This essay examines the argument given by Richard Dawid (2013, 2019) for the viability of non-empirical assessment of scientific theories. Dawid's argument is supposed to show that trust in a scientific theory can be justified without any direct empirical testing of the theory. This view is fundamentally different from what will be called the classical paradigm of theory assessment. The classical paradigm holds that only empirical testing can justify belief in a theory. It is argued in this essay that Dawid's argument does not provide sufficient reasons for claiming that non-empirical assessment can be seen as a valid form of justification of scientific theories. However, it is further argued that non-empirical assessment still can play an important role when evaluating the status of a theory that cannot yet be tested empirically.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T17:27:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luiz Adelino de Almeida Prado.pdf: 454650 bytes, checksum: ce646b7db68e7b1c880ecdcda5bec04d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-06-06 / The purpose of the present Master s dissertation is to study the path followed by Peirce in the working up of his concept of belief, from the antecedents that determined it, up to the formulation of the pragmatist maxim. Along this study we shall consider, among other issues, the new role established for the doubt, which for Peirce is the opposite of belief, the importance of the scientific method of fixing belief and Peirce s critique of cartesianism. This critique will also be compared to Kant s critique of dogmatism and skepticism / O intuito desta dissertação de mestrado é o de estudar o itinerário seguido por Peirce na elaboração do seu conceito de crença, desde os antecedentes que o determinaram, até a influência deste conceito na formulação da primeira máxima do pragmatismo. Nessa trajetória examinaremos, entre outros pontos, o novo papel estabelecido para a dúvida, que para Peirce é o oposto da crença, a importância do método científico na fixação da crença e a crítica de Peirce ao cartesianismo. Será também traçado um paralelo entre essa crítica e a crítica de Kant ao dogmatismo e ceticismo

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T14:16:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Elisa Madureira Padula.pdf: 1198802 bytes, checksum: 456d525be066ee9c5644b227065f6315 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-06-10 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research addresses the historical development of the experimental physiology of Claude Bernard (1813-1878) by focusing on the continuities and discontinuities of his thought through the analysis of a manuscript entitled Philosophie, a compilation of reflections on a course on philosophy. It was possible to temporally and epistemologically distinguish two phases in this demarche. The first one corresponds to the years under the influence of François Magendie, thus comprising Bernard´s medical education and early research work. The second one begins by the time Bernard was recovering from a disease and whose first product was Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine, published in 1865. Analysis of Philosophie allowed identifying reflections significant to Bernard´s construction of the grounds of experimental science, leading to his founding concept, namely determinism. Similarly, it shows important differences between Bernard´s and Auguste Comte´s thought / Este trabalho mostra, no tempo histórico, o desenvolvimento da fisiologia experimental de Claude Bernard, abordando as continuidades e descontinuidades em sua obra, através da análise do manuscrito Philosophie, uma coletânea de reflexões do autor sobre um curso de filosofia. Foi possível localizar, temporal e epistemologicamente, o pensamento de Bernard em duas fases diferentes. A primeira corresponde a um período magendiano , abrangendo sua formação e seus primeiros trabalhos; a segunda, que se inicia por ocasião da convalescença de Bernard, e que se expressa através da publicação, em 1865, de Introdução ao Estudo da Medicina Experimental. A análise da obra Philosophie permitiu identificar reflexões importantes de Bernard sobre as bases ciência experimental, o determinismo e as diferenças entre seu pensamento e aquele de Auguste Comte

Essa pesquisa foi desenvolvida com o interesse de apreender as ideias sobre a natureza do conhecimento científico apresentadas por alunos dos cursos de licenciatura em ciências e matemática do Extremo Sul Catarinense e identificar elementos curriculares que possam ter contribuído para tal visão. Para isso foi realizado um levantamento em três cursos superiores da região: Licenciatura em Matemática, Licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas e Licenciatura em Física (em três instituições de ensino superior), com os acadêmicos ingressantes e concluintes, do 1º/8º semestres dos respectivos cursos. Foi aplicado um questionário composto por seis textos com seis visões/concepções de ciências. A aplicação com os ingressantes permitiu verificar se o curso escolhido estabeleceria alguma relação com a visão da natureza do conhecimento científico dos alunos. Os resultados obtidos junto aos concluintes permitiu verificar a existência de padrões ou visões predominantes entre alunos de um mesmo curso, assim como a existência de algum contraste em relação aos possíveis padrões ou visões predominantes dos concluintes em relação aos ingressantes Em resumo, pretendeu-se verificar se existiu alguma influência do percurso formativo na visão de ciência expressada pelos alunos em cada curso. Verificadas estas diferenças na visão de ciência entre ingressantes e concluintes de certo curso e também entre ingressantes ou concluintes de cursos diferentes, buscamos, por meio de uma avaliação dos projetos pedagógicos dos cursos, elementos curriculares que pudessem estar relacionados às concepções apresentadas. As entrevistas permitiram identificar, junto aos estudantes, a validade do questionário simplificado, como ferramenta capaz de identificar elementos importantes das visões de ciência apresentadas. Além disso, por meio da entrevista podemos reconhecer elementos curriculares dos cursos – capazes de influenciar a forma como estes estudantes percebem a ciência ao fim de sua formação – que não estejam explícitos nos projetos pedagógicos. / This research was developed with the interest to grasp the ideas about the nature of scientific knowledge presented by students of undergraduate courses in science and math of the Extreme South of Santa Catarina and identifying curricular elements that may have contributed to such a view. For this a survey was conducted in three top courses in the region: Degree in Mathematics, Degree in Biological Sciences and BSc in Physics (three institutions of higher education), with freshmen students and graduates, the 1/8th semesters of the respective courses. A questionnaire composed of six texts with six views/science concepts was applied. The same was not applied to the chemistry course, as the research scope region has no higher education in this area. The application freshmen allowed to verify if the chosen course would establish a relationship with the vision of the nature of scientific knowledge of students. The results obtained from the graduates has shown the existence of patterns or views prevalent among students in the same course, as well as the existence of a contrast to the possible standards or prevailing views of graduates in relation to freshmen. In short, the aim was to see if there was any influence of the training course in the science of view expressed by the students in each course Verified these differences in vision between science freshmen and right course of graduates and among freshmen or graduates of different courses, seek, through an evaluation of pedagogical projects of the courses, curriculum elements that could be related to the presented concepts. The interviews allow identify with the students, the validity of the simplified questionnaire as a tool capable of identifying important elements of science presented views. In addition, through the interview we can recognize elements of curricular courses - can influence how these students perceive science to the end of his training - which is not explicit in educational projects.

The aim of this study is to investigate the views of preservice science teachers on nature of science (NOS). A total of 166 preservice science teachers participated in the study. A 21-item &ldquo / Views on Science-Technology-Society (VOSTS)&rdquo / instrument, translated and adapted into Turkish, were utilized to assess participants&rsquo / views on the nature of science. The VOSTS (Aikenhead, Ryan and Fleming, 1989) is a pool of 114 empirically developed multiple-choice items with nine categories. In this study, 21 item selected from the epistemology of science category corresponded to the purposes of the assessment. In order to understand participants&rsquo / views on nature of science in depth, semi-structured interviews were also conducted by 9 volunteer preservice science teachers. The results gave a picture of the preservice science teachers&rsquo / views on nature of science. Results of this study revealed preservice science teachers&rsquo / misconceptions on nature of science. Their views are mostly traditional on the nature of science. Results of the study indicated that preservice science teachers held traditional views (naive) regarding the definition of science / the nature of scientific models / the relationships between hypotheses, theories, and laws / fundamental assumptions for all science / the scientific method / uncertainty in scientific knowledge / epistemological status of scientific knowledge / coherence of concepts across disciplines. On the other hand participants have contemporary views (realistic) on the nature of observation / the nature of classification schemes / the tentativeness of scientific knowledge / cause and effect relationship. Analysis of interviews also supported these findings and gave a deep insight on preservice science teachers&rsquo / views on nature of science.

Essa pesquisa foi desenvolvida com o interesse de apreender as ideias sobre a natureza do conhecimento científico apresentadas por alunos dos cursos de licenciatura em ciências e matemática do Extremo Sul Catarinense e identificar elementos curriculares que possam ter contribuído para tal visão. Para isso foi realizado um levantamento em três cursos superiores da região: Licenciatura em Matemática, Licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas e Licenciatura em Física (em três instituições de ensino superior), com os acadêmicos ingressantes e concluintes, do 1º/8º semestres dos respectivos cursos. Foi aplicado um questionário composto por seis textos com seis visões/concepções de ciências. A aplicação com os ingressantes permitiu verificar se o curso escolhido estabeleceria alguma relação com a visão da natureza do conhecimento científico dos alunos. Os resultados obtidos junto aos concluintes permitiu verificar a existência de padrões ou visões predominantes entre alunos de um mesmo curso, assim como a existência de algum contraste em relação aos possíveis padrões ou visões predominantes dos concluintes em relação aos ingressantes Em resumo, pretendeu-se verificar se existiu alguma influência do percurso formativo na visão de ciência expressada pelos alunos em cada curso. Verificadas estas diferenças na visão de ciência entre ingressantes e concluintes de certo curso e também entre ingressantes ou concluintes de cursos diferentes, buscamos, por meio de uma avaliação dos projetos pedagógicos dos cursos, elementos curriculares que pudessem estar relacionados às concepções apresentadas. As entrevistas permitiram identificar, junto aos estudantes, a validade do questionário simplificado, como ferramenta capaz de identificar elementos importantes das visões de ciência apresentadas. Além disso, por meio da entrevista podemos reconhecer elementos curriculares dos cursos – capazes de influenciar a forma como estes estudantes percebem a ciência ao fim de sua formação – que não estejam explícitos nos projetos pedagógicos. / This research was developed with the interest to grasp the ideas about the nature of scientific knowledge presented by students of undergraduate courses in science and math of the Extreme South of Santa Catarina and identifying curricular elements that may have contributed to such a view. For this a survey was conducted in three top courses in the region: Degree in Mathematics, Degree in Biological Sciences and BSc in Physics (three institutions of higher education), with freshmen students and graduates, the 1/8th semesters of the respective courses. A questionnaire composed of six texts with six views/science concepts was applied. The same was not applied to the chemistry course, as the research scope region has no higher education in this area. The application freshmen allowed to verify if the chosen course would establish a relationship with the vision of the nature of scientific knowledge of students. The results obtained from the graduates has shown the existence of patterns or views prevalent among students in the same course, as well as the existence of a contrast to the possible standards or prevailing views of graduates in relation to freshmen. In short, the aim was to see if there was any influence of the training course in the science of view expressed by the students in each course Verified these differences in vision between science freshmen and right course of graduates and among freshmen or graduates of different courses, seek, through an evaluation of pedagogical projects of the courses, curriculum elements that could be related to the presented concepts. The interviews allow identify with the students, the validity of the simplified questionnaire as a tool capable of identifying important elements of science presented views. In addition, through the interview we can recognize elements of curricular courses - can influence how these students perceive science to the end of his training - which is not explicit in educational projects.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-12-11Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:11:40Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 suartjunior_jb_me_bauru.pdf: 2869524 bytes, checksum: 77696936c78cb5e2681c106b11714d2a (MD5) / Os tópicos em Mecânica Quântica, ou Física/Química moderna apresentam complexa estrutura conceitual e filosófica. Há que se coordenar imagens contraditórias alpem de se admitir um caráter não determinístico, uma natureza enérgica descontínuo, elementos de probablidade além de postulados. O cenário educacional dos documentos oficiais tais tópicos reflete uma dicotonomia encontrada nas epistemologias das ciências Física e Química. Um olhar sobre a história do Método Científico ainda coloca a Mecânica Quântica como o cerne do fim de uma tradição determinista e o início do que Bachelard denominará de Novo Espírito Científico. Tal Espírito admite pressupostos metafisicos que são encontrados também nos trabalhos de Werner Heinsenberg. O presente trabalho busca então os elementos deste Novo Espírito entre outros elementos da epistemologia de Gaston Bechelard no ideário de licenciados de Física e Química. Como apoio para tal busca torna-se a fenomenologia como metodologia de análise de dados. Esta busca se dá num contexto especialmente construído para tal no que se denomina atividade pedagógica do não. O presente trabalho constata que tais categorias encontram-se no discurso de licenciandos, todavia, a dialética admitida por Bachelard não é encontrada. Frente a problemas epistêmicos, verifica-se ainda a contradição filosófica, em que a ontologia ora é admitida, ora negada, ocorrendo o mesmo com a epistemologia. O ideário ainda admite múltiplas concepções para um mesmo conceito e obstáculos epistemológicos, assim como conta uma matemática intrincada dentro do processo científico defendido por Bachelard, o que se verifica é uma matemática instrumental fazendo parte de um ferramental que se constitui assim a Mecânica Quântica / Quantum Mechanics topics, or Modern Physics / Chemistry topics presents complex philosophical and conceptual framework. It is necessary to coordinate conflictiong images in addition to admiting a non-deterministic character, a discontinuous energetic nature, elements of probability besides postulates. The educational setting of these official documents reflects an epistemological dechotomy that was found in the physics and chemistry sciences. A view of the history of Scientific Method still puts Quantun Mechanics as main reason of the deterministic tradition ending and as the same time the beginning of what is named bu Bachelard as New Scientific Spirit. This Spirit admits methaphysical assumptions that are also found in Werner Heisenberg's work looks for elements of quoted New Spirit among other elements of Gaston Bacherlard's epistemology concerning the ideals of non-graduated Physics and Chemistry students. As support for this research, phenomenology was taken as methodology of data analysis. This research happens into a context particularly made for what is called pedagogical activity of denial. This current work shows that the referred categories always make part of non-graduated students discourse, and the dialectic admitted by Bachelard doesn't. In front of epistemic issues, there is a philosophical contradiction, where the ontology is admitted and also danied, what exactly happens to epistemology. The mindset still accepts multiple conceptions for the same idea and epistemological obstacles, such as an intricate mathematics in the scientific process supported by Bachelard. As result it is possible to find out an instrumental math making part of tools of what Quantun mechanics is constituted

Essa pesquisa foi desenvolvida com o interesse de apreender as ideias sobre a natureza do conhecimento científico apresentadas por alunos dos cursos de licenciatura em ciências e matemática do Extremo Sul Catarinense e identificar elementos curriculares que possam ter contribuído para tal visão. Para isso foi realizado um levantamento em três cursos superiores da região: Licenciatura em Matemática, Licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas e Licenciatura em Física (em três instituições de ensino superior), com os acadêmicos ingressantes e concluintes, do 1º/8º semestres dos respectivos cursos. Foi aplicado um questionário composto por seis textos com seis visões/concepções de ciências. A aplicação com os ingressantes permitiu verificar se o curso escolhido estabeleceria alguma relação com a visão da natureza do conhecimento científico dos alunos. Os resultados obtidos junto aos concluintes permitiu verificar a existência de padrões ou visões predominantes entre alunos de um mesmo curso, assim como a existência de algum contraste em relação aos possíveis padrões ou visões predominantes dos concluintes em relação aos ingressantes Em resumo, pretendeu-se verificar se existiu alguma influência do percurso formativo na visão de ciência expressada pelos alunos em cada curso. Verificadas estas diferenças na visão de ciência entre ingressantes e concluintes de certo curso e também entre ingressantes ou concluintes de cursos diferentes, buscamos, por meio de uma avaliação dos projetos pedagógicos dos cursos, elementos curriculares que pudessem estar relacionados às concepções apresentadas. As entrevistas permitiram identificar, junto aos estudantes, a validade do questionário simplificado, como ferramenta capaz de identificar elementos importantes das visões de ciência apresentadas. Além disso, por meio da entrevista podemos reconhecer elementos curriculares dos cursos – capazes de influenciar a forma como estes estudantes percebem a ciência ao fim de sua formação – que não estejam explícitos nos projetos pedagógicos. / This research was developed with the interest to grasp the ideas about the nature of scientific knowledge presented by students of undergraduate courses in science and math of the Extreme South of Santa Catarina and identifying curricular elements that may have contributed to such a view. For this a survey was conducted in three top courses in the region: Degree in Mathematics, Degree in Biological Sciences and BSc in Physics (three institutions of higher education), with freshmen students and graduates, the 1/8th semesters of the respective courses. A questionnaire composed of six texts with six views/science concepts was applied. The same was not applied to the chemistry course, as the research scope region has no higher education in this area. The application freshmen allowed to verify if the chosen course would establish a relationship with the vision of the nature of scientific knowledge of students. The results obtained from the graduates has shown the existence of patterns or views prevalent among students in the same course, as well as the existence of a contrast to the possible standards or prevailing views of graduates in relation to freshmen. In short, the aim was to see if there was any influence of the training course in the science of view expressed by the students in each course Verified these differences in vision between science freshmen and right course of graduates and among freshmen or graduates of different courses, seek, through an evaluation of pedagogical projects of the courses, curriculum elements that could be related to the presented concepts. The interviews allow identify with the students, the validity of the simplified questionnaire as a tool capable of identifying important elements of science presented views. In addition, through the interview we can recognize elements of curricular courses - can influence how these students perceive science to the end of his training - which is not explicit in educational projects.

The main problem posed in this thesis is an epistemological one to do with what counts as knowledge in the organisation/management and management accounting areas of scholarship. This question arose regarding discrepancies between an original text, Burns and Stalker's The Management of Innovation (1961, 1966, 1994), and longstanding representations in the mainstream literature. The discrepancies were between the largely objectivist representations focussing on the relationship between organisation structure and environmental contingency, while omitting subjectivist factors and organisational processes, also significant in Burns and Stalker's analysis. The analysis in this thesis is concerned with two main questions: the similarities and differences between The Management of Innovation and mainstream representations; and explanations for these, particularly for the differences. The analytical framework is critical realist theory underpinned by an Hegelian dialectical methodology, looking at phenomena from different perspectives with inconsistencies addressed by a more holistic analysis. This thesis is based on a non-linear, multi-angled approach, which examines each of the two questions from different perspectives through two dialectical circles. A detailed analysis of Burns and Stalker's work and mainstream representations enabled clarity regarding the different foci in the two sets of texts. The absenting of human factors and organisational processes in much mainstream scholarship was found to extend beyond representations of Burns and Stalker's work to orthodox scholarship more widely, despite strong and persistent critiques from within the field. The dialectical opposition constructed between objectivist and subjectivist factors was investigated further and linked to attitudes regarding the commensurability of different approaches in the social sciences, particularly in the organisation/management and management accounting fields. It is suggested that this opposition is based on a particular view of science and scientific method. A broader interpretation however shows that science is also influenced by researchers' subjectivities. This has led to an argument for the complementary, more holistic approaches already present in the field becoming more widespread in the interests of more sustainable and emancipatory knowledge.

The dissertation is a biography of the industrialist and statesman Christian Lundeberg, a leading and stongly pronounced conservative actor in Swedish political life during the decades around1900, but nowadays almost forgotten. The purpose is to identify the main forces – convictions as well as external factors – behind his actions. He was very influential within  a range of important sectors, i.a. compulsory national service, repeated interventions to keep the iron ore of Norrland under Swedish ownership,  establishment of a regular conservative party and the decision on the vote to right (for men) in 1907. His most well-known action was as Swedish Prime Minister and head architect behind the peaceful dissolution in 1905 of the union with Norway. However for a long time biographies have not been regarded as ”real” scientific work within the concerned academic Swedish circles. For this reason the introductory chapter analyses these discussions  and  concludes that time now is ready for the genre to come in from the cold , enumerating six criteria regarded to be of paramount importance. These are being observed in the consecutive parts of the study. The following chapter studies the concept of paternalism as defined within Swedish professional circles, forming a background to the remaining parts of the dissertation. In their turn these present thorough reviews both of Lundeberg’s activities as a paternalistic foundry proprietor in the local family owned community of Forsbacka and of his contributions on the central political level. The final chapter summarizes the driving forces behind Lundeberg’s activities in stating that he was not an ultraconservative person, a priori opposing all progress.  Instead as the years passed he developed a clear readiness for compromise solutions. Three key concepts are said to be central to the understanding of his person: “Fatherland”, ”Responsibility” and “Duty”.  Throughout all his life he adhered to many of the paternalistic principles and values he learnt at an early age in Forsbacka. His present anonymity is explained  by the fact that he in a retrospective very often is considered as being defeated in a number of political convictions now regarded as important.