O debate atual sobre a racionalidade científica tem envolvido uma tomada de posição quanto ao relativismo epistemológico. Um dos focos do debate consiste na superação do relativismo presente em pronunciamentos de Thomas Kuhn sobre a escolha científica. Procurando libertar-se de um relativismo kuhniano nas justificações de escolhas científicas, Hilary Putnam e Larry Laudan apresentam estratégias bastante distintas. Putnam vê incoerências autodestrutivas em tal relativismo, especialmente por duas razões: sua formulação seria auto-refutante e, quanto aos atributos cognitivos, essa posição não permitiria distinguir o homem de qualquer outro ser. Laudan procurou desmistificar os efeitos que a incomensurabilidade kuhniana teria causado para uma visão de racionalidade dirigida por regras metodológicas e, além disso, buscou mostrar a falta de poder explicativo do relativismo decorrente dela. O presente trabalho investiga se ainda há razão para considerar que o relativismo gerado pela incomensurabilidade kuhniana constitui uma ameaça à racionalidade científica. Apresentamos um modelo kuhniano de racionalidade, com base em uma análise dos textos de Kuhn sobre a escolha de paradigmas, que ressalta o papel da incomensurabilidade de problemas e padrões científicos. Procuramos mostrar que duas das principais acusações de incoerência, elaboradas por Putnam, não atingem tal modelo. Por fim, defendemos que esse modelo kuhniano de racionalidade apresenta várias restrições para o efetivo estabelecimento das críticas que Laudan lhe dirige. / The current debate on scientific rationality has involved taking sides regarding the question of epistemological relativism. The debate is focused, among other things, in overcoming the relativism present in Thomas Kuhns statements about scientific choice. Hilary Putnam and Larry Laudan, aiming at dispensing with a Kuhnian relativism in the justification of scientific choices, propose quite different strategies. Putnam sees self-destructive incoherencies in such relativism, mainly for two reasons: first, its formulation would be self-defeating and, second, this position wouldnt allow one to distinguish man from any other being as regards cognitive attributes. Laudan attempted to demystify the effects that Kuhnian incommensurability could cause to a vision of rationality governed by methodological rules, and, furthermore, attempted to show the lack of explanatory power of the relativism that follows from it. The present work inquires whether there is still reason to consider that the relativism originated by Kuhnian incommensurability constitutes a menace to scientific rationality. We present a Kuhnian model of rationality, based on an analysis of Kuhns texts on paradigm choice, which highlights the role of incommensurability as regards scientific problems and standards. We aim to show that two of the main charges of incoherence, formulated by Putnam, arent able to affect the model. Lastly, we maintain that this Kuhnian model of rationality poses various constraints on the actual establishment of the criticisms directed against it by Laudan.

Human induced climate change poses a series of ethical challenges to the current political economy, although it has often be regarded by economists as only an ethical issue for those concerned about future generations. The central debate in economics has then concerned the rate at which future costs and benefits should be discounted. Indeed the full range of ethical aspects of climate change are rarely even discussed. Despite recent high profile and lengthy academic papers on the topic the ethical remains at best superficial within climate change economics. Recognising the necessary role of ethical judgment poses a problem for economists who conduct exercises in cost-benefit analysis and deductive climate modelling under the presumption of an objectivity that excludes values. Priority is frequently given to orthodox economic methodology, but that this entails a consequentialist utilitarian philosophy is forgotten while the terms of the debate and understanding is simultaneously restricted. We set out to raise the relevance of a broader range of ethical issues including: intergenerational ethics as the basis for the discount rate, interregional distribution of harm, equity and justice issues concerning the allocation of carbon budgets, incommensurability in the context of compensation, and the relationship of climate ethics to economic growth. We argue that the pervasiveness of strong uncertainty in climate science, incommensurability of values and nonutilitarian ethics are inherent features of the climate policy debate. That mainstream economics is ill-equipped to address these issues relegates it to the category of misplaced concreteness and its policy prescriptions are then highly misleading misrepresentations of what constitutes ethical action. (authors' abstract) / Series: SRE - Discussion Papers

The aim of this dissertation is to provide a critical understanding of a Rural Territorial Development (RTD) intervention in a context of conflict dynamics, by looking at the case of the Programme for Development and Peace in Middle Magdalena (PDPMM) - Colombia. To accomplish this task the research process discussed both theoretical and empirical inputs. Firstly, a theoretical framework was developed to understand the dynamics of the development-conflict nexus in rural territories. Secondly, supported by the examination of a case-study, systematic empirical information was collected, incorporating quantitative and qualitative evidence in order to explore the explicit conflict dynamics, namely the practical and theoretical incommensurability between opposite views of rural development taking place in the Middle Magdalena region. Such analysis was further elaborated in three steps: first, the research characterized the main visions of rural development that are being pursued in Middle Magdalena; second, a comparative analysis was carried out in order to identify incommensurabilities and contradictions among those views of development; and third, the study focused on the PDPMM in order to examine how its rural territorial development strategy influences the course of conflict dynamics. On the basis of this methodology, the study shows that rural territorial interventions should focus on building pragmatic articulations among opposite views of development to establish a common development proposal that overcomes conflict and poverty in rural territories.

John Finnis is one of the seminal contemporary jurisprudential thinkers working within the natural law tradition. His Natural Law and Natural Rights, first published in 1980, has had a significant impact and stands as a centerpiece of modern natural law theory. It is at once a work of ethics, political philosophy as well as jurisprudence. The starting point of his theory of natural law con­sists in concepts such as basic human goods, practical reasonableness and the common good. These concepts provide the foundation for his analysis of communities and society as well as the legal system. This thesis sets out to expound on his theory of natural law by exploring Finnis’ understanding of the basic human goods, practical reasonableness and the common good and the way they interact with his ideas of law and justice. Some of the more controversial or contentious aspects of his theory will also be addressed; such as the supposed self-evident nature of the basic goods and their incommensurable status. Some critics allege that his theory is lacking some of the defining characteristics of a natural law theory and that it thus fails as a theory of natural law, while others have claimed that his theory lends itself to the justification of an authoritarian society. Some of these criticisms carry more strength than others and I conclude by granting that Finnis’ theory contains some weaknesses. However, these should not weaken our appreciation of his vision of the good that law can do and the interrelatedness of law and morality.

Die Frage, wie Musiktheorien unterschiedlicher Provenienz und Charakteristik auf eine Weise miteinander verknüpft werden können, die ebenso aus fachwissenschaftlicher wie aus wissenschaftstheoretischer Perspektive akzeptabel erscheint, gewinnt für die zunehmend ausdifferenzierte Musiktheorie der Gegenwart mehr und mehr an Bedeutung. Der Beitrag geht dieser Frage nach, indem er erstens diverse Strategien des Umgangs mit theoretischer Diversität in der Analyse referiert und kritisiert, zweitens auf das Inkommensurabilitätsproblem verweist, das sich im Rahmen von Theorierezeption stellt, drittens fünf Thesen zur modifizierenden Theorierezeption diskutiert und viertens Metatheorie als Instrument eines unabschließbaren Prozesses der Selbstreflexion von Theorie konzeptualisiert. / The question of how theories of different origin and characteristics can be combined in a way that seems acceptable for music theorists as well as for philosophers of science is gaining more and more importance for the increasingly differentiated music theory of the present day. The article examines this question first by describing and criticizing various strategies of dealing with theoretical diversity in analysis; second, by referring to the incommensurability problem arising in the context of theory reception; third, by discussing five theses on modified theory reception; and finally, by conceptualizing metatheory as an interminable process of selfreflection of theory.

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Ce mémoire s'inscrit dans la constellation de questions regroupées sous l'étiquette de l'éthique de la croyance. Plus spécifiquement, il cherche à analyser la viabilité des jugements tout bien considéré portant sur les croyances lorsque des raisons de types distincts (raisons épistémiques et raisons pragmatiques) entrent en conflit. Cette analyse se fera à l'aune d'une recherche portant sur l'instrumentalisme de la croyance, la position avançant que les croyances sont instrumentales à nos intérêts et que, par conséquent, la normativité de la croyance se jauge en fonction de nos objectifs. L'instrumentalisme de la croyance est tombé sous le coup de plusieurs critiques dans les dernières années et se mémoire se donne comme mission d'en évaluer la portée. Si d'aventure l'instrumentalisme de la croyance devait être une position viable, il y a lieu de penser qu'il existe une commensurabilité possible entre raisons de différents types. / This thesis is part of a larger group of philosophical inquiries usually placed under the label of "Ethics of Belief". Specifically, my aim is to examine the possibility of all things considered judgments concerning beliefs for which there is a conflict between reasons of distinct kinds (epistemic reasons and pragmatic reasons). This inquiry will mostly concern epistemic instrumentalism, the position holding that one's beliefs are instrumental to one's own objectives and thus, that the rationality of beliefs must be an instrumental rationality. It appears that this position has been the aim of a few criticism in the recent years and my goal is to evaluate the strength of such criticism. If epistemic instrumentalism ends up being a viable thesis, we can expect that there may not be any incommensurability between reasons for belief of different kinds.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:56:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao_olga_corbo.pdf: 11888785 bytes, checksum: 9fd54776e71e1d194c1bd940375f91fc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-08-16 / We have conducted this study to contribute to education of future teachers, by proposing the use of golden section as a context to explore the notion of incommensurable magnitudes. We have based our study on the notion of jeux de cadres , introduced by Douady (1986) in Mathematics Didactic, and used the Didactic Engineering research methodology. Our research was developed on the following hypothesis: a teaching sequence about the golden section which favors an interaction among different knowledge domains can advance the comprehension and/or development of the notion of incommensurability of straight line segments . For this study, we have attempted to determine if the process of successive divisions based on Euclids algorithm helped foster the development of the notion of incommensurability of straight line segments in the future teachers. Furthermore, we verified whether they used the jeux de cadres to solve some problems presented in the sequence and how it contributed to develop the notion of golden rectangle and the notion of incommensurable straight line segments. Finally, we determined if they have established a relationship between the golden rectangle characteristics and the notion of incommensurability of straight line segments, by offering a proof of the incommensurability of the sides of the golden rectangle. The results seem to indicate some progress in relation to the answers provided in the pre-test, which allows us to conclude that the golden section can be a favorable context for the comprehension and/or development of the notion of incommensurable straight line segments. The examination of the students performance have also shown that the sequence can promote an interaction among different knowledge domains, allowing a connection between certain geometric constructions and irrational numbers. At the end, we discuss some limitations observed during the development of this study, whose analysis can serve as a starting point for new investigations on the same theme. / O presente estudo foi realizado com o objetivo de contribuir para a formação inicial de professores de Matemática, propondo a utilização da seção áurea como contexto para explorar a noção de incomensurabilidade de segmentos de reta. Tomando como referencial teórico a noção de jogos de quadros , introduzida por Douady (1986) na Didática da Matemática e usando a metodologia de pesquisa denominada Engenharia Didática, desenvolvemos nosso trabalho com base na hipótese de que uma seqüência de ensino sobre a seção áurea, cuja realização favoreça a articulação entre quadros distintos de conhecimentos, pode propiciar a compreensão e/ou desenvolvimento da noção de incomensurabilidade de segmentos de reta . Por este estudo, examinamos se o processo das divisões sucessivas baseado no algoritmo de Euclides propiciou aos sujeitos de nossa pesquisa o desenvolvimento da noção de incomensurabilidade de segmentos de reta. Analisamos, ainda se os participantes recorriam à mudança de quadros para a resolução de algumas das situações apresentadas na seqüência e de que forma essa estratégia contribuiu para introduzir a noção de retângulo áureo e a noção de incomensurabilidade de segmentos de reta. Finalmente, examinamos se estabeleciam uma relação entre as características do retângulo áureo e a noção de incomensurabilidade de segmentos de reta, por meio da elaboração de uma justificativa de que os lados do retângulo áureo são segmentos incomensuráveis entre si. Os resultados indicam que houve um avanço em relação às respostas apresentadas no pré-teste, permitindo-nos concluir que a seção áurea pode ser um contexto favorável à compreensão e/ou desenvolvimento da noção de segmentos incomensuráveis. O exame do desempenho dos estudantes revelou também que a seqüência desenvolvida pode favorecer a inter-relação entre quadros distintos de conhecimentos, possibilitando que seja estabelecido um elo de ligação entre determinadas construções geométricas e números irracionais. Nas considerações finais, são discutidas as limitações observadas durante a realização deste trabalho, cuja análise poderá servir como ponto de partida para novas investigações sobre o mesmo tema.

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