This thesis is a broad survey of the uses of ambiguity in academic discourse. I note the uses of ambiguity in literary criticism, linking ambiguity with epistemic relativism. Then I pose the question, is the notion of "reframing" in psychotherapy analogous to the concept of "spin" in propaganda, advertising and public relations? In a consideration of theories that posit the social construction of reality, I examine articles by Judith Butler and Ian Hacking, noting the ambiguous reception of performativity and nominalism, respectively, within academia. In 1996 a physicist named Alan Sokal published an article which argued that reality is a social and linguistic construct. Sokal later revealed that his article was actually an elaborate spoof of postmodernist and social constructionist writing. According to Sokal, such relativistic discourse erodes the distinction between fact and fiction. I look at the implications of Sokal's hoax for the social sciences and humanities.

My research for this thesis focusses on the concepts of representation and space in order to demonstrate their theoretical and practical co-implications. Discussing various theorists of space in the first part and analyzing a number of artists and artworks as case studies in the second part, I elaborate a critique of the representational imaginary in order to articulate an alternative notion of representation by means of which a relational, qualitative and performative spatiality can emerge. I specifically focus on technospaces, which I consider a privileged field for observing the intersections of representation and spatiality; it is a field in which the use of spatial metaphors abounds, very often relying on a series of dichotomies (such as location and mobility, the real and the virtual) that have employed and, in most cases, reinforced the traditional idiom of representational. Drawing on the lessons of feminist theory, particularly on approaches to the politics of location, from Adrienne Rich‘s initial formulation to the situated knowledge theorized by Donna Haraway, I elaborate a situated aesthetics of technospaces in which the observer‘s engagement with representational practices replaces the view from a distance of traditional representation, so that her/his position is accounted for together with the history of the production of space and its multiple representations. For this reason, I also formulate an articulatory turn in representation based on Haraway‘s semiotics in order to propose a non-reflexive notion of representation in which invention and factuality eventually meet.

The three papers which make up this dissertation form part of a larger project, which aims to solve the `access problem' for realism about mathematics by providing a clear and plausible example of what a satisfying explanation of human accuracy about objective mathematical facts could look like. They fit into this project as follows. / Philosophy

Tawātur is the concept that if we obtain the same information through a sufficient number of independent channels, we reach certainty about that data. When applied to the transmission of Qur'ān and hadith texts, tawātur can serve as a means by which to assert the truth of a source-text, which in turn has implications for correctness of the religious belief or practice that is conveyed by the text, and hence the orthodoxy of one accepting or rejecting it. / Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

Η παρούσα εργασία πραγματεύεται ορισμένες όψεις της αντιπαράθεσης αναφορικά με τη γενεσιουργό αιτία της εμφάνισης και διαμόρφωσης της ζωής στην γη. Η αντιπαράθεση διαρθρώνεται, εκ πρώτης όψεως, στον άξονα του διλημματικού δίπολου Εξέλιξη ή Δημιουργία. Ως κύριες ερμηνευτικές προσεγγίσεις, εξετάζονται κατά σειρά ο δημιουργισμός, η εξελικτική θεωρία και η θεωρία του ευφυούς σχεδιασμού. Συγκεκριμένα, επιχειρείται να οριοθετηθεί το επιστημολογικό και εν γένει φιλοσοφικό πλαίσιο των εν λόγω θεωριών και να επισημανθούν οι κύριοι άξονες της σχετικής επιχειρηματολογίας. / This paper discusses some aspects of the debate regarding the root cause of the emergence and formation of life on earth. The debate is structured, prima facie, on the dipole between Evolution and Creation. The main interpretative approaches are examined: creationism, evolutionary theory and the theory of intelligent design. Specifically, the aim is to define the epistemological and generally philosophical context of these theories and to identify the main points of the relevant argumentation.

Networks of communication evolve in terms of reflexive exchanges. The codification of these reflections in language, that is, at the social level, can be considered as the operating system of society. Under sociologically specifiable conditions, the discursive reconstructions can be expected to make the systems under reflection increasingly knowledge-intensive. This sociological theory of communication is founded in a tradition that includes Giddens' (1979) structuration theory, Habermas' (1981) theory of communicative action, and Luhmann's (1984) proposal to consider social systems as self-organizing. The study also elaborates on Shannon's (1948) mathematical theory of communication for the formalization and operationalization of the non-linear dynamics. The development of scientific communications can be studied using citation analysis. The exchange media at the interfaces of knowledge production provide us with the evolutionary model of a Triple Helix of university-industry-government relations. The construction of the European Information Society can then be analyzed in terms of interacting networks of communication. The issues of sustainable development and the expectation of social change are discussed in relation to the possibility of a general theory of communication.

This dissertation explores the role of ignorance in the process of early modern self-fashioning. Renaissance historiography has, by and large, been based on a Cartesian-cum-Hegelian understanding of the subject as a subject of knowledge. An individual's recognition of her self-motivated agency, her power to act as an independent self, has been read as the product of the generation of knowledge and epistemologies that assert human ability to pursue and master knowledge. Critical theories of subjectivity have challenged the humanist subject and its epistemological foundations, but ignorance and the unknown have rarely been theorized as anything more than empty spaces to be invaded and filled by knowledge. Building on recent philosophical and cultural materialist investigations into knowledge, ignorance, and the subject, my work studies how ignorance can operate as a positive force in the production of the self and how, paradoxically, knowledge can erode the epistemological foundations of subjectivity. Primarily focused on the literature of early modern Europe, this dissertation advances the study of early modern subjectivity as well as the relationship between epistemology and the self as perceived in contemporary theory by tracing the hitherto ignored operations of ignorance and complicating the assumption of a teleological connection between knowledge and subjectivity. In particular, the major areas of study are: how hegemonic discourses produce not only knowledge but also ignorance in order to stabilize the existence and authority of social hierarchies and empowered subject; how the creation and pursuit of knowledge outside of these demarcations can erode the foundations of social identity and individual subjectivity by revealing the fiction of cultural "truths"; how cultural spaces of ignorance can provide disempowered individuals opportunities for resistance and self-fashioning against socially prescribed norms; and how submission to or acknowledgment of one's own ignorance can become internalized as an essential part of a subjectivity that does not rely on knowledge as a form of power.

The strong hold of the research paper on the English curriculum over the past fifty years has created instructional and learning challenges that call for innovative solutions. Although concerned educators have developed creative variations to spark student interest and promote critical thinking, research has revealed little change in curriculum design or student performance on the research paper, even with advanced ability students (Ford, 1995; Moulton & Holmes, 2003). The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how students’ perceptions of the knowledge task presented by a literary analysis research paper related to research and composing strategies for five twelfth-grade advanced students. Social constructivism (Creswell, 2003; Vygotsky, 1934/1986) and phenomenology (Schutz, 1967; Seidman, 1998) served as theoretical frameworks for the study. Three questions guided the research: 1) How might students’ epistemological views be described as they initiate the research paper process? 2) How do students’ epistemological views relate to the choices they make during the research and composing processes? 3) How do students’ epistemological views relate to the final research product? Data collection and analysis occurred over an eight-month period. Data sources included an epistemological questionnaire (Schommer, 1989), four in-depth phenomenological interviews (Seidman, 1998) conducted with each student at drafting stages, member checking, discourse analysis of free responses and essay drafts, and a researcher’s log. Constant comparative in-case and cross-case analysis (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Miles & Huberman, 1994) were used to analyze data. Holistic and four-dimension rubric scoring (content, organization, style, conventions) was used to analyze and evaluate the final essays. Trustworthiness was established through methods that ensured credibility, confirmability, dependability, and transferability (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). While participants expressed strong beliefs in complex knowledge and demonstrated high levels of reflective thinking, they differed in their views towards certain knowledge, which resulted in variations in composing strategies and essay quality. Significant relationships were indicated between knowledge views and concept formation, knowledge views and composing strategies, problem solving and the research experience, and reflective thinking and academic challenge. Prior knowledge, motivation, and gender also contributed to different outcomes. Results suggested important directions for research paper design and instruction in the language arts curriculum.

Scientific communities have established social mechanisms for proposing explanations, questioning evidence, and validating claims. Opportunities like these are often not a given in science classrooms (Vellom, Anderson, & Palincsar, 1993) even though the National Science Education Standards (NSES, 1996) state that a scientifically literate person should be able to “engage intelligently in public discourse and debate about important issues in science and technology” (National Research Council [NRC], 1996). Research further documents that students’ science conceptions undergo little modification with the traditional teaching experienced in many high school science classrooms (Duit, 2003, Dykstra, 2005). This case study is an examination of the discourse that occurred as four high school physics students collaborated on solutions to three physics lab problems during which the students made predictions and experimentally generated data to support their predictions. The discourse patterns were initially examined for instances of concept negotiations. Selected instances were further examined using Toulmin’s (2003) pattern for characterizing argumentation in order to understand the students’ scientific reasoning strategies and to document the role of collaboration in facilitating conceptual modifications and changes. Audio recordings of the students’ conversations during the labs, written problems turned in to the teacher, interviews of the students, and observations and field notes taken during student collaboration were used to document and describe the students’ challenges and successes encountered during their collaborative work. The findings of the study indicate that collaboration engaged the students and generated two types of productive science discourse: concept negotiations and procedure negotiations. Further analysis of the conceptual and procedure negotiations revealed that the students viewed science as sensible and plausible but not as a tool they could employ to answer their questions. The students’ conceptual growth was inhibited by their allegiance to the authority of the science laws as learned in their school classroom. Thus, collaboration did not insure conceptual change. Describing student discourse in situ contributes to science education research about teaching practices that facilitate conceptual understandings in the science classroom.

<p> This study, guided by a Chicana feminist epistemology and Latina/o Critical Theory narrates and contemplates the experiences of people who have decided to take part in collective struggle. It explores the ways 10 Mexican-origin activists and organizers (5 women and 5 men, ages 19 to 60) from Santa Ana, California conceptualize identity, community, space, and grassroots. Within the findings, "alternative educational spaces" is introduced as a concept based in the participants' experiences in spaces that contributed to self-worth and built a sense of collective responsibility that countered institutionalized racism and classism in schools and within city policies. This study highlights the heterogeneity of Mexican-origin peoples and investigates the ways in which the participants' lived experiences as Santa Ana-based activists and organizers contribute to developing histories and community building. </p>