Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Epistemic states'

This thesis explores the moral significance of agent beliefs and epistemic states. In particular it will explore the following question: is an agent's moral obligation a function of her actual circumstances, what she believes those circumstances to be, or what her evidence indicates those circumstances are? Three corresponding views are explored and it is argued that each of these views is subject to one of two substantial worries, which are developed in this thesis (i.e. the manipulation worry and the unreasonableness worry).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Kent State University, 2009.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Nov. 13, 2009). Advisor: Tom Hensley. Keywords: No Child Left Behind Act, NCLB, epistemic communities, Antoniades, education policy. Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-223).

It is commonly claimed that certain tenets and doctrines of the Christian faith are paradoxical, that is, they give the appearance (at least) of logical inconsistency. In addition to alleged conceptual problems with classical theism, certain distinctively Christian doctrines – most notably, the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of the Incarnation – have frequently been thought to suffer from serious internal logical difficulties. As such, question are naturally raised about the rationality of Christian beliefs. Since the earliest days of the church, sceptics have marshalled such considerations in defence of their stance of unbelief or outright disbelief with respect to the Christian faith. More remarkable, however, is the number of Christian thinkers who have concurred with their conclusions. Some have conceded not only the charge of paradoxically but also the charge of irrationality, shrugging it off or even championing it as a virtue. Others have granted that certain doctrines are paradoxical, but reject the accusation of intellectual impropriety. These differing stances indicate that there are two key questions to be answered concerning paradox in Christian theology. (1) Are any essential Christian doctrines genuinely paradoxical? (2) Can a person to rational in believing a paradoxical doctrine? In the first part of the thesis I develop a case for answering (1) in the affirmative, arguing that the orthodox Christian doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, as reflected in the creeds and confessions of the early church, are indeed paradoxical. This conclusion is supported by (i) the history of the early Trinitarian and Christological controversies and (ii) the failure of contemporary theologians and philosophers to identify interpretations of these doctrines which avoid paradox while preserving orthodoxy. I also consider a range of strategies for responding to the problem of theological paradox, concluding that each is inadequate on either philosophical or theological grounds (or both). In the second part of the thesis I develop a case for answering (2) in the affirmative: even if certain Christian doctrines are paradoxical, Christians can nonetheless be rational in believing them.

Dans ce travail, nous étudions l’évaluation de la fiabilité, la modélisation et l’optimisation de systèmes à états arbitraires à incertitude épistémique. Tout d'abord, une approche universelle de modélisation à l'état arbitraire est proposée afin d'étudier efficacement les systèmes industriels modernes aux structures, mécanismes de fonctionnement et exigences de fiabilité de plus en plus complexes. De simples implémentations de modèles de fiabilité binaires, continus ou multi-états traditionnels ont montré leurs lacunes en termes de manque de généralité lors de la modélisation de structures, systèmes, réseaux et systèmes de systèmes industriels modernes et complexes. Dans ce travail, nous intéressons aussi particulièrement aux systèmes monotones, non seulement parce que la monotonie est apparue couramment dans la plupart des modèles de fiabilité standard, mais aussi qu’une propriété mathématique aussi simple permet une simplification énorme de nombreux problèmes extrêmement complexes. Ensuite, pour les systèmes de fiabilité monotones à états arbitraires, nous essayons de résoudre les problèmes suivants, qui sont apparus dans les principes mêmes de la modélisation mathématique: 1. L’évaluation de la fiabilité dans un environnement incertain épistémique avec des structures hiérarchiques être exploitées par toute approche de programmation 2; l'optimisation de la fiabilité / maintenance pour les systèmes à grande fiabilité avec incertitude épistémique
In this work, we study the reliability assessment, modeling and optimization of arbitrary-state systems with epistemic uncertainty. Firstly, a universal arbitrary-state modelling approach is proposed, in order to effectively study the modern industrial systems with increasingly complicated structures, operation mechanisms and reliability demands. Simple implementations of traditional binary, continuous or multi-state reliability models have been showing their deficiencies in lack of generality, when modelling such complex modern industrial structures, systems, networks and systems-of-systems. In this work, we are also particularly interested in monotone systems, not only because monotonicity commonly appeared in most of the standard reliability models, but also that such a simple mathematical property allows a huge simplification to many extremely complex problems. Then, for the arbitrary-state monotone reliability systems, we try to solve the following challenges that appeared in its very fundamentals of mathematical modeling: 1. The reliability assessment under epistemic uncertain environment with hierarchy structures; 2. The reliability/maintenance optimization for large reliability systems under epistemic uncertainty

In learning language, children have to acquire not only words and constructions, but also the ability to make inferences about a speaker’s intended meaning. For instance, if in answer to the question, ‘what did you put in the bag?’, the speaker says, ‘I put in a book’, then the hearer infers that the speaker put in only a book, by assuming that the speaker is informative. On a Gricean approach to pragmatics, this implicated meaning – a quantity implicature – involves reasoning about the speaker’s epistemic state. This thesis examines children’s development of implicature understanding. It seeks to address the question of what the relationship is in development between quantity, relevance and manner implicatures; whether word learning by exclusion is a pragmatic forerunner to implicature, or based on a lexical heuristic; and whether reasoning about the speaker’s epistemic state is part of children’s pragmatic competence. This thesis contributes to research in experimental and developmental pragmatics by broadening the focus of investigation to include different types of implicatures, the relationship between them, and the contribution of other aspects of children’s development, including structural language knowledge. It makes the novel comparison of word learning by exclusion with a clearly pragmatic skill – implicatures – and opens an investigation of manner implicatures in development. It also presents new findings suggesting that children’s early competence with quantity implicatures in simple communicative situations belies their ongoing development in more complex ones, particularly where the speaker’s epistemic state is at stake. I present a series of experiments based on a sentence-to-picture-matching task, with children aged 3 to 7 years. In the first study, I identify a developmental trajectory whereby word learning by exclusion inferences emerge first, followed by ad hoc quantity and relevance, and finally scalar quantity inferences, which reflects their increasing complexity in a Gricean model. Then, I explore cognitive and environmental factors that might be associated with children’s pragmatic skills, and show that structural language knowledge – and, associated with it, socioeconomic status – is a main predictor of their implicature understanding. In the second study, I lay out some predictions for the development of manner implicatures, find similar patterns of understanding in children and adults, and highlight the particular challenges of studying manner implicatures experimentally. Finally, I focus on children’s ability to take into account the speaker’s epistemic state in pragmatic inferencing. While adults do not derive a quantity implicature appropriately when the speaker is ignorant, children tend to persist in deriving implicatures regardless of speaker ignorance, suggesting a continuing challenge of integrating contextual with linguistic information in utterance interpretation.

The following study examines the process behind the legalization of homosexual acts in Sweden between the years of 1933-1944. This is done through Michel Foucault’s thoughts about bio-power and episteme. The study also relies on the definition of heteronormativity found in Tiina Rosenbergs book Queerfeministisk agenda. I have made use of public Swedish government publications in the form of Statens offentliga utredningar (loosely translated to public investigations by the government) and motions, propositions and protocol from the Swedish parliament between the investigated period (1933-1944). The goal of the study was to identify the most influential episteme which in turn was analysed to see, if it in any way, influenced the discourse against homosexuals in a positive or negative way. Results from the study confirms that the contemporary episteme named after Emil Kraeplin which concludes that homosexual behaviour was seen in the light of being something socially constructed and could therefore be spread between individuals in the means of homosexual manipulations. This lead the episteme to influence the discourse against homosexuals to be viewed as a disease and a mental illness. By looking at homosexuality from the outlook of the Kraeplin episteme the Swedish law was formed in a way to protect the Swedish youth from being able to be manipulated into spreading the homosexual acts.

A poco más de diez años de la emergencia de universidades interculturales (UI) en México, sus egresados y egresadas comienzan a desempeñarse profesionalmente en diversos espacios. En el caso de la Universidad Intercultural del Estado de Puebla, a partir de entrevistas analizo las tensiones que sus egresados enfrentan en un mercado laboral caracterizado por la precarización e inseguridad, al tiempo que busco identificar los elementos que los distinguen como «profesionistas interculturales». Concluyo que el modelo educativo de las UI vinculadas con la Coordinación General de Educación Intercultural y Bilingüe promueve la formación de profesionistas capaces de llevar a cabo estrategias de visibilización de la diversidad cultural y lingüística, pero no necesariamente con la intención de cuestionar o transformar el sistema político-económico dominante. Asimismo, identifico los espacios laborales que se crean o son ocupados por estos novedosos profesionistas y las «fricciones epistémicas» que enfrentan al tratar de incorporarse al mundo laboral y que se manifiestan en la manera en que su toma de decisiones se ve inserta en un conflicto entre dedicar sus esfuerzos a satisfacer sus necesidades y aspiraciones personales o priorizar el trabajo en beneficio de su comunidad; todo ello en un contexto de altos índices de precarización laboral.
A little more than ten years after the emergence of Intercultural Universities (UIs) in Mexico, their graduates begin to perform professionally in various spaces. Based on interviews with graduates of the Intercultural University of the State of Puebla, I analyze the tensions they face in a labor market characterized by precarization and insecurity, while seeking to identify the elements that distinguish them as «intercultural professionals». I conclude that the educational model of the UIs linked to the General Coordination of Intercultural and Bilingual Education promotes the formation of professionals capable of carrying out strategies to visualize cultural and linguistic diversity, but not necessarily with the intention of questioning or transforming the dominant political-economic system. Likewise, the labor spaces that are created or occupied by these new professionals are identified, as well as the «epistemic frictions» that they face when trying to enter the world of work, which are manifested in the way in which their decision-making is inserted in a conflict between dedicating their efforts to satisfy their personal needs and aspirations, or prioritizing work for the benefit of their community; all in a context of high rates of precarious work.

The study sought to uncover the constitution of migrant women's agency as they rebuild their lives in Australia, and to explore how contact with any publicly funded services might influence the capacity to be self determining subjects. The thesis used a framework of lifeworld theories (Bourdieu, Schutz, Giddens), materialist, trans-national feminist and post colonial writings, and a methodological approach based on critical hermeneutics (Ricoeur), feminist standpoint and decolonising theories. Thirty in depth interviews were carried out with 6 women migrating from each of 5 regions: Vietnam, Lebanon, the Horn of Africa, the former Soviet Union and the Philippines. Australian based immigration literature constituted the third corner of triangulation. The interviews were carried out through an exploration of themes format, eliciting data about the different ontological and epistemological assumptions of the cultures of origin. The findings revealed not only the women's remarkable tenacity and resilience as creative agents, but also the indispensability of Australia's publicly funded infrastructure or welfare state. The women were mostly privileged in terms of class, education and affirming relationships with males. Nevertheless, their self determination depended on contact with universal public policies, programs and with local community services. The welfare state seems to be modernity's means for re-establishing human connectedness that is the crux of the human condition. Connecting with fellow Australians in friendships and neighbourliness was also important in resettlement. Conclusions include a policy discussion in agreement with Australian and international scholars proposing that there is no alternative but for governments to invest in a welfare state for the civil societies and knowledge based economies of the 21st Century.

Nesta tese, explicitamos os mecanismos de produção de sentido que discursivizam a Bíblia Sagrada como Palavra Revelada de Deus. Mostramos como o texto bíblico, na qualidade de enunciado marcado por pessoa, tempo e espaço definidos, constrói para si o sentido de discurso omnipessoal, omnitemporal e omniespacial promovendo o processo de significação e de permanência que o qualifica como texto fundador do cristianismo. Defendemos a tese de que o texto bíblico discursiviza de modo peculiar o mundo divino e seus atores e produz, em termos de presença, um impacto que mobiliza o enunciatário, como corpo sensível, a um fazer interpretativo que o sanciona e acolhe o conhecimento apresentado como Palavra Revelada de Deus. Dessa maneira, o discurso promove uma transformação no estado epistêmico do enunciatário e demanda dele uma resposta cognitiva e ética orientada pela axiologia cristã. Discutimos a formação e a delimitação do corpo actorial nas narrativas bíblicas do Evangelho de Lucas e em Atos dos Apóstolos. Utilizando o conceito de narratividade da enunciação, defendemos que esses textos constroem, por meio da enunciação enunciada, uma peculiar cena enunciativa em que o enunciador é o sujeito de uma performance que constitui o mundo divino, em que Deus é o arquienunciador e o Destinador transcendente. Esse movimento promove o estabelecimento de um contrato de veridicção também peculiar que faz com que o sobrenatural seja a expectativa do gênero e o meio de configuração e confirmação da presença divina. O deslocamento actancial do enunciador para um destinador compatível com a Palavra Revelada funda-se no conceito greimasiano de Destinador transcendente. Permeiam, pois, os movimentos de garimpo feito da discursivização da Palavra Revelada a Semiótica de raiz greimasiana e, a partir do instrumental da Semiótica tensiva, descrevemos os efeitos subjetais promovidos pela discursivização da presença divina no texto bíblico. O encadeamento de programas narrativos promove um ritmo assomo-resolução que mantém a tensão e o impacto sensível ao longo do texto. É um ritmo que gera também no enunciatário um esforço em busca da reorganização afetiva, o que é descrito como um pervir sensibilizado que ampara a transformação do estado epistêmico do sujeito. Por fim, entendemos ter comprovado que é possível e é viável examinar a Bíblia como um discurso entre outros, de modo que essa transformação epistêmica seja o fundamento para uma série de mudanças cognitivas e éticas que dão suporte a práticas cristãs como a própria leitura bíblica, a que sucedem a memorização de passagens, a participação em estudos bíblicos e sermões e a divulgação do conteúdo e da ética cristã a não crentes.
In this thesis we have specified the mechanisms of production of meaning that put The Holy Bible as discourse making it the Revealed Word of God. We show how the biblical text, as utterance marked by person, time and space set, builds for itself the sense of omni personal, omni temporal and omni spatial speech promoting the process of signification and residence that qualifies it as a founding text of Christianity. We defend the thesis that the biblical text put in discourse in a peculiar way the divine world and his actors and it produces, in terms of a presence, an impact that mobilizes the enunciatary, as sensitive body, to make the interpretive act that sanctions and receive the knowledge submited as Revealed Word of God. In this way, the discourse promotes a transformation in the epistemic state of enunciatary and demand a cognitive and ethical response guided by Christian axiology. We discuss the formation and delimitation of the actorial body in biblical narrative from the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Using the concept of narrativity of enunciation, we demonstrate that, by means of the enunciate enunciation, this texts builds a peculiar enunciative scene in which the enunciator is the subject of a performance. This performance sets up the divine world where God is the arquienunciator and the Transcendent Destinador. This movement promotes the establishment of a peculiar veridiction contract that makes the supernatural to be installed as the expectation of the genre and the means of setting and confirming the divine presence. That actancial displacement of the enunciator to a destinator compatible with the Revealed Word is based on the greimasian concept of Transcendent Destinador. The moviments of minning done on the discourse of the Revealed Word permeate the greimasian semiotics and from the instrumental of the tensive semiotics, we describe the subjectals effects promoted by the constructed discourse of the divine presence in the biblical text. We demonstrate that the chaining of narrative programs promotes an astonishment-resolution rhythm that keeps the tension and the sensitive impact throughout the text. Its a rhythm who generates also in the enunciatary an effort in search of affective reorganization described as a sensibilized exercise that holds the transformation of the epistemic status of the subject. Finally, we understant to have confirm that is possible e viable to examine the Bible as a discourse among others, for what we show that this epistemic transformation is the basis for a series of cognitive and ethical changes that support Christian practices like reading the Bible, the memorization of passages, participating in Bible studies and sermons and the dissemination of Christian content and of ethics to non-believers.

L’objectif de cette thèse est de construire un framework qui représente les incertitudes aléatoires et épistémiques basé sur les approches probabilistes et des théories d’incertain, de comparer les méthodes et de trouver les propres applications sur les grands systèmes avec événement rares. Dans la thèse, une méthode de normalité asymptotique a été proposée avec simulation de Monte Carlo dans les cas binaires ainsi qu'un modèle semi-Markovien dans les cas de systèmes multi-états dynamiques. On a aussi appliqué la théorie d’ensemble aléatoire comme un modèle de base afin d’évaluer la fiabilité et les autres indicateurs de performance dans les systèmes binaires et multi-états avec technique bootstrap
Our research objective is to build frameworks representing both aleatory and epistemic uncertainties based on probabilistic approach and uncertainty approaches and to compare these methods and find the proper applicatin for these methods in large scale systems with rare event. In this thesis, an asymptotic normality method is proposed with Monte Carlo simulation in case of binary systems as well as semi-Markov model for cases of dynamic multistate system. We also apply random set as a basic model to evaluate system reliability and other performance indices on binary and multistate systems with bootstrap technique

Generalizing Belnap's system of epistemic states [Bel77] we obtain the system of disjunctive factbases which is the paradigm for all other kinds of disjunctive knowledge bases. Disjunctive factbases capture the nonmonotonic reasoning based on paraminimal models. In the schema of a disjunctive factbase, certain predicates of the resp. domain are declared to be exact, i.e. two-valued, and in turn some of these exact predicates are declared to be subject to the Closed-World Assumption (CWA). Thus, we distinguish between three kinds of predicates: inexact predicates, exact predicates subject to the CWA, and exact predicates not subject to the CWA.

碩士
國立陽明大學
心智哲學研究所
103
Abstract Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness (NOSC) are states of consciousness in which the consciousness of the subject is fundamentally altered, but not pathologically impaired. The NOSC can be induced in number of ways, which for the purposes of this thesis, I roughly separate in two groups, one non-pharmacological, and the other pharmacological. In both cases, the ways to induce NOSC come either from comprehensive cultural and historical backgrounds, or from modern consciousness research. By putting emphasis on these backgrounds, I examine and compare the phenomenology encountered in the two approaches (non-pharmacological and pharmacological) in order to see if there are similarities and differences between them. I made two important conclusions from this research. The first conclusion is that in a sustained exposure to such states, the mind starts to exhibit a phenomenology which is characterized by an increased sense of integration of previously unknown or suppressed subconscious parts. This phenomenology further extends towards feelings of wholeness, or oneness with what is usually experienced as “otherness”. The tendency of the human mind to move, in NOSC, towards increasingly subsuming states characterized by feelings of oneness, or wholeness, is the reason why Stanislav Grof has coined the term “holotropic mind”, or a “mind that moves towards wholeness”. This phenomenon of experiencing oneness with one’s surroundings has been noted in many traditional spiritual paths. I propose that when the mind moves towards wholeness during NOSC, it actually moves towards a more comprehensive experiential insight in which it realizes that the representations of what one experiences as otherness (people, beings etc.) are in fact part of one’s own mind. This conclusion can extend even further towards one’s own sense of self, which can also be experienced as an impermanent representation inextricably related to the representations of “otherness” and representations brought about by interoceptive, proprioceptive and somatosensory bodily awareness. Thus, we come to the second conclusion, that the interdisciplinary research into NOSC provides us with an empirical confirmation of Bayne &; Chalmers’ concept of “total phenomenal state“, or a state which subsumes all “what it is like” states. I my thesis, I propose that the incorporation of concepts like “total phenomenal state” and “holotropic mind” into the philosophical discourse could further aid our understanding of pertinent issues related to the self, personal identity and unity of consciousness.

This dissertation consists in a defence of the claim that belief is a state on which its bearer can reflect only deliberatively. That partial characterization of the concept is intended to throw light on the status of belief as a rational phenomenon. I defend it by appeal to features of our actual and imagined practices of ascribing belief linguistically, both to others and ourselves. Having set out the characterization in the first of four chapters, in the second chapter I survey the ways of learning from words: evidentially, by report, and by belief-expression. I go on to propose that where a person’s words afford belief of his belief, they do so through the belief-expressive character of assertoric speech. In the third chapter, I defend that claim as it applies to the case of ascribing belief to another. I argue that my characterization best explains the fact that we do not ordinarily report our beliefs or invite others to do so. I explain our ordinarily ascribing belief from the expressive character of assertoric speech by appeal to the relation between assertion and belief. In the fourth chapter, I turn to the prospect of ascribing oneself belief based on one’s own words. I argue that self-ascribing belief through the expressive character of words is alone consistent with the self-ascriber’s basic psychological and linguistic integrity. I recommend my characterization of belief for its capacity to explain the disintegrating effects of self-ascribing belief by one’s own report. I again appeal to the relation between assertoric speech and belief to explain the feasibility of self-ascribing belief through the expressive character of one’s words.

D.Phil. (Psychology)
In the first part of the thesis the need for theory development in psychology is sketched by a review of the relevant literature, thus justifying the necessity of theoretical research in psychology. The appropriate method for theory development - comparative metatheoretical analysis - is delineated, and situated against the background of two major approaches to theory development in psychology: the transcendental and the empirical. The key terms that form the basis of most of the analyses are defined, and the aim and scope of the thesis is briefly stated. The second part consists of a review of the competing philosophical views regarding theorizing and scientific inquiry in the social sciences, with the goal of developing an adequate metatheory for psychology. It starts with a historical overview of developments in the philosophy of science, emphasizing issues that are relevant to psychology. The development of scientific realism is reviewed, with a specific focus upon McMullin's empirical argument in favour of realism, and Bhaskar's transcendental justification of realism. It is also shown how realism was adapted by Bhaskar in order to suit the social sciences. Social constructionism the diametric opposite of realism - is then reviewed, as well as the intermediate positions of Manicas and Rosenberg, and Layder. These positions are all critically evaluated, and a choice in favour of a realism as the most appropriate metatheory for social science and psychology is made. In the third part of the thesis the principles of the realist position are developed further and applied to psychology. In this regard, a framework is developed to assess the epistemic status of psychology as a distinctive and legitimate social science, when seen in relation to the other social sciences. The implications of a stratified reality for psychological explanation is examined, and these implications are also linked to psychology' 5 distinctive subject matter and domain of investigation. The epistemic status of psychological explanation in relation to ordinary language accounts is examined, and the influence of stratification in psychological explanation is analyzed. A substantive realist position for psychology is then developed, which starts with a brief review of Manicas and Secord's realist position. The realist position developed has some differences in emphasis when compared to that of Bhaskar, most notably as far as the notion of structural explanation is concerned. Four theoretical case studies the theoretical debate between Guilford and Eysenck, Gustaffson 's structure-of-intellect theory, Campbell and Fiske's validational model,and cross-cultural ability research in Africa - are used to illustrate the thesis that psychological theories are in fact realist explanations aimed at approximating the causes of observed effects. This development of a substantive realist position is followed by a comprehensive analysis of the epistemic power of psychological theories. This analysis is initiated by distinguishing between various levels of causal explanation in psychology, and a framework of levels of causal explanation is developed and linked to the notion of explanatory power. The realist view of psychological theories also entails that psychological theories are seen as having certain epistemic characteristics, and these characteristics can also be seen as evaluative criteria. A model for theory evaluation in psychology is developed in which these criteria are subsumed, whereby theories can be evaluated according to two major axes of evaluation: an axis assessing the epistemic gains effected by any given theory; and an axis which assesses the influence of external factors (or the social domain) upon the epistemic status of a theory. The utility of the model is demonstrated by two applications: a preliminary assessment of Sternberg's theory of human reasoning, and an extended case study which charts the development of Festinger' s theory of cognitive dissonance, and which culminates in the evaluation of the theory. The epistemic gains achieved by the model for theory evaluation are discussed, and the thesis concludes with an afterword where the benefits and limitations of the investigation are discussed.

In this thesis, a particular class of agent is singled out for examination. In order to provide a guiding metaphor, we speak of control room agents. Our focus is on rational decision- making by such agents, where the circumstances obtaining are such that rationality is bounded. Control room agents, whether human or non-human, need to reason and act in a changing environment with only limited information available to them. Determining the current state of the environment is a central concern for control room agents if they are to reason and act sensibly. A control room agent cannot plan its actions without having an internal representation (epistemic state) of its environment, and cannot make rational decisions unless this representation, to some level of accuracy, reflects the state of its environment. The focus of this thesis is on three aspects regarding the epistemic functioning of a control room agent: 1. How should the epistemic state of a control room agent be represented in order to facilitate logical analysis? 2. How should a control room agent change its epistemic state upon receiving new information? 3. How should a control room agent combine available information from different sources? In describing the class of control room agents as first-order intentional systems hav- ing both informational and motivational attitudes, an agent-oriented view is adopted. The central construct used in the information-theoretic approach, which is qualitative in nature, is the concept of a templated ordering. Representing the epistemic state of a control room agent by a (special form of) tem- plated ordering signals a departure from the many approaches in which only the beliefs of an agent are represented. Templated orderings allow for the representation of both knowledge and belief. A control room agent changes its epistemic state according to a proposed epistemic change algorithm, which allows the agent to select between two well-established forms of belief change operations, namely, belief revision and belief update. The combination of (possibly conflicting) information from different sources has re- ceived a lot of attention in recent years. Using templated orderings for the semantic representation of information, a new family of purely qualitative merging operations is developed.
School of Computing
Ph. D. (Computer Science)

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2000.
Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-52).

The ability to change one's beliefs in a rational manner is one of many facets of the abilities of an intelligent agent. Central to any investigation of belief change is the notion of an epistemic state. This dissertation is mainly concerned with three issues involving epistemic states: 1. How should an epistemic state be represented? 2. How does an agent use an epistemic state to perform belief change? 3. How does an agent arrive at a particular epistemic state? With regard to the first question, note that there are many different methods for constructing belief change operations. We argue that semantic constructions involving ordered pairs, each consisting of a set of beliefs and an ordering on the set of "possible worlds" (or equivalently, on the set of basic independent bits of information) are, in an important sense, more fundamental. Our answer to the second question provides indirect support for the use of semantic structures. We show how well-known belief change operations and related structures can be modelled semantically. Furthermore, we introduce new forms of belief change related operations and structures which are all defined, and motivated, in terms of such semantic representational formalisms. These include a framework for unifying belief revision and nonmonotonic reasoning, new versions of entrenchment orderings on beliefs, novel approaches to withdrawal operations, and an expanded view of iterated belief change. The third question is. one which has not received much attention in the belief change literature. We propose to extract extra-logical information from the formal representation of an agent's set of beliefs, which can then be used in the construction of epistemic state. his proposal is just a first approximation, although it seems to have the potential for developing into a full-fledged theory.
Computing
D.Phil.(Computer Science)

This is a study of two compilations that originated in western Iran before the Mongol conquest. The research contributes to the ongoing discussion of the organization and preservation of knowledge in literate societies. The Muḥāḍarāt al-udabā’ wa-muḥāwarāt al-shuʿarā' wa'l-bulaghā' (Conversations among Men of Letters and Debates between Men of Poetry and Rhetoric) is a major anthology of literary Arabic, ascribed to the lexicographer and philosopher Abū al-Qāsim al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. before 1050?). The Rāḥat al-ṣudūr wa-āyat al-surūr (Comfort of Hearts and Wonder of Delights) is a Persian miscellany about the Great Seljuq sultanate that Muḥammad al-Rāwandī (d. after 1209), an obscure calligrapher and theologian, compiled in the first decade of the thirteenth century in Hamadan to petition the Rum Seljuq sultan Kay Khusrau (ruled 1192-1197 and 1205-1211) in Konya. Both works are single-subject encyclopedias, designed as comprehensive textbooks. The circulation of manuscripts and imprints provides a diachronic perspective on the diffusion of knowledge. These textbooks circulated largely between Isfahan and Istanbul. Rāghib’s anthology is a propaedeutic work for a general audience, and is still in print in contemporary Middle Eastern societies. In contrast, Rāwandī’s miscellany is a personalized curriculum of Great Seljuq politics and courtly etiquette, and thus became obsolete in the sixteenth century. The biographical data on their authors offer the complementary synchronic perspective on the geography of knowledge in pre-Mongol Iran. The contents of the Muḥāḍarāt and the Rāḥat illustrate how their authors utilized well-established conventions of transmitting knowledge to compile an anthology of literary Arabic and a miscellany about the Great Seljuq sultanate. The arrangement of their contents is the most original aspect of these textbooks. On the macro-level, the sequence of parts, chapters, and sections follows a principle of associative order of topics and disciplines. The textbooks are witnesses to societal dependence on literacy. The oral transmission of knowledge had lost its monopoly, yet writing was less a replacement than a supplement to the oral tradition. The contents and structure of the Muḥāḍarāt and the Rāḥat document the continued prestige and use of oral practices within a literate society.

Educational environments are unable to meet the needs of each individual child. It is believed that individual characteristics of children both limit and promote their learning experiences. Those characteristics that promote learning are essential tools that aid parents and teachers in their efforts to educate children. These characteristics need to be identified and nurtured during the learning process. It has long been suggested that curiosity is one such variable. This study wishes to determine the association between curiosity and learning potential within the dynamic assessment paradigm. A small quasi-experiment was conducted on 39 seven and eight year old children with the use of two assessment measures. The Cognitive Modifiability Battery, built on dynamic assessment theory, measures learning potential. An adapted version of the Multidimensional Curiosity Inventory, still in development, measures various types of curiosity. It was hypothesized that children with high levels of curiosity would measure high in learning potential and those with low levels of curiosity would measure low in learning potential. However, after dividing participants into four groups according to level of curiosity, a quadratic relationship was found between curiosity and learning potential. Copyright
Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010.
Psychology
unrestricted

The origins of European integration and the factors that made it possible in the post-1945 era have been examined from different perspectives and interpreted in various ways. While federalists argue that the concept of European unity had been developed over centuries by different intellectual movements, the realist approaches of Milward and Dinan stress the importance of economic, political and security motives. Referring to the factors that contributed to the implementation of the Schuman Plan, both the federalist and realist approaches highlight the chief importance of states and their representatives. Yet, the ideas that inspired Jean Monnet, who designed the Schuman Plan, have received little attention. While the state is seen in the literature as the main actor that made the outcome possible, the role of Monnet and that of some of his close associates are almost ignored. By investigating Monnet's thought, this study shows that the source of his inspiration was not the countless plans for European unity put forward by European federalist movements or the random concepts that he came across, such as the New Deal. Rather, it is argued here that he was in fact constantly exposed to a coherent and well-structured philosophy. This thinking reached him through his direct contacts and frequent encounters with Felix Frankfurter and his associates, who formed an epistemic community, as defined by Peter M. Haas. The core concepts of this thinking inherited from Louis Brandeis and developed by Frankfurter – restoring and overseeing free competition – can be identified in Monnet's 1950 plan. The evidence shows that it became a shared philosophy of Monnet's group of friends. This is a fundamental aspect since, once the Schuman Plan was made public, Monnet's friends rallied around his project and contributed not only to overcoming stalemate at critical moments of the negotiations on the future treaty, but also to convincing statesmen of the value of the project.
Graduate

Keana Local Government Council (LGC) in the Southern Senatorial District of Nasarawa state, Nigeria, experienced a devastating inter-ethnic conflict between 2001-2002, and has since then enjoyed uninterrupted durable peace. Motivated therefore by the desire to know more about the conflict, how this durable peace was achieved and most importantly the transformative roles, strategies and tactics adopted by the religious and traditional leaders in Keana LGC in addressing the conflict and attaining this feat, this study relied on (1) conflict transformation and other theories to elaborate some key concepts, (2) and used simple qualitative methodology to collect data from the religious and traditional leaders, and to analyse it for the primary purpose of highlighting their significant responsorial contributions Mutual mistrust, political marginalization, unattended land skirmishes and brutal murder emerged as the primary causes of the conflict. With their status and roles as motivators, mobilizers and peace diplomats, and aided tactically by personal courage, fearlessness and love for the people, the religious and traditional leaders were able to strategically address the conflict with sustainable dialogue, interactive problem-solving meetings, religious rituals, traditional mores, peace education and youth mobilization. Based on these transformative contributions, this study makes these positional statements: (1) the Keana communities hold these leaders with tenacity as auspicious elements of their histories and social welfare, (2) these leaders are local non-state peace actors and epistemic communities which ideologists, state-crafters, peace researchers and practitioners ought to work with as co-actors in peace processes and social development.
October 2015

Text in English
Through an in-depth analysis of selected texts, this study engages with the ways in which Ogun is reimagined by recent selected Nigerian playwrights. Early writers from this country, influenced by their modernist education, misrepresented Ogun by presenting only his so-called negative attributes. Contemporary writers are reconceptualising him; it is the task of this thesis to demonstrate how they are doing so from a decolonial perspective. These alleged attributes represent Ogun as a wicked, bloodthirsty, arrogant and hot tempered god who only kills and makes no positive contribution to the Yoruba community. The thesis argues that the notion of an African god should be viewed from an Afrocentric perspective, not a Eurocentric one, which might lead to violence or misrepresentation of him. The dialogue in the plays conveys how the playwrights have constructed their main characters as Ogun representatives in their society. For example, Mojagbe and Morontonu present Balogun, the chief warlord of their different community; both characters exhibit Ogun features of defending their community. The chosen plays for this study are selected based on different notions of Ogun, the Yoruba god of iron and war, presented by the playwrights. A closer look at the primary materials this thesis explores suggests Ogun’s strong connection with rituals and cultural festivals. These plays exemplify African ritual theatre. Being a member of the Yoruba ethnic group, I have considerable knowledge of how festivals are performed. The Ogun festival is an annual celebration among the Yoruba, where African idioms of puppetry, masquerading, music, dance, mime, invocation, evocation and several elements of drama are incorporated into the performances. The selected plays critiqued in this thesis are Mojagbe (Ahmed Yerima, 2008), Battles of Pleasure (Peter Omoko, 2009), Hard Choice (Sunnie Ododo, 2011), and Morontonu (Alex Roy-Omoni, 2012). No in-depth exploration has previously been undertaken into the kinds of textual and ideological identities that Ogun adopts, especially in the selected plays. Therefore, using a decolonial epistemic perspective, this study offers a critical examination of how the selected Nigerian playwrights between the years 2008 and 2012 have constructed Ogun, the Yoruba god of iron. Such a perspective assists in delinking interpretations from the modernised notions mentioned above, in which Ogun is sometimes a paradoxical god. Coloniality is responsible for such misinterpretation; the employed theoretical framework is used to interrogate these notions. The research project begins with a general introduction locating Ogun in Yoruba mythology, which forms the background to how the god is being constructed in Yorubaland. Also included iii in this first chapter is a discussion on a decolonial perspective, the principles of coloniality, the aims and objective of the study, and the relevant literature review. Thereafter, chapter two focuses on Battles of Pleasure and argues that the play re-imagines Ogun as a god of peace and harvest as opposed to a god of war and destruction. Chapter three discusses how Ododo’s Hard Choice reconceptualises Ogun as a god of justice, in contrast to him being interpreted as a god who engages in reckless devastation of life. Chapter four explores Ogun’s representation in Yerima’s Mojagbe as a reformer who gives human beings ample time to change from their wayward course to a course that he approves. In chapter five, Ogun’s reconception as a remover of obstacles in Roy-Omoni’s Morontonu is examined. The study concludes with a discussion on how Africans should delink themselves from a modernist Eurocentric perspective and think from an Afrocentric locus of enunciation.
English Studies
D. Litt. et Phil.(English)

This study explores the various processes that constructed and transformed the undergraduate curriculum in a Faculty of Education at a South African university. It attempts to delve beneath the representation of post-apartheid curriculum change as a linear process. The thesis argues that scholars should attempt to unravel how the curriculum performs the task of social transformation at the site of the university by empirically investigating how the relationship between structure and action links with the ideals of post-apartheid higher education policy. Theoretically, this study posits that the deficit in the local literature on the use of the structure/agency relationship as a heuristic device for examining institutional change should be addressed with the relational sociology of Pierre Bourdieu.
Sociology
D. Phil. (Sociology)