There have been many studies on media (mis)representations of the Middle East and Iran. However, the experts and analysts who serve as major sources for those representations (and for government policy making) have not been systematically studied. This project studies discourses and networks of widely published Iran experts during the first year of the presidency of Iran’s Hassan Rouhani (2013-2014), the period during which unprecedented direct U.S.-Iran diplomacy paved the way for the historic nuclear agreement with Iran. Norman Fairclough’s three dimensional critical discourse analysis method and Peter Haas’s Epistemic Community approach are employed to study discursive as well as non-discursive (networked) characteristics of the most widely published U.S. Iran experts during this time period. Results identify five major epistemic communities that, altogether, represent the spectrum of U.S. Iran experts: neoconservatism, liberal interventionism, containment (tactical engagement), strategic engagement, and rapprochement. These five epistemic communities are described in detail throughout the five results chapters. Findings show that these experts influence the terms of media representations as well as the foreign policy making process. Findings also show that experts operate in a web of discursive as well as networked affiliations (i.e., epistemic communities) in order to be able to develop and circulate their discourses. It is however important to recognize that epistemic communities are not uniform in terms of formation stage, cohesion and level.

Measures of epistemic utility are used by formal epistemologists to make determinations of epistemic betterness among cognitive states. The Brier rule is the most popular choice (by far) among formal epistemologists for such a measure. In this paper, however, we show that the Brier rule is sometimes seriously wrong about whether one cognitive state is epistemically better than another. In particular, there are cases where an agent gets evidence that definitively eliminates a false hypothesis (and the probabilities assigned to the other hypotheses stay in the same ratios), but where the Brier rule says that things have become epistemically worse. Along the way to this 'elimination experiment' counter-example to the Brier rule as a measure of epistemic utility, we identify several useful monotonicity principles for epistemic betterness. We also reply to several potential objections to this counter-example.

Bayesian epistemology provides a promising framework for a theory of epistemic rationality. But the way in which this framework has been built upon thus far yields an unfortunately mechanical picture of rationality, on which rational agents are mere data crunchers who receive evidential input and spit out numeric credal output. This picture is rightly criticized, most prominently by Bas van Fraassen, for being too narrow and restrictive and thus failing to account for certain features which rationality plausibly has, such as a degree of permissiveness, and for certain unconventional rational phenomena, such as conversions. Unfortunately, van Fraassen’s apt criticism of mechanistic rationality overshoots its mark in seeking to topple the entire Bayesian framework. Bayesian epistemology suffers a guilt by association with the robotic picture. This dissertation aims to restore Bayesianism from the mechanistic but often implicit assumptions which corrode it, and to rebuild, from the Bayesian foundation, an alternative picture of rationality as a property of sentient agents who are capable of understanding and mentally engaging with the objects of their credences. Along the way I account for some basic Bayesian objects such as credence and evidential input. I also accord a central role to the ability of representational experiences, largely sidelined in many Bayesian discussions, to give rise to surprising evidence. On these building blocks I develop theory of rationality, Expansive Bayesianism, which evades the criticisms launched at the robotic picture and shows that Bayesianism itself is a fruitful and powerful framework for a theory of rationality.

Based on four separate studies, this thesis deals with Swedish academia and its dwellers, with an eye toward accounting for matters of languages and linguistic exchanges. The perspectives and thinking-tools of Pierre Bourdieu form the basis of the main leitmotif, albeit extended with insights from linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics. Methods employed include historical analysis as well as ethnographic approaches. Study 1 analyzes the historical events and language ideological labor through which English has come to be seen as a sociolinguistic problem in Swedish language planning and policy (LPP). At the focus is the notion of ‘domain loss,’ which is interpreted as a resource in the struggle to safeguard the Swedish language. Study 2 deals with the increasing importance of English in academic publishing in two disciplinary fields of Swedish academia: history and psychology. In history, in particular, English and the transnational publishing markets it bargains currently seem to offer new ways of advancing in the competition of the field, which is encouraged by the will and ensuing managerial techniques of contemporary research policy. Study 3, however, shows that this fact does not entail that Swedish is not being used as a scientific language. In the research practices preceding finalized texts in English, Swedish-speaking researchers in physics and computer science use technical and discipline-specific Swedish both orally and in writing. The principle that upholds the logic of ‘Swedish among Swedish-speakers’ is crucial also with respect to the ability of Swedish researchers to write up scientific texts in Swedish. Exploring the writing practices of a computer scientist and his successful first-time performance of two scientific texts in Swedish, study 4 shows that texts in Swedish can be produced by assembling experiences from previous discursive encounters throughout a researcher’s biographically specific discursive history. In summary, the thesis argues that while English increasingly prevails in publishing, much knowledge previously produced and reproduced on these matters within the field of LPP has tended to overstate the dominance of English, and with that, the sociolinguistic implications of the current state of affairs. The thesis proposes that Bourdieu’s work offers some purchase in attempts to engender in-depth knowledge on the position of English vis-à-vis Swedish in the globalizing markets of Swedish academia, and that epistemic reflexivity, in particular, is a pivotal driver in such an agenda. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript.</p>

Master of Arts / Department of Modern Languages / Mary Copple / Modality, a concept for which linguists have struggled to come to an agreed-upon, comprehensive definition, has been the subject of many linguistic studies over the last several decades. The contemporary English modal system has a long history of semantic and morphological development, or grammaticalization, which currently consists of auxiliary modals that function with lexical verbs to express levels of obligation, necessity, ability, permission, and degrees of certainty. For native speakers of English, determining the appropriate contexts and form of a specific modal verb is second nature. However, grasping the contextual complexity of the English modal system can be difficult for English language learners. Deontic modals such as must, have to, have (got) to and should are often presented to English language learners as relatively equal in meaning and contextual appropriateness, which makes gaining a native-like command of these modals even more difficult. This study, on a small scale, describes contemporary usage through a comparison of similar studies and data from a series of sociolinguistic interviews with native speakers of American English. The participants range from the ages of 25-50. They were chosen from the local population of Manhattan, KS and have lived in Kansas for a minimum of 10 years. Through a quantitative analysis of the tokens, patterns of dialogic use will be extrapolated from the linguistic data. The research questions will seek to find established patterns of deontic modal use that in order to identify practical applications of usage-based research for textbook publishers, curriculum designers, and educators.

This thesis centers on two trends in epistemology: (i) the dissatisfaction with the reductive analysis of knowledge, the project of explicating knowledge in terms of necessary and jointly sufficient conditions, and (ii) the popularity of virtue-theoretic epistemologies. The goal of this thesis is to endorse non-reductive virtue epistemology. Given that prominent renditions of virtue epistemology assume the reductive model, however, such a move is not straightforward—work needs to be done to elucidate what is wrong with the reductive model, in general, and why reductive accounts of virtue epistemology, specifically, are lacking. The first part of this thesis involves diagnosing what is wrong with the reductive model and defending that diagnosis against objections. The problem with the reductive project is the Gettier Problem. In Chapter 1, I lend credence to Linda Zagzebski's grim 1994 diagnosis of Gettier problems (and the abandonment of the reductive model) by examining the nature of luck, the key component of Gettier problems. In Chapter 2, I vindicate this diagnosis against a range of critiques from the contemporary literature. The second part involves applying this diagnosis to prominent versions of (reductive) virtue epistemology. In Chapter 3, we consider the virtue epistemology of Alvin Plantinga. In Chapter 4, we consider the virtue epistemology of Ernest Sosa. Both are seminal and iconic; nevertheless, I argue that, in accord with our diagnosis, neither is able to viably surmount the Gettier Problem. Having diagnosed what is wrong with the reductive project and applied this diagnosis to prominent versions of (reductive) virtue epistemology, the final part of this thesis explores the possibility of non-reductive virtue epistemology. In Chapter 5, I argue that there are three strategies that can be used to develop non-reductive virtue epistemologies, strategies that are compatible with seminal non-reductive accounts of knowledge and preserve our favorite virtue-theoretic concepts.

Edward Westermarck, finlandssvensk sociolog och filosof, studeras med Lorraine Dastons och Peter Galisons (D&amp;G) metod för att analysera vetenskapshistoriska förändringar. Syftet är att testa ändamålsenligheten i D&amp;G:s analysmodell för att studera metodologiska och innehållsliga förändringar. Användningen av epistemic virtues prövas som ett sätt att identifiera interaktionen mellan dynamiska fält och övergångar mellan olika doktriner under decennierna kring sekelskiftet 1800/1900. Metoden tillämpas på Westermarck och hans samtida i sociologins grundargeneration. Westermarck och Durkheim betraktas som arketypiska företrädare för en sociologisk respektive en biologisk – evolutionistisk – funktionalism. Malinowski är en brygga mellan de två. Undersökningen analyserar kunskapsteoretiska och ideologiska skillnader och likheter mellan forskarna. Deras förhållande till vetenskaplighet som epistemic virtue analyseras. Dynamiska fält och förändringslaviner beskrivs för att belysa kontinuitet och diskontinuitet i doktrinutvecklingen. Studien visar att metoden kan tillämpas även på humaniora och beteendevetenskaperna. Westermarcks kritik av Freud och Oidipuskomplexet exemplifierar hur doktrinförändringar fångas upp i andra vetenskapsområden – sociobiologin. Undersökningen visar att interaktionen sker också mellan olika vetenskapsområden och hur förändringarna mellan dessa sker diakront.

Este trabalho discute a denotação dos sintagmas indefinidos contendo \'um\' e \'algum\' na posição pré-nominal no português do Brasil e argumenta em favor de uma distinção entre ambos. O objetivo é delimitar as propriedades semânticas desses dois indefinidos e as contribuições de cada um para as sentenças em que aparecem. Tendo como ponto de partida os trabalhos de Kratzer & Shimoyama (2002) para o indefinido \'irgendein\' do alemão, Alonso-Ovalle & Menéndez-Benito (2003) para o \'algún\' do espanhol e para o \'some\' do inglês e Pires de Oliveira (2005) para o indefinido \'qualquer\', esta dissertação defende que \'algum\' é um indefinido que marca a falta de conhecimento do falante em relação ao referente, ao passo que \'um\' pode ser usado para referir-se a um indivíduo específico e não apresenta tal efeito. Por meio da análise da intuição dos falantes do PB e da análise dos dados a partir das propostas dos autores citados acima, foi possível constatar que \'um NP\', quanto ao comportamento quantificacional, (i) apresenta variabilidade de força quantificacional; (ii) pode ser antecedente de pronome anafórico; (iii) não tem seu escopo restringido por sentenças-se, (iv) pode combinar-se com sentenças relativas não-restritivas. Não é um indefinido epistêmico e devido a isso (i) pode ser lido como fazendo referência a um indivíduo em especial; (ii) não induz a alargamento de domínio; (iii) não está associado à livre escolha dentro de um conjunto de alternativas e (iv) não induz a um efeito epistêmico. Por sua vez, \'algum NP\' quanto ao comportamento quantificacional, (i) não apresenta variabilidade de força quantificacional; (ii) pode ser antecedente de pronome anafórico; (iii) tem seu escopo restringido por sentenças-se, (iv) não pode combinar-se com sentenças relativas não-restritivas. \'Algum NP\' é um indefinido epistêmico e devido a isso (i) não pode ser lido como fazendo referência a um indivíduo em especial; (ii) induz a alargamento de domínio; (iii) está associado à livre escolha dentro de um conjunto de alternativas e (iv) induz a um efeito epistêmico. A análise proposta nesse trabalho é feita sob a perspectiva teórica da Semântica Formal e é relevante na medida em que contribui para uma tipologia translingüística. / This work studies the denotation of indefinite phrases with \'um\' and \'algum\' in the pre-verbal position in Brazilian Portuguese and it argues in favor of a distinction between them. The goal of this dissertation is to discuss the properties that distinguish these two indefinites and the semantic contributions they provide to sentences where they appear. The works of Kratzer and Shimoyama (2002), Alonso-Ovalle and Menéndez-Benito (2003) and Pires de Oliveira (2005) are the background to the analysis proposed here. This dissertation argues that \'algum\' is an epistemic indefinite that marks speakers\' lack of knowledge about who (or what) satisfies her existential claims. However \'um\' does not induce to this epistemic effect and can be appropriate when the speaker intends to refer to a specific individual. The analysis of the speaker\'s intuition and the analysis of data (departing of works of the mentioned authors) permitted to conclud, in the respect to quantification: \'um NP\' (i) presents variability of quantificational force; (ii) it can be antecedent of an anaphoric pronoun; (iii) it does not have its scope constrained by if-sentences; (iv) it can be combined with nonrestrictive clauses. \'Um NP\' is not an epistemic indefinite and, due to this, (i) it can be read as an \"referential\"; (ii) it does not induce to the domain widening; (iii) it is not associated with free choice effect; (iv) it does not induce an epistemic indefinite. On the other hand, \'algum NP\' (i) presents variability of quantificational force; (ii) it can not be antecedent of an anaphoric pronoun; (iii) it has its scope constrained by ifsentences; (iv) it can not be combined with non-restrictive clauses. \'Algum NP\' is an epistemic indefinite and, due to this, (i) it can be read as an \"referential\"; (ii) it induces to the domain widening; (iii) it is associated with free choice effect; (iv) it induces an epistemic indefinite.The proposals of this work are made under the theoretical point of view of Formal Semantics and are relevant because they contribute to studies concerned with a general theory of indefinites.

O trabalho propõe uma análise de relações possíveis entre videogames e construção de sentidos, buscando discutir diferentes abordagens e perspectivas teóricas que possam contribuir no entendimento do videogame enquanto objeto de estudo acadêmico. Indo além de uma perspectiva que possa restringi-lo a um exemplar contemporâneo de uma noção mais abstrata de jogo, abordo-o enquanto um objeto epistêmico (KNORR CETINA 2001) participante de constelações de saberes (SANTOS ET AL 2005) que podem entrar em conflito entre si. Isso, em uma sociedade em que a primazia do prestígio de práticas e conhecimentos científicos é marcante. Para tanto, busco enfatizar mais especificamente ao menos duas outras dimensões do videogame: sua materialidade enquanto mídia contemporânea e sua potencialidade, enquanto artefato cultural, em gerar efeitos sociais e discursivos específicos. Dentro disso, pontuo elementos que ajudam a problematizar como a especificidade técnica, cultural e de linguagem presente no que se entende atualmente como videogame pode dar formas a saberes e sentidos construídos na contingência do uso de tal artefato por seus jogadores. Essa questão mais ampla se efetivou em estudos exploratórios por meio de duas formas de análise: a observação de registros escritos em um fórum de fãs de futebol a respeito, basicamente, de um simulador do esporte (o Football Manager); entrevistas com quatro participantes desse fórum que tinham ou tiveram no uso do videogame em questão uma prática corrente. Isso, tendo como norte, principalmente, os seguintes pontos: i) de que modo a experiência situada e específica com o videogame pode se tornar pública ou manifesta em outros contextos; ii) que relações o jogador pode perceber, defender ou estabelecer contrapondo saberes e sentidos surgidos de uma interação com o videogame com saberes mais canônicos e esperados em contextos públicos e comunitários do qual participa iii) qual a função ou efeito essas experiências com videogames quando compartilhadas em situações concretas, socialmente inseridas, mas que não a de sua prática podem vir a exercer em comunidades mais amplas (ou seja, que envolvam sujeitos que não são jogadores de videogame). Tais estudos indicam que o videogame é percebido e utilizado por seus jogadores como um espaço diferenciado do futebol profissional, que seu uso enquanto fonte de saber na comunidade analisada é concreto embora não seja consensualmente validado e que essa falta de consenso não o impede de ser uma forma de conhecimento defendida e utilizada por diversos membros do grupo, influenciando as opiniões e perspectivas em debate no espaço em questão. Assim, deve-se considerar que videogames podem ter papel na construção das realidades que envolvem o sujeito, o que não resulta em confusão entre a prática de interagir com videogames e a prática social em outros contextos / The aim of this research is to analyze potential connections between videogames and meaningmaking through the discussion of different approaches and theoretical perspectives that might contribute to the understanding of the videogame as an object of academic study. Rather than considering a perspective that restricts the videogame as a contemporary sample of a more abstract notion of a game, I approach it as an epistemic object (KNORR CETINA 2001) participant of constellations of knowledge (SANTOS ET AL 2005) that may conflict with each other; especially in a society where the primacy of scientific practices and knowledge is remarkable. Therefore, I emphasize two dimensions of the videogame: its materiality as contemporary media and its potentiality as a cultural artifact that generates specific social and discursive effects. Within this framework, I point out elements that help to problematize how the specificity of technical, cultural, and linguistic issues regarding the current understanding of videogames can frame knowledges and meanings constructed in the contingency of interaction among players. Exploratory studies were carried out on two forms of analysis: the observation of written records in a forum of football fans mainly regarding a simulator called Football Manager; and interviews with four participants of this forum who used the simulator in a common practice. This research focused mainly on the following points: i) how the situated and specific experience with the videogame can be transformed and presented as a public or manifest knowledge in other contexts; ii) what kind of links a player may recognize, stand up for, or establish among knowledges and meanings when interacting with the videogame, and on the other hand, with those knowledges understood as canonical or expected in this second context; iii) what role (or effect) these experiences play when they are shared in socially embedded concrete situations by people who are not videogame players. The research results showed that: although players and non-players participants of this community share a common sense of separation between experiences from the professional football world and the interaction with Football Manager, and also the practice with the simulator is not consensual, regarding it as a valid source of knowledge, it does not exclude this experience as a form of knowledge held and used by different group members, which influenced opinions and perspectives under discussion in the forum. As a result, it must be considered that videogames play a significant role in the construction of realities that surround players. However, this construction does not represent confusion to the players\' perception between the practice of interacting with videogames and the different social practices in other contexts

Esta tese apresenta uma reflexão acerca dos conhecimentos sobre a fauna e a flora do Novo Mundo produzidos pelas instituições vinculadas à Coroa espanhola entre os anos de 1570 e 1620. Para tanto, optou-se pela análise das crônicas oficiais e dos documentos expedidos pelo Consejo de Indias que demandavam informações sobre o mundo natural americano. As configurações e as funções que assumiam os saberes sobre os animais e as plantas nas estruturas burocráticas e no espaço discursivo das crônicas oficiais são elementos analisados ao longo dos quatro capítulos que compõem a tese. No primeiro apartado, além de discussões teóricas e historiográficas sobre as relações entre império, conhecimento e ciência, foram examinadas algumas das cédulas e instruções enviadas pelo Consejo de Indias a diferentes partes do continente no período anterior a 1570. O segundo capítulo foi dedicado à análise da reforma empreendida por Juan de Ovando no Consejo de Indias, sobretudo, em relação às leis e demandas relativas à coleta de dados e construção de conhecimentos sobre o continente americano, também foram discutidos aspectos relacionados à criação do cargo de cosmógrafo o cronista maior das Índias. O terceiro capítulo está dedicado ao exame das obras do primeiro cosmógrafo e cronista maior das Índias, Juan López de Velasco. O último capítulo está centrado no estudo dos dois cronistas oficiais das Índias que atuaram durante o reinado de Felipe III: Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas e Pedro de Valencia. Com a análise desse conjunto documental, pretendemos evidenciar a configuração de uma cultura epistêmica no seio das instituições oficiais, a qual estava em diálogo com tradições letradas e científicas do período, bem como com os anseios de constituição de uma ideia de império para a Monarquia Hispânica. / This thesis presents a reflection about the knowledge of the New Worlds fauna and flora, generated by the institutions linked to the Spanish Crown between the years of 1570 and 1620. For this, it was opted for the analysis of the official chronicles and documents issued by Consejo de Indias that demanded information about the American natural world. The configurations and the functions that took on the knowledge about animals and plants in the bureaucratic structures and in the discursive space of the official chronicles are analyzed elements during the four chapters that compound the thesis. In the first part, beyond the theoretical and historiographical discussions about the relationships among the empire, knowledge and science, were examined some of the documents and instructions sent by Consejo de Indias to different parts of the continent in the period before 1570. The second chapter was dedicated to the analysis of the reform made by Juan de Ovando in Consejo de Indias, mainly with regard to laws and demands linked to data gathering and knowledge building about the American continent and also were discussed aspects related to the creation of the cosmographer-chronicler major of Indies position. The third chapter is dedicated to the examination of the first cosmographer-chronicler major of Indies Juan Lopez de Velascos work. The last chapter is focused on the analysis of two Indies official chroniclers that acted during Felipe IIIs reign: Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas and Pedro de Valencia. With the analysis of this documentation, it is intended to emphasize the configuration of an epistemic culture within the official institutions, culture related to literate and scientific traditions of that period as well as to the desire to establish an idea of empire for the Hispanic monarchy.