O objetivo central deste trabalho foi investigar como a Cinética Química foi sendo apropriada pelos livros didáticos destinados ao Ensino Médio, em um determinado período de tempo (1929-2004), através do estudo do desenvolvimento histórico dos conceitos químicos envolvidos neste tema. Outro objetivo foi o de identificar as concepções sobre ciência veiculadas pelos livros didáticos ao tratarem o tema Cinética Química. O modelo adotado para a análise dos livros didáticos está baseado na linha de pesquisa desenvolvida por Níaz (2001) e Justi (1997; 1999), que se baseia na história e filosofia da ciência para entender o tratamento dado aos conceitos químicos pelo livro didático. Para isso, foi utilizada a metodologia de Imre Lakatos, da reconstrução racional do conhecimento científico, para analisar a evolução histórica das idéias sobre Cinética Química. A reconstrução histórica foi feita a partir de pesquisas de historiadores da ciência, artigos de pesquisadores e artigos originais dos cientistas que estiveram envolvidos no estudo da cinética química. Foram propostos quatro Programas de Investigação Científica que representam o conhecimento científico sobre a Cinética Química no período de 1850 até 1935, ano em que foi proposta a teoria do estado de transição. Tais Programas foram utilizados para evidenciar os níveis de explicação teórica atingidos em vinte livros didáticos. As concepções de ciência apresentadas pelos livros didáticos foram analisadas sob o ponto de vista de duas perspectivas filosóficas: a empirista/indutivista e a racionalista. Os livros didáticos até a década de 60 se dedicam a explicar a influência de concentração nas reações químicas, apresentando justificativas em termos empíricos e matemáticos, mas não em termos moleculares. A Partir do final dos anos 60 começam a aparecer explicações em termos das teorias de colisão e do estado de transição. As explicações em termos de energia de ativação ou barreira de energia sobre o efeito da temperatura na velocidade das reações também começam a aparecer nos livros a partir do final da década de 60. Com relação às concepções de ciência, pôde-se perceber que e a perspectiva filosófica predominante nos livros didáticos é a empirista/indutivista, independentemente da época em que foram editados, o que parece revelar que os autores não levaram em consideração as mudanças de perspectiva que ocorreram durante esse período. / The main aim of the present study is to investigate how the didactic transposition of knowledge on chemical reactions kinetics happened in high school textbooks published during the period from 1929 to 2004. This work was carried out by an analysis of the historical development of the chemical concepts related to this subject. Another objective was to identify the concepts about science that are conveyed by textbooks to present the subject of chemical kinetics. The model adopted for the analysis of the textbooks is based on the research line of Níaz (2001) and Justi (1997; 1999), which is based in the history and philosophy of science to understand the approach adopted by textbooks to present chemical concepts. The method of rational reconstruction of the scientific knowledge, by Imre Lakatos, was used to analyze the historical evolution of the ideas about chemical kinetics. Four scientific investigation programs that represent the scientific knowledge about chemical kinetics from 1850 to 1935, year when the theory of the transition state was presented, were proposed. These programs were used to highlight the level of theoretical explanation reached in twenty textbooks. The concepts of science presented by the textbooks were examined in the light of two philosophical perspectives: the empirical/inductive and the rationalist. The textbooks published until the sixties were dedicated to explain the effect of concentration on chemical reactions in terms of empirical and mathematical grounds, rather than on a molecular basis. From the end of the sixties, explanations based on the collision and transition state theories began to emerge. Moreover, during this period the concept of activation energy barrier was applied to explain the effect of temperature on chemical reaction rates. The philosophical approach to the concepts of science prevailing in textbooks seems to be the empirical/inductive one regardless of the period when these books were edited, revealing that the authors did not consider the changes in perspective that occurred during this period.

The following five essays are connected by their reference to a scene – imagined by the author Thomas Pynchon. The disappearance of historical cause, the subject, and the human constitute this epistemological scene. Each essay can be read without logically building off of any other – yet they form a wider assemblage of interpretative theory. These are fragments capable of recombination in any order. They shun systematization but welcome kinship. Pynchon's fiction is the substrate underlying each. Abstract machines of theorists thinking on similar wavelengths are used as catalysts in an effort to force a reaction – an attempt to transmute the stories of paranoid schlemihls into yet more paranoid epistemologies. How do we understand the degree to which we are organized by whatever systematizes? How do we relate to whatever organizes our knowledge, our identities? What, exactly, is playing us? These are the anxieties these essays share with Pynchon's characters and formulate the questions driving their theory. Call it the Post-Modern, the Post-Human, or any other Post, Pynchon anticipated its event horizon half a century before its more obvious implications made themselves clear. If we have passed fully over this horizon, figuring out where we are and what's going on has become a question of survival, and Pynchon's anticipation of our contemporary scene have become increasingly salient. These essays offer paranoid epistemologies for the age of disappearance.

This thesis explores what to have distorted scientific knowledge claims due to socially constructed conceptions of gender. Using the paradigm example of the explanation of human fertilization misrepresenting knowledge as it maps on stereotypes about the passive female and the active male onto the scientific participation of the egg and the sperm. Exploring arguments presented by feminist epistemologists, I argue that in order to produce knowledge free of distortions due to problematic social conceptions we must engage in a specific epistemological framework with three main components: 1) critically and systematically examine the subject of knowledge in relation to the object of knowledge, 2) make efforts to diversify inquirers as the perspectives of marginalized identities are important to informing where dominant narratives are failing to be objective and 3) actively acknowledge the role that values play in inquiry and promote feminist values. The framework presented is specifically applicable to knowledge distortions present in scientific inquiry but, importantly, can also inform individual epistemic relationship.

<p>Denna uppsats undersöker den kvantitativa och den kvalitativa forskningsmetoden ur ett kunskapsteoretiskt och ett vetenskapsteoretiskt perspektiv. I fråga om kvalitativ forskning har metoderna hermeneutik och fenomenologi studerats särskilt grundligt. Uppsatsen argumenterar för att kunskapsteoretiska och vetenskapsteoretiska antaganden måste vara gemensamma för de båda typerna av metod, om man anser att båda typerna ska betraktas som vetenskapliga. Vidare hävdas att de kvalitativa metoderna är sammankopplade med en rad problem beträffande objektivitet, generaliserbarhet, rättfärdigande av kunskap och teoriers empiriska stöd. I många fall utger sig dessa metoder för att leva upp till de krav man ställer på vetenskaplig forskning i dessa avseenden i lika hög grad som kvantitativ metod, men en av uppsatsens teser är att de misslyckas med detta. I uppsatsen hävdas att vetenskapens mål är att generera generaliserbar kunskap. På grund av de kunskapsteoretiska problem kvalitativ forskning stöter på, kan sådan forskning inte ensam nå detta mål och således inte ha någon självständig plats i vetenskapen, utan kan endast tjäna ett förvetenskapligt syfte, genom att, i vissa fall, formulera frågor och hypoteser som sedan besvaras respektive testas av kvantitativ forskning.</p> / <p>This paper examines the quantitative and the qualitative research methods with respect to both epistemology and the philosophy of science. With regards to qualitative research, the paper takes a closer look at the hermeneutic and the phenomenological methods in particular. The paper argues that the different types of method must have the same epistemological assumptions, if it is held that both types ought to be considered scientific. It is further claimed that the qualitative methods are connected to several problems concerning objectivity, generalizability, the justification of knowledge and the empirical support of theories. In many cases, these methods purport to live up to the requirements that are made on scientific research in these respects to the same degree as the quantitative method, but one of the theses of this paper is that they fail to do this. In the paper, it is maintained that the goal of science is to generate generalizable knowledge. Due to the epistemological problems qualitative research are faced with, such research cannot reach that goal alone and thus cannot hold an independent position in science, but can only serve a prescientific purpose, by, in some cases, drawing up questions and hypotheses which are then answered and tested respectively, by quantitative research.</p>

A number of philosophical questions, all connected to modern research in quantum gravity, are discussed in this dissertation. The goal of research in quantum gravity is to find a quantum theory for gravitation; the other fundamental forces are already understood in terms of quantum physics. Quantum gravity is studied within a number of different research programmes. The most popular are string theory and loop quantum gravity; besides these a number of other approaches are pursued. Due to the lack of empirical support, it is relevant to assess the scientific status of this research. This is done from four different points of view, namely the ones held by: logical positivists, Popper, Kuhn and Lakatos. It is then argued that research in quantum gravity may be considered scientific, conditional on scientists being open with the tentative and speculative nature of their pursuits. Given the lack of empirical progress, in all approaches to quantum gravity, a pluralistic strategy is advised. In string theory there are different theoretical formulations, or dualities, which are physically equivalent. This is relevant for the problem of underdetermination of theories by data, and the debate on scientific realism. Different views on the dualities are possible. It is argued that a more empiricist view on the semantics of theories, than what has been popular lately, ought to be adopted. This is of importance for our understanding of what the theories tell us about space and time. In physics and philosophy, the idea that there are worlds or universes other than our own, has appeared in different contexts. It is discussed how we should understand these different suggestions; how they are similar and how they are different. A discussion on, how and when theoretical multiverse scenarios can be empirically testable, is also given. The reliability of thought experiments in physics in general and in quantum gravity in particular is evaluated. Thought experiments can be important for heuristic purposes, but in the case of quantum gravity, conclusions based on thoght experiments are not very reliable.

Denna uppsats undersöker den kvantitativa och den kvalitativa forskningsmetoden ur ett kunskapsteoretiskt och ett vetenskapsteoretiskt perspektiv. I fråga om kvalitativ forskning har metoderna hermeneutik och fenomenologi studerats särskilt grundligt. Uppsatsen argumenterar för att kunskapsteoretiska och vetenskapsteoretiska antaganden måste vara gemensamma för de båda typerna av metod, om man anser att båda typerna ska betraktas som vetenskapliga. Vidare hävdas att de kvalitativa metoderna är sammankopplade med en rad problem beträffande objektivitet, generaliserbarhet, rättfärdigande av kunskap och teoriers empiriska stöd. I många fall utger sig dessa metoder för att leva upp till de krav man ställer på vetenskaplig forskning i dessa avseenden i lika hög grad som kvantitativ metod, men en av uppsatsens teser är att de misslyckas med detta. I uppsatsen hävdas att vetenskapens mål är att generera generaliserbar kunskap. På grund av de kunskapsteoretiska problem kvalitativ forskning stöter på, kan sådan forskning inte ensam nå detta mål och således inte ha någon självständig plats i vetenskapen, utan kan endast tjäna ett förvetenskapligt syfte, genom att, i vissa fall, formulera frågor och hypoteser som sedan besvaras respektive testas av kvantitativ forskning. / This paper examines the quantitative and the qualitative research methods with respect to both epistemology and the philosophy of science. With regards to qualitative research, the paper takes a closer look at the hermeneutic and the phenomenological methods in particular. The paper argues that the different types of method must have the same epistemological assumptions, if it is held that both types ought to be considered scientific. It is further claimed that the qualitative methods are connected to several problems concerning objectivity, generalizability, the justification of knowledge and the empirical support of theories. In many cases, these methods purport to live up to the requirements that are made on scientific research in these respects to the same degree as the quantitative method, but one of the theses of this paper is that they fail to do this. In the paper, it is maintained that the goal of science is to generate generalizable knowledge. Due to the epistemological problems qualitative research are faced with, such research cannot reach that goal alone and thus cannot hold an independent position in science, but can only serve a prescientific purpose, by, in some cases, drawing up questions and hypotheses which are then answered and tested respectively, by quantitative research.

The Stories of Environmental Ethicists in Word and Image captures the spirit of three local people: John B. Cobb, Jr., Rosemary Radford Ruether, and Dean Freudenberger. As teachers, writers, activists, and members of the progressive retirement community Pilgrim Place, they’ve had a significant influence on the global environmental movement. The photographs and small essays in this project highlight who they are and what they’ve done, and how they continue to shape contemporary intellectual discourse. An analysis of how portrait photographers use images to tell stories and how they incorporate text in their photographic collections to create fuller, more robust pictures of their subjects provides context. An epilogue explains a mixed-media artwork I created that evolved out of my conversations with Cobb, Ruether, and Freudenberger. A three-dimensional rendering of transformations currently happening in California’s landscape, it visualizes rural and urban spheres converging within the state. It shows how boundaries separating what we’ve traditionally categorized as “country” and “city” are eroding, and how the landscape is becoming simultaneously rural and urban. New spatial forms are springing up and integrating in ways we’ve never seen before. As green areas get grayer, gray areas get greener. The mixed-media installation attempts to bring people’s attention to various environmental shifts happening now in California and all over the world, and to ask us to question the implications of such changes.

This thesis scrutinizes modern metaphysics through a specific reading and critique of Cartesian Philosophy. In the study, the concepts of metaphysics, ideology, modernity, subject and modern science are re-examined in their relations among them and in that the peculiarity of modern metaphysics is attempted to be revealed. At the core of the thesis, Descartes&rsquo / understanding of subject is inquired to be modern subject, and its role in the transformations happened in Western world with the advent of modern age is studied. Also, the two main axes of the critique of subject, subject as substance and subject as effect, are questioned in their difference or similarity regarding in essence their matter of inquiry, by modeling the Cartesian Subject.

The aim of this qualitative study was to explore research assistants&rsquo / opinions regarding the courses they take during their graduate study in terms of improving their science perception and research skills. The research questions include research assistants&rsquo / assessments about the effectiveness of graduate courses on research skills and science perception, their evaluation of the graduate programs in terms of improving science perception, and their suggestions on the improvement of the quality of the graduate program regarding science perception and research skills. The sample for the present study contains 12 interviewees from four different v institutes of Middle East Technical University. The interviewees are all PhD candidates at METU. The sample was chosen by using purposive sampling. In this study, the data collection instrument was a semi-structured interview guide designed by the researcher. There were 8 main questions and 9 sub-questions. The collected data was analyzed through content analysis. The results of the study are presented under four main themes, which were derived from the research questions. First theme was the assessment of research skills which was about usefulness of courses, competence about research methods, reasons for not taking courses, problems because of not taking them. The second theme was the assessment of science perception which was about contributions of courses, reasons for not taking courses. The third theme was the evaluation of the graduate programs which consisted of should-be-developed and positive aspects. The last theme was about suggestions which could be realized by university administration and by personal efforts. In conclusion, the findings revealed that the research assistants are aware of the importance of research methods course for enhancing research skills, and of effectiveness of history and philosophy of science course regarding the improving of science perception. In this respect, based on literature review and the research assistants&rsquo / views it is suggested that history and philosophy of science course utilizing explicitly-reflective inquiry approach should be included curriculum of graduate programs.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2008. / Vita. Advisor : Paul Buhle. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 421-427).