailing disciplines. Without the conventions of established disciplines definitions are lost, and that causes complexity to arise in the equivocation that follows. Rosen suggests that complexity cannot be modelled, precisely because of uncertainty and contradiction, which can be defined away, but only at the loss of complexity. Paradigms work to facilitate modelling with narratives told to make complexity simple enough to model. Complexity disappears into mere complicatedness upon deciding what is significant as opposed to incidental, structural as opposed to dynamical, discontinuous versus continuous and rate-independent rather than rate-dependent. With those decisions in hand, one can create and test models to improve the meaning of narratives. Meaning is found in the plan embodied in the Aristotelian formal cause (e.g. DNA) and in the significance of whole structure in the final cause. Aristotle's material cause, the existence of the substance of the whole, is constructed by the interaction of the plan of the formal cause with the Aristotelian efficient cause of the driving gradient (e.g. food, energy). The narrative of the biological or social system moves forward each time an updated material cause forces change on the meaning of the final cause. Narratives can address complexity because they are not about objective reality, but are statements of what is significant. Narratives facilitate commensurate experience as humans construct a post-industrial society, invoking post-normal science and post-modern postures. Transdisciplines face complexity until they self-consciously develop a new story of their own. The complexity arising from technological rescaling and redefinition of our world can be addressed with sophisticated use of narrative, a central device in systems science. This paper presents a protocol for employing narrative with precision. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructivism has been a key referent for research into the learning of science for several decades. There is little doubt that the research into learners’ ideas in science stimulated by the constructivist movement has been voluminous, and a great deal is now known about the way various science topics may commonly be understood by learners of various ages. Despite this significant research effort, there have been serious criticisms of this area of work: in terms of its philosophical underpinning, the validity of its most popular constructs, the limited scope of its focus, and its practical value to science teaching. This paper frames this area of work as a Lakatosian Research Programme (RP), and explores the major criticisms of constructivism from that perspective. It is argued that much of the criticism may be considered as part of the legitimate academic debate expected within any active RP, i.e. arguments about the auxiliary theory making up the ‘protective belt’ of the programme. It is suggested that a shifting focus from constructivism to ‘contingency in learning’ will allow the RP to draw upon a more diverse range of perspectives, each consistent with the existing hard core of the programme, which will provide potentially fruitful directions for future work and ensure the continuity of a progressive RP into learning science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores models of reflexive feminist science studies through the work of Donna Haraway. The paper argues that Haraway provides an important account of science studies that is both feminist and constructivist. However, her concepts of “situated knowledges” and “diffraction” need further development to be adequate models of feminist science studies. To develop this constructivist and feminist project requires a collective research program that engages with feminist reflexivity as a practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructivism is the idea that we construct our own world rather than it being determined by an outside reality. Its most consistent form, Radical Constructivism (RC), claims that we cannot transcend our experiences. Thus it doesn't make sense to say that our constructions gradually approach the structure of an external reality. The mind is necessarily an epistemological solipsist, in contrast to being an ontological solipsist who maintains that this is all there is, namely a single mind within which the only world exists. RC recognizes the impossibility of the claim that the world does not exist. Yet, RC has the potential to go much further. I claim that RC provides the foundation of a new world-view in which we can overcome hard scientific problems. Thus, the paper is urging us to carry RC further, not just on philosophical grounds, but also into the domain of science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]