This thesis examines in four parts a collection of philosophical arguments dealing with war. The conclusions drawn are that war is a definable and applicable concept, that above the level of biological reactions war is the result of beliefs, that an objective distinction exists between aggressive and defensive actions, and that war is only justifiable in the protection of core rights. The first part analyses competing definitions of war. It is argued that the concept of war is philosophically appropriate and captures the conceptual common denominator between particular wars. The essence of war is defined as “a condition of open-ended violence”. Part Two explores the causal relationships between metaphysical and epistemological beliefs and war. It is held that war cannot be explained away as an unalterable fact of the universe, hence deterministic explanations fail in favour of the conclusion that wars are the product of ideas and ideas are volitionally obtained. The third part continues an exploration of determinist accounts of war and examines how various theories of human nature attempt to explain why war occurs. For methodological purposes human nature is trisected into biological, cultural, and rational aspects. Theories that attempt to interpret war using only a single aspect are inadequate, for each aspect must logically presuppose the existence and hence the influence of the others. It is concluded that human wars are the product of ideas, but ideas are distinguishable between tacit and explicit forms. Tacit forms of knowledge evolve through social interaction and sometimes have unintended consequences; war on the cultural level can be the product of human action but not of human design (Ferguson), hence attempts to abolish war by reason alone are bound to fail. Part Four assesses the application of ethical and political reasoning to war. It is argued firstly that morality, in the form of universalisable core rights and socially generated general rules of conduct, must not be removed from the sphere of war. Secondly it is concluded that the ideal just government exists to protect rights, from which it will follow that defensive wars and wars of intervention to protect rights are morally supportable.

O presente trabalho busca saber como os professores de Filosofia que atuam na região do ABC paulista, com alunos do Ensino Fundamental II e Ensino Médio, definem a Filosofia. Busca ainda identificar os métodos com os quais os docentes avaliam seus alunos, como a disciplina dialoga com outras áreas do currículo escolar, de que forma a mesma pode contribuir para o desenvolvimento dos discentes e qual o perfil deste grupo de profissionais. Para realizar essa tarefa foram utilizados questionários contendo questões objetivas e dissertativas. Tal instrumento foi compartilhado com os professores por meio da internet e o primeiro contato com os docentes se deu por e-mail ou carta. Identificou-se, por meio da pesquisa, que os professores definem a Filosofia como uma atividade que usa ou busca conhecimento, sem, no entanto, definir ou aprofundar o que seria conhecimento. Constatou-se também que, mesmo dando importância ao aprofundamento teórico da história da Filosofia, os docentes desejam prioritariamente que seus alunos adquiram o hábito de pensar filosoficamente. Isto é, procuram ensinar a filosofar. No que diz respeito aos materiais didáticos, os docentes demonstram insatisfação por conta da alegada aridez dos textos, e pela falta de dinamismo, fazendo com que recorram à internet em busca de recursos mais interessantes. Quanto à avaliação, os entrevistados afirmam usar procedimentos que, em nosso juízo, se configuram como formativos, ou seja, procedimentos que tentam captar processos, tais como seminários, rodas de conversa, debates etc. Como referenciais teóricos para esse trabalho foram usados Stephen E. Toulmin, com a teoria da argumentação, campos modais, garantias e apoios; Israel Scheffler, com o estudo sobre definições e sentenças; e Perelman e Tyteca no âmbito da retórica e do conceito de lugar comum. Com base no referencial e, especialmente, da leitura das respostas dissertativas, pode-se afirmar que os professores entrevistados fazem uma definição programática da filosofia, que atuam emitindo sentenças que enunciam normas e definem a Filosofia utilizando como recurso o que julgamos ser lugar comum. Por conta disso, a tese que se defende nesse trabalho é a de que os docentes de filosofia da região do ABC paulista, que atuam com o Ensino Fundamental II e com o Ensino Médio, definem e ensinam Filosofia como uma atividade que é processual e que, por isso mesmo, não pode ser avaliada em sua inteireza no espaço escolar. / This research intends to understand how the Philosophy teachers from the Great ABC, who work in elementary school (Ensino Fundamental II) and in high school (Ensino Médio), define Philosophy. It also intends to identify the methods by which teachers assess their students, how Philosophy dialogues with other areas of school curriculum, how this field of study can contribute to the development of the students, and to specify the profile of this group of professionals. In order to accomplish this task, this work employed questionnaires based on multiple choice tests and written assessments. Such research instruments were shared with the teachers through the Internet, moreover the first contact with the Faculty took place by e-mail or letter. Through this research, it was identified that teachers define the Philosophy as an activity that employs or seeks \"knowledge\", without, however, setting or deepen what would be knowledge. It was also noted that, despite giving importance to deepening the theoretical debate of the history of Philosophy, teachers want their students primarily to acquire the habit of thinking philosophically. That is, they intend to teach the act of philosophizing. With regard to teaching materials, teachers demonstrate dissatisfaction on the alleged aridity of the texts and on a lack of dynamism, which would make them look for more interesting resources on the Internet. Regarding the evaluation, interviewees claim to use procedures, which, in our judgment, can be considered more formative, i.e., approaches that try to capture processes, such as seminars, conversation, debates etc. Besides, this work used the following theoretical references: Stephen E. Toulmin\'s argumentation theory, modal fields, guarantees and support; Israel Scheffler\'s work on the study of definitions and sentences; and the Perelman and Tyteca\'s rhetoric and concept of commonplace. Backed up on philosophical studies and especially on the written assessments, it can be stated that the interviewed teachers employ a programmatic definition of Philosophy, since they issue sentences that explicit rules and define the Philosophy by using commonplace. Therefore, this work argues that the Philosophy teachers from the Great ABC, who work in elementary school (Ensino Fundamental II) and in high school (Ensino Médio), define and teach Philosophy as an activity or process, so it cannot be fully evaluated in school.

Esta pesquisa visa evidenciar as semelhanças existentes entre a proposta de Giambattista Vico sobre o começo das civilizações gentílicas e as argumentações rabínicas relativas ao episódio do Dilúvio Universal, narrado em Gênesis 6 e considerado um documento conservado pelas tradições orais e verbais judaicas. Buscamos os fundamentos da literatura grego-romana e judaica que levaram Vico a intuir um método para a verificação das ciências humanas. Tal método difere do método dedutivo, aclamado pelos intelectuais de sua época, pois o filósofo italiano acredita que a religião está presente na base do processo civilizatório e coloca a linguagem como o fenômeno que organiza o mundo. Levantamos - nos postulados viquianos e nas argumentações rabínicas relativas aos primeiros capítulos de Gênesis - as observações que apresentam as características intrínsecas que condicionam os homens a instituir os três princípios eternos (religião, casamentos e sepulturas), identificáveis na formação de todos os povos; situamos as três fases viquianas (divina, heróica e humana) nos textos judaicos e evidenciamos, na visão rabínica de mundo, os fundamentos usados como base para a formação do conceito viquiano sobre a graça; tal conceito é responsável pela divisão da humanidade entre hebreus e gentios e dá margem às conjecturas relativas à existência de gigantes no tempo do dilúvio / This research aims to evidence the existing similarities between the proposal of Giambattista Vico about the beginning of the heathen civilization and rabbinic arguments about the episode of the Flood, in Genesis 6, considered a document conserved for Jewish oral and verbal traditions. We searched for the beddings of literature Jewish and Greek-Roman that allowed Vico to intuit a method for the verification of human beings sciences. Such method differs from the deductive method, acclaimed for the intellectuals of its time: the Italian philosopher believes that the religion is present in the base of the civilization process and places the language as the phenomenon that organizes the world. We showed - in the vichian postulates and the rabbinic arguments about the first chapters of Genesis - the comments that focus the intrinsic characteristics which induce the men to institute the three perpetual principles (religion, marriages and sepultures), identifiable in the formation of the nations everywhere; we pointed the three vichian phases (divine, heroic and human being) in the Jewish texts and we evidence, in the rabbinic view of world, the beddings used as base for the elaboration of the vichian concept about the favour; such concept is responsible for the division of the humanity between heathen and Hebrews allowing conjectures about the existence of giants in the time of the Flood

Os documentos oficiais brasileiros enfatizam que a finalidade maior da Educação Básica é a formação integral do educando, com ênfase em: pleno desenvolvimento da pessoa, preparo para o exercício da cidadania e qualificação para o trabalho. Nesta dissertação, discutimos o significado da formação integral do educando do ponto de vista da literatura existente e dos documentos normativos oficiais da Educação Básica brasileira. Buscamos entender e identificar metodologias sobre como o ensino de Matemática pode contribuir para a formação do educando. Entendemos que o senso crítico é uma modalidade de pensamento a ser desenvolvida na escola por contribuir para a consecução daquelas finalidades. Nesse sentido, defendemos que atividades com argumentações precisam ser trabalhadas em sala de aula de Matemática, não apenas as que objetivam validar resultados puramente matemáticos, como também as que, utilizando ferramental matemático, validam afirmações em contextos extrínsecos a esta ciência. Por meio delas é que se manifesta o pensamento crítico. Com o objetivo de favorecer o desenvolvimento dessa modalidade de pensamento em sala de aula de 6º e 7º anos do Ensino Fundamental, desenvolvemos atividades didáticas envolvendo argumentações em e com Matemática. Para tanto, apoiamo-nos principalmente nas contribuições de Nicolas Balacheff, sobre processos de prova e situações de validação, e de Ole Skovsmose e seus trabalhos sobre Educação Matemática Crítica, particularmente sua defesa da importância da proposição de cenários para investigação no trabalho escolar. / The official Brazilian documents emphasize that the main purpose of Basic Education is the integral formation of the student, with emphasis on: full development of the person, preparation for the exercise of citizenship and qualification for work. In this dissertation, we discuss the meaning of the Integral Formation of the student from the point of view of the existing literature and of the official normative documents on Brazilian Basic Education. We seek to understand and identify how mathematical teaching methodologies may contribute to the education of the student. We understand that critical sense, as a thinking modality, should be developed in school to contribute to the accomplishment of those aims. We argue that activities with arguments need to be worked out in the Mathematics classroom. Not only those that validate purely mathematical results but also the ones that, using mathematical tools, validate statements extrinsic to this science. Critical thinking manifests through them. To favorize development of this kind of thinking in scholars of 6th and 7th grade, we applied didactic experiments involving arguments in and with Mathematics, based on contributions of Nicolas Balacheff and Ole Skovsmose. With respect to the first author, mainly on proof processes and validation situations and to the second, on his Critical Mathematical Education, specially about the importance of landscapes of investigations.

O presente trabalho apresenta um estudo empírico a partir de uma abordagem qualitativa de investigação que almejou caracterizar a produção de argumentos escritos de estudantes do ensino médio ao longo do processo de recontextualização do conceito de biodiversidade. A partir da teoria de Bernstein sobre o modelo do discurso pedagógico, a análise deste trabalho incide inicialmente no sentido de caracterizar o conceito de biodiversidade contido no \"que\" da mensagem sociológica dos documentos oficiais - Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (PCN) e na Proposta Curricular do Estado de São Paulo. A partir disso, caracterizou-se o \"que\" contido no discurso sobre biodiversidade de uma sequência didática investigativa (SDI) cujo objetivo era o ensino da biodiversidade. Essa sequência didática faz parte do campo de recontextualização pedagógico, em que os autores fazem adaptações em relação à mensagem sociológica veiculada nos documentos oficiais. Segue-se o estudo com a aplicação da SDI em uma escola da rede pública estadual, no ano de 2014, em Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo. Durante a aplicação o foco de análise foi os argumentos escritos produzidos pelos estudantes ao longo de um novo processo de recontextualização. A presença de regras de reconhecimento e realização caracteriza a produção de argumentos nesse processo. Os resultados obtidos evidenciaram que existe uma diminuição progressiva da qualidade conceitual da biodiversidade entre o PCN e a Proposta Curricular, e que continua diminuindo quando se verifica pesquisas a respeito deste conceito em livros didáticos. Na SDI, entretanto, a qualidade conceitual da biodiversidade é bastante complexa e os estudantes são mobilizados a utilizar o pensamento científico para compreender o conceito de biodiversidade e argumentar em diferentes situações. Nesse sentido, observou-se uma compreensão mais profunda a respeito da biodiversidade por parte dos estudantes, evidenciada pelo aumento do número de estudantes com regras de reconhecimento e realização ao longo de cada atividade proposta na SDI. / This research presents an empirical study based on a qualitative approach that aimed to characterize the production of written arguments of high school students throughout the process of recontextualisation of biodiversity concept. The theory of Bernstein about the model of pedagogical discourse helped to analyze the context of recontextualisation, and the \"what\" of the sociological message of the official documents - National Curricular Parameters (NCP) and Curricular Proposal of the State of São Paulo. Then, there was the analyses of the \"what\" contained in the discourse of biodiversity of an investigative didactic sequence (IDS). This IDS is part of the pedagogical field of recontextualisation, which authors made some changes in relation to the sociological message of the official documents. The study is followed by application of the IDS in a public school from Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, in 2014. During the application the focus of analyses was the written arguments produced by the students. The presence of recognition and realization rules characterizes the production of arguments in this process of recontextualisation. The results obtained showed that there is a progressive decrease in the conceptual quality of biodiversity between the NCP and the Curricular Proposal and other researchers showed that it continues to decrease in the textbooks. However the ISD showed a high complexity quality of the biodiversity concept and the students were mobilized to use scientific thinking to understand the concept of biodiversity and argue in different situations. Thus, we observed a deeper understanding of biodiversity concepts by the students that was evidenced by the increase in the number of students with recognition and realization rules for each activity proposed in IDS.

O presente trabalho busca saber como os professores de Filosofia que atuam na região do ABC paulista, com alunos do Ensino Fundamental II e Ensino Médio, definem a Filosofia. Busca ainda identificar os métodos com os quais os docentes avaliam seus alunos, como a disciplina dialoga com outras áreas do currículo escolar, de que forma a mesma pode contribuir para o desenvolvimento dos discentes e qual o perfil deste grupo de profissionais. Para realizar essa tarefa foram utilizados questionários contendo questões objetivas e dissertativas. Tal instrumento foi compartilhado com os professores por meio da internet e o primeiro contato com os docentes se deu por e-mail ou carta. Identificou-se, por meio da pesquisa, que os professores definem a Filosofia como uma atividade que usa ou busca conhecimento, sem, no entanto, definir ou aprofundar o que seria conhecimento. Constatou-se também que, mesmo dando importância ao aprofundamento teórico da história da Filosofia, os docentes desejam prioritariamente que seus alunos adquiram o hábito de pensar filosoficamente. Isto é, procuram ensinar a filosofar. No que diz respeito aos materiais didáticos, os docentes demonstram insatisfação por conta da alegada aridez dos textos, e pela falta de dinamismo, fazendo com que recorram à internet em busca de recursos mais interessantes. Quanto à avaliação, os entrevistados afirmam usar procedimentos que, em nosso juízo, se configuram como formativos, ou seja, procedimentos que tentam captar processos, tais como seminários, rodas de conversa, debates etc. Como referenciais teóricos para esse trabalho foram usados Stephen E. Toulmin, com a teoria da argumentação, campos modais, garantias e apoios; Israel Scheffler, com o estudo sobre definições e sentenças; e Perelman e Tyteca no âmbito da retórica e do conceito de lugar comum. Com base no referencial e, especialmente, da leitura das respostas dissertativas, pode-se afirmar que os professores entrevistados fazem uma definição programática da filosofia, que atuam emitindo sentenças que enunciam normas e definem a Filosofia utilizando como recurso o que julgamos ser lugar comum. Por conta disso, a tese que se defende nesse trabalho é a de que os docentes de filosofia da região do ABC paulista, que atuam com o Ensino Fundamental II e com o Ensino Médio, definem e ensinam Filosofia como uma atividade que é processual e que, por isso mesmo, não pode ser avaliada em sua inteireza no espaço escolar. / This research intends to understand how the Philosophy teachers from the Great ABC, who work in elementary school (Ensino Fundamental II) and in high school (Ensino Médio), define Philosophy. It also intends to identify the methods by which teachers assess their students, how Philosophy dialogues with other areas of school curriculum, how this field of study can contribute to the development of the students, and to specify the profile of this group of professionals. In order to accomplish this task, this work employed questionnaires based on multiple choice tests and written assessments. Such research instruments were shared with the teachers through the Internet, moreover the first contact with the Faculty took place by e-mail or letter. Through this research, it was identified that teachers define the Philosophy as an activity that employs or seeks \"knowledge\", without, however, setting or deepen what would be knowledge. It was also noted that, despite giving importance to deepening the theoretical debate of the history of Philosophy, teachers want their students primarily to acquire the habit of thinking philosophically. That is, they intend to teach the act of philosophizing. With regard to teaching materials, teachers demonstrate dissatisfaction on the alleged aridity of the texts and on a lack of dynamism, which would make them look for more interesting resources on the Internet. Regarding the evaluation, interviewees claim to use procedures, which, in our judgment, can be considered more formative, i.e., approaches that try to capture processes, such as seminars, conversation, debates etc. Besides, this work used the following theoretical references: Stephen E. Toulmin\'s argumentation theory, modal fields, guarantees and support; Israel Scheffler\'s work on the study of definitions and sentences; and the Perelman and Tyteca\'s rhetoric and concept of commonplace. Backed up on philosophical studies and especially on the written assessments, it can be stated that the interviewed teachers employ a programmatic definition of Philosophy, since they issue sentences that explicit rules and define the Philosophy by using commonplace. Therefore, this work argues that the Philosophy teachers from the Great ABC, who work in elementary school (Ensino Fundamental II) and in high school (Ensino Médio), define and teach Philosophy as an activity or process, so it cannot be fully evaluated in school.

L'idée de l'argumentation est de rechercher dans une base de connaissances, pour chaque proposition dont on souhaite évaluer la validité, les raisons qui étayent cette proposition et celles qui l'infirment. Un argument est alors entendu comme une paire comprenant une proposition et les raisons qui la justifient. Notre propos est d'offrir des outils formels pour la génération automatique d'arguments par deux agents en situation de dialogue. Ces outils reposent sur les X-logiques, formalisme non-monotone proposé en 1996 par Siegel et Forget et déterminant un cadre fondateur autour de la notion de preuve pour le raisonnement non-monotone. En particulier l'ensemble X servant à paramétrer la relation d'inférence confère une souplesse inégalée à la gestion dynamique des arguments. Après un tour d'horizon des travaux passés en matière de représentations logiques pour l'argumentation, nous introduisons les X-logiques, à partir desquelles est composée la notion d'attitude d'un agent par rapport à une formule. Nous définissons ensuite des opérateurs de confrontation qui permettent d'associer des ensembles de formules aux attitudes d'un agent. Le concept de réponse d'un agent à un ensemble de formules est alors élaboré en tant que motivation de l'attitude de cet agent vis-à-vis de l'ensemble en question. Plusieurs formes de réponses sont distinguées parmi lesquelles les notions de réponse pertinente ou encore de mensonge. Une réponse représente les raisons qui justifient la conclusion d'un argument : c'est à partir du calcul de ces réponses que nous exhibons une procédure de génération automatique d'arguments. Enfin nous montrons que notre cadre argumentatif permet de générer les contre-arguments conservatifs maximaux de Besnard et Hunter (2001), arguments retenus pour leur pertinence.

College admission tests are of great importance for admissions systems in general and for candidates in particular. The SweSAT (Högskoleprovet in Swedish) has been used for college admission in Sweden for more than 30 years, and today it is alongside with the upper-secondary school GPA the most widely used instrument for selection of college applicants. Because of the importance that is placed on the SweSAT, it is essential that the scores are reliable and that the interpretations and uses of the scores are valid. The main purpose of this thesis was therefore to examine some assumptions that are of importance for the validity of the interpretation and use of SweSAT scores. The argument-based approach to validation was used as the framework for the evaluation of these assumptions.The thesis consists of four papers and an extensive introduction with summaries of the papers. The first three papers examine assumptions that are relevant for the use of SweSAT scores for admission decisions, while the fourth paper examines an assumption that is relevant for the use of SweSAT scores for providing diagnostic information. The first paper is a review of predictive validity studies that have been performed on the SweSAT. The general conclusion from the review is that the predictive validity of SweSAT scores varies greatly among study programs, and that there are many problematic issues related to the methodology of the predictive validity studies. The second paper focuses on an assumption underlying the current SweSAT equating design, namely that the groups taking different forms of the test have equal abilities. The results show that this assumption is highly problematic, and consequently a more appropriate equating design should be applied when equating SweSAT scores. The third paper examines the effect of textual item revisions on item statistics and preequating outcomes, using data from the SweSAT data sufficiency subtest. The results show that most kinds of revisions have a significant effect on both p-values and point-biserial correlations, and as a consequence the preequating outcomes are affected negatively. The fourth paper examines whether there is added value in reporting subtest scores rather than just the total score to the test-takers. Using a method derived from classical test theory, the results show that all observed subscores are better predictors of the true subscores than is the observed total score, with the exception of the Swedish reading comprehension subtest. That is, the subscores contain information that the test-takers can use for remedial studies and hence there is added value in reporting the subscores. The general conclusion from the thesis as a whole is that the interpretations and use of SweSAT scores are based on several questionable assumptions, but also that the interpretations and uses are supported by a great deal of validity evidence.

This thesis focuses primarily on the question ”why is freedom of speech valuable in a democratic context?” I argue that it is problematic that free-dom of speech takes for granted and that the main question therefore is absent in current political science research, in legal texts, and in public discourse. I also argue that in democratic states the focus, regarding freedom of speech, is often on its boundaries and limits rather than on its justification. But it is highly problematic to find and establish its limits without dis-cussion why freedom of speech is desirable in the first place. The thesis poses two questions. The first concerns how freedom of speech is justified by the five strongest available arguments. I analyze the arguments and conclude that they justify freedom of speech differently but that they are similar in one aspect. Freedom of speech is not primarily justified as an individual right. It is rather justified in terms of the public good. The second question asks if we can reach a better understanding of the central arguments. I argue that the arguments have something in common; all of them justify freedom of speech with reference to a common value. I argue that this common value is what I call, a “reliable communication process”. All five arguments claim that freedom of speech is valuable because it promotes a reliable communication process. This process is reliable in terms of its capacity to create a pluralistic public discourse that exposes citizens to ideas and perspectives that they would not have chosen in advance. This study results in the following findings. First, that freedom of speech is valuable in a democratic context because the reliable communication process supports the central democratic value of the enlightened understanding of the democratic citizen. Secondly, that I can give a principled reason for the boundaries of freedom of speech. This means that, according to the arguments, there are reasons to abolish or limit freedom of speech if the reliable communication process is damaged or absent, for example in case of war, anarchy, or violent circumstances. Third, that there are strong reasons in support of a public service media, and greater state intervention in media politics. One strong reason for that conclusion is that a public service media can ensure a pluralistic communication in society and counteract information conformity and intolerance among the members of society.

The use of protective testimonial aids by the child witness has been advocated for as research indicates that it decreases witness stress and suggestibility; however, the use of such aids has also been attacked as incompatible with the defendant’s confrontational right and the fact-finding function of the jury. The present study examines the effects of testimony modality, as well as empathy-inducing closing arguments, on juror perceptions of the child witness, perceptions of the defendant, and ultimate judgments of guilt. In this between-subjects factorial study, workers on Amazon Mechanical Turk were invited to participate in an online simulated sexual assault case survey. Participants read all trial stimuli, which consisted of written juror instructions, case facts, testimonies, closing arguments, and legal definitions. In addition, participants were exposed to photographs depicting the child witness testifying under one of three possible conditions (direct, shielded, CCTV) and either read the prosecutor’s closing argument that contained a specific empathy-inducing portion or did not. Results indicated that regardless of testimony modality and empathy-inducing closing arguments, jurors did not exhibit a pro-prosecution or pro-defense bias.