Le concept de plasticité est progressivement devenu un concept théorique essentiel dans la biologie depuis le début du XXe siècle. Les biologistes s'y réfèrent aussi bien en biologie du développement, pour caractériser la potentialité des cellules à se diviser et à se différencier, en écologie, pour décrire la pluralité des formes observables pour une espèce donnée en fonction des environnements dans lesquels elle se développe, ou encore en génétique, pour préciser la manière dont l'information génétique peut être régulée. Certains auteurs en sont même venus à se demander si le concept de plasticité n'avait pas acquis aujourd'hui l'importance théorique qui avait été accordée au concept de gène en biologie au début du siècle précédent. Dans cette étude, nous proposons une analyse historique et épistémologique du concept de plasticité dans les sciences du vivant. Nous montrons que si le concept opératoire de plasticité sert à caractériser un paradigme épistémique donné - c'est-à-dire le maintien d'un usage singulier, désormais daté, du concept, fortement lié à l'émergence de la génétique -, la récurrence de l'idée générale de plasticité, tout au long de l'histoire des sciences du vivant, signale son caractère essentiel pour envisager certains phénomènes du vivant. Cette étude montre également que si le concept de plasticité est devenu un élément-clé pour penser une « synthèse étendue» de l'évolution, son importance heuristique pour la biologie contemporaine ne se limite pas à cette seule ambition: tel qu'il est mobilisé dans la biologie contemporaine, le concept de plasticité cherche le plus souvent à rendre compte d'une spécificité du vivant. / Since the early twentieth century, plasticity has gradually become an important theoretical concept in biology. Biologists refer to it either in developmental biology, to characterize cells potential to divide and differentiate, or in ecology to describe the diversity of observable forms for a given trait in environments in which the species develop, or even in genetics to describe how genetic information can be regulated. Some authors have even come to wonder whether the concept of plasticity have not nowadays acquired the theoretical importance that was given to the concept of the gene in biology at the beginning of the previous century. In this study, we propose a historical and epistemological analysis of plasticity in life sciences. We show that if the operating concept of plasticity characterizes a given epistemic paradigm - that is to say, the continuity of a certain use, now dated, of the concept, closely linked to the emergence of genetics - the recurrence of the general idea of plasticity, throughout the history of life sciences, indicates its essential role in the way we think of life processes. The study also shows that although plasticity has become a key element in order to think about an "Extended Eynthesis" in evolution, its heuristic importance for contemporary biology is not limited to this single ambition: as it is mobilized in contemporary biology, the concept of plasticity most often seeks to account for the specificity of living systems.

This research is a practitioner inquiry into change in concepts in contexts of task based discourse in teacher education classrooms. The particular concepts selected for study are epistemic beliefs about knowledge in history. A hypothesis that there is a relationship between a perception of agency in task based discourse and change in concepts is proposed for research on the basis of a review of Kuhn's arguments for paradigm change and those of others on the problems of convergence of meaning between paradigms.1 Four of five quasi experimental studies conducted find tentative support for the alternative hypothesis and demonstrate how the relationship could be tested in the field. Change in epistemic beliefs from pre-test to post-test is significant in both groups, Control and Experimental, and consistently more and better change with moderate effect sizes is seen in the Experimental groups. A matched pedagogical method, experience of a range of suitable examples, Skemp (1971) was provided to both Control and Experimental groups and this is found to be effective in developing beliefs. The experimental construct, a perception of agency in task based discourse was enhanced in Experimental groups alone, which is used to explain the difference in change. A rubric, the Categories of Beliefs about Knowledge in History, CBKH, is developed and employed to examine responses to open ended questions. Likert Scales are also used and conclusions are drawn with a final quantitative analysis of data. Excerpts from a focus group discussion illustrate the process.

FREITAS, Erasmo de Oliveira. Modalidade no gênero webcomentário do jornal O Povo: efeitos de sentido e relação com o mídium digital. 2012. 133f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Letras Vernáculas, Programa de Pós-graduação em Linguística, Fortaleza (CE), 2012. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-06-10T14:31:36Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2012_dis_eofreitas.pdf: 1863403 bytes, checksum: 21855fa8ebcf8514bbf2224c024ea99f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-06-10T14:40:52Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2012_dis_eofreitas.pdf: 1863403 bytes, checksum: 21855fa8ebcf8514bbf2224c024ea99f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-10T14:40:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2012_dis_eofreitas.pdf: 1863403 bytes, checksum: 21855fa8ebcf8514bbf2224c024ea99f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / This paper aims to articulate a general description of epistemic and deontic modal marks the production of meaning effects on speech genre webcomentário. The research part of the paucity of studies pertaining to gender and webcomentário mainly research about modalization in virtual continuum of language. The central problem of research focuses on investigating what is the main type of modality and which brands most commonly used modes of expression as argumentative-persuasive strategies found by the readers of The People webnewspaper (www.opovo.br) to produce the communicative purposes of criticism, complaint, compliment or suggestion. For this, we use corpora: a corpus of textual samples consisting of 155 webcomentários published between June and December 2011 and January-March 2012, belonging to five specific topics: Politics, Economics, Culture, Sports and Urban Violence, and a corpus modalizadoras of occurrences of expressions in their respective contexts, in webcomentários, totaling 200 events. The events were analyzed with a view nine categories: i) type of modality, ii) communicative purpose, iii) issue, iv) modes of expression of deontic and epistemic modalities, v) values deônticos, vi) font deontic, vii) type of target deontic, viii) epistemic value and ix) epistemic nature. The survey results indicate that the subject policy achieved the highest number of webcomentários (79.5%) and the epistemic modality showed higher number of events (55%), including the assertion irrealis predominated (60%), followed by realis (36.4%). Regarding the deontic modality (45%), presented as the predominant value deontic permission (51.2%), followed by requirement (46.6%). In this sense, "modalizing" meant "relativize" a genre in the democratic and interactive. The research indicates that there is a direct relationship between the effects of meaning intended by the subject enunciator with modal choice of brands and which modality will be adopted for the construction of argumentation. It seems therefore that, as subjects Bakhtin, the enunciators are aware of their linguistic choices, even if they do not describe the act of writing metalinguistically digital webcomentários. / Este trabalho tem o objetivo geral de articular a descrição das marcas modais deônticas e epistêmicas à produção de efeitos de sentidos no gênero discursivo webcomentário. A pesquisa parte da escassez de estudos concernentes ao gênero webcomentário e principalmente de pesquisas acerca da modalização no continuum virtual de linguagem. O problema central da pesquisa se concentra em investigar qual é o principal tipo de modalidade e quais as marcas de expressão modais mais usadas como estratégias argumentativo-persuasivas encontradas pelos leitores do webjornal O Povo (www.opovo.br) para produzirem os propósitos comunicativos de crítica, denúncia, elogio e sugestão. Para tanto, usamos os corpora: um corpus de amostras textuais constituído por 155 webcomentários publicados entre junho e dezembro de 2011 e janeiro a março de 2012, pertencentes a cinco temas específicos: Política, Economia, Cultura, Esportes e Violência Urbana, e um corpus de ocorrências de expressões modalizadoras em seus respectivos contextos, nos webcomentários, totalizando 200 ocorrências. As ocorrências foram analisadas tendo em vista nove categorias: i) tipo de modalidade, ii) propósito comunicativo, iii) tema, iv) modos de expressão das modalidades deôntica e epistêmica, v) valores deônticos, vi) tipo de fonte deôntica, vii) tipo de alvo deôntico, viii) valor epistêmico e ix) natureza epistêmica. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam que o tema Política alcançou o maior número de webcomentários (79,5%) e que a modalidade epistêmica apresentou maior número de manifestações (55%), entre as quais predominou a asserção irrealis (60%), seguida da realis (36,4%). Já em relação à modalidade deôntica (45%), apresentou como valor deôntico predominante a permissão (51,2%), seguido de obrigação (46,6%). Nesse sentido, “modalizar” significou “relativizar” em um gênero de natureza democrática e interativa. A pesquisa indica que há relação direta entre os efeitos de sentido pretendidos pelo sujeito enunciador com a escolha das marcas modais e de qual modalidade será adotada para a construção da argumentação. Parece-nos, portanto, que, como sujeitos bakhtinianos, os enunciadores são conscientes de suas escolhas linguísticas, mesmo que não as descreva metalinguisticamente no ato da redação digital dos webcomentários.

abstract: This dissertation consists of three essays, each of which closely relates to epistemic norms for rational doxastic states. The central issue is whether epistemic rationality is impermissive or not: For any total evidence E, is there a unique doxastic state that any possible agent with that total evidence E should take (Uniqueness), or not (Permissivism)? “Conservatism and Uniqueness”: Conservatism is the idea that an agent’s beliefs should be stable as far as possible when she undergoes a learning experience. Uniqueness is the idea that any given body of total evidence uniquely determines what it is rational to believe. Epistemic Impartiality is the idea that you should not give special treatment to your beliefs solely because they are yours. I construe Epistemic Impartiality as a meta-principle governing epistemic norms, and argue that it is compatible with Conservatism. Then I show that if Epistemic Impartiality is correct, Conservatism and Uniqueness go together; each implies the other. “Cognitive Decision Theory and Permissive Rationality”: In recent epistemology, philosophers have deployed a decision theoretic approach to justify various epistemic norms. A family of such accounts is known as Cognitive Decision Theory. According to Cognitive Decision Theory, rational beliefs are those with maximum expected epistemic value. How does Cognitive Decision Theory relate to the debate over permissive rationality? As one way of addressing this question, I present and assess an argument against Cognitive Decision Theory. “Steadfastness, Deference, and Permissive Rationality”: Recently, Benjamin Levinstein has offered two interesting arguments concerning epistemic norms and epistemic peer disagreement. In his first argument, Levinstein claims that a tension between Permissivism and steadfast attitudes in the face of epistemic peer disagreement generally leads us to conciliatory attitudes; in his second argument, he argues that, given an ‘extremely weak version of a deference principle,’ Permissivism collapses into Uniqueness. However, in this chapter, I show that both arguments fail. This result supports the following claim: we should treat steadfast attitudes and at least some versions of a deference principle as viable positions in the discussion about several types of Permissivism, because they are compatible with any type of Permissivism. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Philosophy 2016

abstract: Madness is disruptive. It doesn't play by the rules. Madness is influenced, created, and caused by many different factors; it can be at different times disorienting, debilitating, or a space of radical potential. In this thesis, I argue for the empowering potential of narrative and rewriting identity in the face of painful disruptions. I argue that the way that we conceptualize madness and how we internalize trauma affects how we reconfigure identity as an ongoing process and therefore whether and how we are able to embrace creative, diverse and dynamically empowered futures. I argue against positivist traditions of categorization and concept formation when it comes to madness – whether medical or historic//cultural/social. I first use similar tools to “categorize the categorizers” and later break away from positivist tradition through feminist inquiry, pushing against static, linear, and inactive kind and family conceptual hierarchies with my own experience. I use active feminist frameworks and phenomenological ontologies to argue for a corrective epistemic justice exposing reductive gaps in the literature and highlighting the links between violence/oppression/trauma/agency and mental illness that positivist models minimize. I employ personal experiences of gender-based violence and my own changing and intersectional understanding and experience of depression and mental health as a lens through which different pathways can emerge. I use memoir as method to disturb the binary limitations of madness models, instead offering a conceptualization of madness as fluid, intersectional, changing, and deeply personal: an experience that cannot be reduced and compartmentalized. Finally, I explore the pain of trauma and madness as well as the possibility therein towards action as a way of reclaiming self-agency. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Social Justice and Human Rights 2018

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-07T14:27:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 955561 bytes, checksum: 9bb091c0ada84d170ab06d93c31d3a91 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Given the importance of human rights as a social technology universally recognized, is discussed in this paper the process of political-legal and philosophical composition of these rights. Supported on epistemic critique and having the marxist current as a theoretical reference, it uses the category of imperialism in order to redefine the applicability of Human Rights. Therefore, utilizes the historical-descriptive method in order to revisit the phenomenon of legal representation. As a method of approach was used the dialectical method because it allows the insertion of own categories to critical analysis of Human Rights, making even possible the contention about the role of the state and the establishment of private property as a fundamental guarantee. Structurally is divided into three sections, each containing two parts. The first emphasizes the constitution of the human being as an individual and social being, and Law as a general and abstract parameter institutional coercive. The second builds the epistemic bases of the instrumentalisation of human rights as a form of imperialist imposition. Finally, in the third chapter, retakes the definitions previously explored having as verification tools the supranational entities consubstantieted in contemporary global society. / Diante da importância dos Direitos Humanos como tecnologia social reconhecida universalmente, discute-se neste trabalho o processo de composição político-jurídico e filosófico destes direitos. Apoiando-se na crítica epistêmica, tendo como referencial teórico a corrente marxista, utiliza-se da categoria de imperialismo no intuito de redefinição da aplicabilidade dos Direitos Humanos. Para tanto, faz-se o uso do método histórico-descritivo no intuito de rediscutir o fenômeno de representação jurídica. Enquanto método de abordagem foi empregado o dialético por permitir a inserção de categorias próprias à análise crítica dos Direitos Humanos, tornando possível ainda, a contenda acerca da função do Estado e o estabelecimento da propriedade privada como garantia fundamental. O texto está estruturalmente divido em três capítulos cada um destes contendo duas partes. O primeiro deles destaca a constituição do ser humano enquanto indivíduo e ente social, e do Direito como parâmetro institucional coercitivo geral e abstrato. O segundo constrói as bases epistêmicas da instrumentalização dos Direitos Humanos como forma de imposição imperialista. Por fim, no terceiro capítulo, repercutem as definições exploradas anteriormente tendo como ferramentas de verificação as entidades supranacionais consubstanciadas na sociedade global contemporânea.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:11:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ArquivoTotalStanley.pdf: 851354 bytes, checksum: 234d62287f1fecde25a5e081c1327260 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-05-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Epistemic closure is the principle that says that knowledge is closed under known entailment. If an agent, S, knows that some proposition P is the case and, beside of that, equally knows that P logically implies another proposition, say, Q, then S must also know that Q is the case. Thus, if S believes Q in a strong base provided by the premisses, then he must also know that Q is the case. The present work is a logical-epistemological study of epistemic closure principles, based on the notion of contingent unknowability. Noting that the problem of epistemic closure is open and that the common attempts in contemporary mainstream epistemology seem to ignore the results of the formal epistemology about the relationship between these principles and the property of logical omniscience, our main goal is to provide a strategy for an epistemological analysis of epistemic closure principles that consider these results, taking into account the purpose of applicability of a particular closure principle, according to the situation and the agents that one wants to model. An example of this strategy will be given when analyzing closure principles from the perspective of agents that reason about contingently unknowable propositions. Our hypothesis is that, in this particular application, certain closure principles do not hold. / O "fecho epistêmico'' é o princípio que afirma que o conhecimento é fechado sob implicação. Se um agente S qualquer sabe que uma proposição P é o caso e, além disso, igualmente sabe que P implica logicamente outra proposição, Q, então o agente em questão também deve saber que Q é o caso. Assim, se S acredita em Q a partir da base segura fornecida pelas premissas, então ele também deve saber que Q é o caso. Este é um estudo lógico-epistemológico de princípios de fecho epistêmico com base na noção de incognoscibilidade contingente. Constatando que o problema do fecho epistêmico está em aberto e que as tentativas mais comuns na epistemologia mainstream contemporânea parecem ignorar os resultados da epistemologia formal sobre a relação entre estes princípios e a propriedade de onisciência lógica, nosso objetivo principal é oferecer uma estratégia para uma análise epistemológica de princípios de fecho epistêmico que considere estes resultados; que leve em conta a pretensão de aplicabilidade de um determinado princípio de fecho, segundo a situação e os agentes que se pretende modelar. Um exemplo dessa estratégia será dado ao se analisar princípios de fecho na perspectiva de agentes conjecturadores de proposições contingentemente incognoscíveis. Nossa hipótese é a de que, nesta aplicação, certos princípios de fecho não valem.

Epistemic injustice is a relatively new philosophical term for a rather old phenomenon. A situation is said to be epistemically unjust when someone is wronged in his capacity to possess or convey knowledge. While anyone can be the victim of a testimonial injustice, the epistemic injustice that occurs in an exchange of testimony, people with marginalized identities systematically suffer from this kind of injustice. By relying on negative identity prejudices, a person in a position of power consciously or subconsciously undermines a marginalized individual’s capacity for knowledge. In this paper, I argue that persistent testimonial injustice can inhibit the formation of one’s identity. Then I explore the role that communities may play in ameliorating this harm. I suggest that communities are conceptualized differently depending on their purpose (e.g. psychological melioration or political resistance). In the final part of this paper, I examine two conceptions of communities put forth by María Lugones and Iris Marion Young and determine whether they can provide both psychological and political resources for resistance.

This corpus-based study analyzes different types of epistemic markers used in argumentative essays by University students. More specifically it compares Swedish L2 writers and English L1 writers. The scope of the analysis covers epistemic modal verbs, lexical verbs and adverbs. A number of markers are counted to see which expressions are preferred by L1 and L2 writers respectively and if the frequency rates differ between the two groups. Further, it discusses whether the non-native writers use epistemic markers appropriate to an academic register, and an attempt is made to see whether the L1 and L2 writers show similar patterns of ‘committing’ to and ‘distancing’ themselves to their arguments. The results reveal a few notable differences between the Swedish and English writers. A tendency is seen among the L2 writers to ‘overuse’ certain expressions, particularly in the category of lexical verbs. Compared to the native writers, the L2 writers display higher frequency rates when it comes to markers that are most commonly found in spoken conversation. Further the L2 writers seem to display more ‘writer visibility’ than the L1 writers do, which could perhaps be due to differences in writing culture. The findings also suggest that Swedish L2 writers, even on a relatively advanced level, may have difficulties in mastering modal expressions in English.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-10-14T20:05:55Z No. of bitstreams: 1 alicequeirozfrascarolli.pdf: 1257881 bytes, checksum: 958b79b9944c8f34e77d9111a523d6e7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-10-22T13:09:40Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 alicequeirozfrascarolli.pdf: 1257881 bytes, checksum: 958b79b9944c8f34e77d9111a523d6e7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-22T13:09:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 alicequeirozfrascarolli.pdf: 1257881 bytes, checksum: 958b79b9944c8f34e77d9111a523d6e7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Este trabalho tem a finalidade de averiguar o processo de gramaticalização pelo qual os verbos achar e parecer passam no português falado, na comunidade de Conceição de Ibitipoca, Minas Gerais. Utilizaremos as propostas de Galvão (1999) e Gonçalves (2003) aplicadas às amostras de fala carioca. Galvão (1999) investigou a trajetória do verbo achar, que funciona como organizador de predicação (achar1), passa a funcionar como um verbo performativo-modalizador, marcador de apreciação (achar2) e como um verbo modalizador epistêmico que marca palpite (achar3) até funcionar de maneira semelhante a um advérbio, aparecendo fora da estrutura sentencial (achar4). Gonçalves (2003) analisou o verbo parecer, em que fica comprovado que parecer, que pertencia à categoria dos verbos organizadores de predicação (parecer1), passa a ter função de verbo suporte (parecer2) e a pertencer à classe dos verbos de atitude proposicional (parecer3), adquirindo até mesmo funções de satélite atitudinal, de caráter de um advérbio (parecer 4,5). Todo este processo de mudança ocorre de maneira gradual. A investigação mostra que os dados de fala mineira não apresentam todas as etapas encontradas na fala carioca. Para mostrar a gramaticalização dos verbos, submetemos as amostras às análises qualitativa e quantitativa (parte do programa GoldVarb) para garantir que as ocorrências sejam analisadas de forma coerente e sistemática. Os dados coletados em Conceição de Ibitipoca, Minas Gerais, fazem parte do banco de dados de Resende (2006). / This paper had as its aims at verify the grammaticalization process which the verbs achar (to think) and parecer (to seem) go through in spoken Brazilian Portuguese in Conceição do Ibitipoca in the state of Minas Gerais. The proposals by Galvão (1999) and Gonçalves (2003) applied to the samples of spoken discourse of Rio de Janeiro city were used. Galvão (1999) investigated the path of the verb achar, which functions as a full-verb class (achar1), as a performative-modal verb, appreciation marker (achar2), and as an epistemic modal verb that marks a hunch (achar3), finally functioning similarly to an adverb, appearing outside the sentence structure (achar4). Gonçalves (2003) analyzed the verb parecer and proved that this verb, identified as a full-verb class (parecer1), becomes a support verb (parecer2), comes to belong to propositional attitude verbs class (parecer3), and claims the functions of attitudinal satellites, with adverbial characteristics (parecer 4,5). All this process of change occurs gradually. An investigation showed that data from the Minas Gerais spoken discourse do not present all the steps found in the Rio de Janeiro discourse. In order to show the grammaticalization of the verbs, we submitted the samples to qualitative and quantitative analyses (part of the GoldVarb program) to make sure that the occurrences were analyzed coherently and systematically. The data in Conceição do Ibitipoca, Minas Gerais, are part of Resende’s database (2006).