This thesis is concerned with the elucidation of the structure of three basic cognitive functions. Firstly, an organism must be able to make distinctions between different aspects of its environment if it is to respond selectively. This is classification. Secondly, it must be able to anticipate conditions in other parts of its environment. If an organism at x is to anticipate that the condition c holds at y then, at the very least, the information that c holds must be accessible from x. Hence anticipation depends on a flow of information. Thirdly, an organism must be able to recognize uniformities across different parts of the environment. This is individuation. We propose that each of these functions can be understood in terms of a primitive ability of `seeing' the world from a perspective. In contrast to the possession of a conceptual scheme, or mastery of a language of thought, a characteristic of an organism's ability to adopt perspectives is the additional ability to shift from one perspective to another. In the thesis we first propose a theory of classification. Its usefulness in categorizing different classificatory systems, like taxonomies, state systems and attribute-value structures, is demonstrated in the Appendix. We then study two approaches to characterizing the flow of information. One, due to Dretske (1981), is based on conditional probabilities. The other, due to Barwise and Perry (1983), is based on the Situation Theoretic idea of a constraint. Our theory of perspectives takes ideas from both accounts: from Situation Theory, the distinction between information supported and information carried by a situation, and from Dretske, the implicit relativity to an information channel. We give a rudimentary account of the individuation of objects as predictive regularities across situations. Properties of objects individuated in this way are characterized as shifts in perspective which preserve the predictive regularity. Finally, we consider a more concrete model of information flow (called a world system, Rosenschein (1989)) in which environmental conditions are understood in terms of possible state distributions over locations and times. We generalize his model and show how information channels offer a more sensitive account of information flow than the one induced by the global notion of possibility. Information channels are then used to construct perspectives within a world system.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T14:16:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elaine Pereira de Souza.pdf: 1993247 bytes, checksum: 7d424b3f37b7734f0d9e15185f63000a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-11-09 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Since the traditional division of the sciences leads to distortions and anachronisms, especially in the case of ancient documents, this work presents a reflection on the problems and challenges faced by the production of science in Brazil and the classification of the sciences, by focusing especially on the instance of the History of Science as interdisciplinary field of studies by nature and origin. The status of interdisciplinarity of History of Science is a consequence of its establishing its subject-matters in the intersection between the humanities and the sciences through historiographical and epistemological analyses. In this way, it represents a relevant study-case in the light of the current evaluation requirements used by the agencies for scientific policy and the endowment of science and technology. For this reason, it is here proposed a classification in and for the History of Science that takes into account the different meanings that science and the several sciences had in the course of history, grounded on the instance of the collection of documents of Center Simão Mathias of Studies in the History of Science (CESIMA) / Considerando que a divisão tradicional das ciências produz distorções e anacronismos, sobretudo, no que diz respeito a documentos antigos, este trabalho apresenta uma reflexão sobre problemas e desafios na produção da ciência no Brasil e a classificação das ciências, focando, mais precisamente, o caso da História da Ciência, como campo interdisciplinar por natureza e origem. O estatuto de interdisciplinaridade da História da Ciência decorre do fato de que ela estabelece seus objetos de pesquisa na intersecção das humanidades e das ciências, por meio de análises epistemológicas e historiográficas. Desse modo, representa um caso de estudo relevante em função dos atuais requerimentos de avaliação pelas agências de política científica e fomento à ciência e à tecnologia. Assim, propõe-se a construção de uma classificação para e em a História da Ciência, que leva em conta os diversos conceitos sobre ciência e as ciências ao longo da história, a partir do estudo de caso do acervo do Centro Simão Mathias de Estudos em História da Ciência (CESIMA)

In this paper we present C. S. Peirce's take on the difference between science and practice in order to identify the role practice plays in his view of the universe. This take is based on a number of notions about the general nature of signs, inquiries, inferences and arguments, which we discuss. We then survey Peirce's classification of science, show the factors it is based on and examine the mutual relations of the various fields of scientific study. This lets us finally posit practice in the realm of qualities and reactions and show the limits of scientific inquiry into certain matters. We illustrate our findings on a number of examples.

Submitted by Maria Dulce (mdulce@ndc.uff.br) on 2014-09-02T19:29:32Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao CI_Lafayete Alvares Jr-2007.pdf: 1520714 bytes, checksum: ddcf968b3762c8b73e21d32b55341fe8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Dulce (mdulce@ndc.uff.br) on 2014-09-02T19:30:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao CI_Lafayete Alvares Jr-2007.pdf: 1520714 bytes, checksum: ddcf968b3762c8b73e21d32b55341fe8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-09-02T19:30:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao CI_Lafayete Alvares Jr-2007.pdf: 1520714 bytes, checksum: ddcf968b3762c8b73e21d32b55341fe8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Universidade Federal Fluminense / Apresenta um estudo exploratório de algumas das dimensões do conceito de infra-estrutura de informação no cenário de gestão de Ciência e Tecnologia brasileira, buscando reconstituí-la como um artefato político de convergência dos atores de redes sóciotécnicas para categorias de sistemas de informação os quais a integram e cujo funcionamento social atravessa na construção de um mundo social, ou uma comunidade de prática, uma realidade que difere do mundo real. Demonstra seus limites e reconstrói o papel da organização do conhecimento na gestão e avaliação de Ciência e Tecnologia. Oferece uma metodologia exploratória com a qual extrai um discurso para a área de Ciência da Informação, representado pela comunidade de seus cientistas pela via da análise da produção científica de um dos eventos da área (ENANCIB) e pela via da Governança, através da análise da Tabela de Áreas do Conhecimento – TAC do CNPq. Confronta ambos os discursos extraídos na busca por uma identidade entre projetos de organização concluindo que há muitos questionamentos da organização mostrando que as intenções na representação, como dizem Le Moigne e Caraça, devem ser consideradas na elaboração dos sistemas de informação, influenciando o funcionamento das infra-estruturas de informação. Apresenta as classificações e padrões como dispositivos reguladores das relações e funcionamentos sociais nos ambientes em que intervêm e que organizam, conformando naturalização, transparência e convergência como possibilidades de formatação de tais ambientes. Discute o papel de modelador de tais dispositivos demonstrando por um lado sua limitação na avaliação do funcionamento completo das infra-estruturas, e por outro lado o seu potencial em nela intervir através da inscrição que realiza influenciando os sistemas que cria. / This dissertation presents an exploratory study of some dimensions of the concept of infrastructure in the Brazilian Science and Technology management scenario. It seeks to rebuild this concept as a political artifact of convergence of sociotechnical network actors to categories of information systems. These systems integrate the information infrastructure and go across their own social functionality in the process of constructing a social world, a community of practice, a reality which is different from the real world. This dissertation demonstrates the limits of the infrastructure and rebuilds the role of knowledge organization in the Science and Technology management and offers an exploratory methodology which extracts a discourse for the Science Information area, which is represented by the scientists community through the analysis of the scientific production analysis at one of the most important scientific events of Information Science (ENANCIB) and by the Governance through the analysis of the Tabela de Áreas do Conhecimento (TAC) from CNPq. The dissertation confronts both discourses extracted in the search of an identity between organization projects concluding that there is a lot of questioning about organization showing that intention in the representation, as said by Le Moigne and Caraça, should be considered in the elaboration of information systems, influencing the functionality of the information infrastructure. The dissertation presents classification and standards as regulatory dispositives of the social relations and functionality in the environment where the intervene and organize conforming and modeling naturalization, transparency and convergence as possibilities of formatting these environments. The dissertation discusses the role of dispositive modelators showing on the one hand their limitation in the evaluation of the whole functionality of the infrastructures and on the other hand all their potential of intervenience through the inscribing which they actually perform and their influence in the systems they grow.