scholarly journals Radical Empiricism, Empirical Modelling and the nature of knowing

2005 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 615-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meurig Beynon
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Knowledge Representation ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
William James ◽  
Radical Empiricism ◽  
Empirical Modelling ◽  
Knowing That ◽  
Computer Based

This paper explores connections between Radical Empiricism (RE), a philosophic attitude developed by William James at the beginning of the 20th century, and Empirical Modelling (EM), an approach to computer-based modelling that has been developed by the author and his collaborators over a number of years. It focuses in particular on how both RE and EM promote a perspective on the nature of knowing that is radically different from that typically invoked in contemporary approaches to knowledge representation in computing. This is illustrated in detail with reference to the modelling of several scenarios of lift use. Some potential implications for knowledge management are briefly reviewed.

Berensonian Formalism and Pragmatist Perception

2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Oliver O'Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
William James ◽  
Walter Pater ◽  
Historical Scholarship ◽  
Philosophy Of Perception ◽  
20Th Century Art ◽  
Pragmatist Philosophy

The ramified legacy of Bernard Berenson’s writings within 20th century art historiography is both celebrated and maligned. In an effort to help reconcile this situation, this essay argues for the partial validity of Berenson’s peculiar version of art historical formalism by detailing its historical connections to the Pragmatist philosophy and psychology of William James and by analytically correlating Berenson’s arguments with recent work in aesthetics and the philosophy of perception. The essay examines the specific example of Berenson’s analysis of Giotto’s paintings and leverages a Pragmatist interpretation of Berenson’s writings to frame Berenson’s known connections with other writers: including Adolf Hildebrand, Giovanni Morelli, and Walter Pater. In conclusion, the failure, potential, reception, and legacy of Berenson’s art historical scholarship are assessed in relation to Pragmatist ideas. Der vielfältige Einfluss von Bernard Berensons Schriften auf die Kunstgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts wird ebenso geschätzt wie verachtet. In dem Bestreben, diese Divergenzen zu berichtigen, versucht dieser Beitrag den Nachweis für die bedingte Gültigkeit von Berensons eigentümlicher Variante eines kunsthistorischen Formalismus zu erbringen, indem er einerseits seine historischen Verbindungen zur pragmatischen Philosophie und Psychologie von William James aufzeigt und indem er andererseits Berensons Argumentation ins Verhältnis zu aktuellen Debatten der wahrnehmungstheoretischen Ästhetik und Philosophie setzt. Am Beispiel von Berensons Interpretation der Gemälde Giottos führt dieser Essay eine pragmatische Analyse von Berensons Schriften durch und stellt diese ins Umfeld seiner Kontakte zu anderen Autoren: darunter Adolf Hildebrand, Giovanni Morelli und Walter Pater. Schließlich soll das Scheitern, das Potenzial, die Rezeption und das Erbe von Berensons kunsthistorischen Studien unter pragmatischen Gesichtspunkten bewertet werden.

Experiencia, realidad y verdad en el pragmatismo. Entre William James y Henri Bergson

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 121-141
Author(s):  
Alberto Villalobos Manjarrez
Keyword(s):  
William James ◽  
Henri Bergson ◽  
Radical Empiricism ◽  
Decisive Influence

The aim of this work is to explore the relations between the concepts of experience, reality and truth in the philosophy of William James, through a dialogue with Henri Bergson, a decisive influence for the pragmatist. This text is divided into five parts: 1) a brief introduction to the problem; 2) the development of the concept of experience in James philosophy; 3) the explanation of the concept of reality in this radical empiricism; 4) the exposition of three forms of truth that correspond to antiquity, modenity and pragmatism; 5) and, finally, a brief conclusion about the posterities and the actuality of this empirical philosophy.

Representing Knowledge

2021 ◽  
Vol 130 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-143
Author(s):  
Peter van Elswyk
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Representation ◽  
Declarative Sentence ◽  
Knowing That

A speaker's use of a declarative sentence in a context has two effects: it expresses a proposition and represents the speaker as knowing that proposition. This article is about how to explain the second effect. The standard explanation is act-based. A speaker is represented as knowing because their use of a declarative in a context tokens the act-type of assertion and assertions represent knowledge in what's asserted. In this article, a semantic explanation is proposed according to which declaratives covertly host a know-parenthetical. A speaker is thereby represented as knowing the proposition expressed because that is the semantic contribution of the parenthetical. This view is called PARENTHETICALISM. The article contends that parentheticalism better explains knowledge representation than alternatives. As a consequence of outperforming assertoric explanations, parentheticalism opens the door to altogether eliminating the act-type of assertion from linguistic theorizing.

Collaboration Scenario in the Indian LIS Papers of the 21st Century

2014 ◽  
pp. 322-328
Author(s):  
Bimal Kanti Sen
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Information Management ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
National Conference ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
National Convention ◽  
Organizational Cooperation ◽  
Business And Management

There was a gradual transition from single-authored papers to collaborative papers in the 20th century, especially in science subjects. The trend caught up with LIS papers as well in late 20th century. With the passage of time, collaboration took various forms, which outlined. The chapter is based on more than 600 publications of which 341 were covered in Bibliography on Work-Flow in Libraries (1966) and the rest published in National Conference on Advances in Knowledge Management –NCAKM’10 - Proceedings (2010), Proceedings of the 9th Annual National Convention of MANLIBNET on Business and Management Librarianship (2008), Proceedings of the 11th Annual National Convention of MANLIBNET on Trends and Challenges in Management in Corporate Libraries in Digital Era (2010), and Proceedings of the National Conference on ICT Impact on Knowledge and Information Management (2010). The earliest collaborative papers found in this study are from 1941. The collaborative papers published from 2008-2010 accounted for 68.6% of the total and filled on average 6.3 pages. A predominance of inter-organizational cooperation in the generation of papers is observed in the study. There is hardly any international cooperation for producing LIS papers.

Ontology

2011 ◽  
pp. 1221-1236
Author(s):  
William Buchholz
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Knowledge Representation ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Distributed Knowledge ◽  
Document Collections ◽  
Knowledge Community ◽  
Standards And Regulations

An ontology comprises the explicitly articulated and shared concepts of a knowledge community or domain. These concepts are arranged formally in a taxonomy and are governed by specifically defined rules and axioms. Ontologies often play an important role in knowledge management information technology (KMIT). An enterprise knowledge management IT system, for example, may use an ontology “to facilitate communication, search, storage, and [knowledge] representation” (O’Leary, 1998, p. 58). A general survey of the literature suggests that ontologies are capable of improving performance in a large variety of knowledge management IT functions, especially relative to knowledgebases for best practices, lessons learned, human resource skills, Help Desks, FAQs, document collections, standards and regulations, products, services, proposals, and the like. In addition, as we look to the future, ontologies will function centrally in agent-mediated knowledge management (AMKM), distributed knowledge management (DKM), and the Semantic Web (Daconta, Obrst, & Smith, 2003; Fensel, 2001; Heflin, Volz, & Dale, 2002; McGuiness, 2002), as these technologies become pervasive in a global economy that distributes KM knowledgebases across companies and cultures.

The Beginning of Radical Empiricism

Empiricisms ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 289-305
Author(s):  
Barry Allen
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
William James ◽  
Radical Empiricism ◽  
Pure Experience

William James introduced the expression “radical empiricism.” The chapter explains what was supposed to make empiricism radical, and why James thought that was worth trying to do. That requires explaining the connection between radical empiricism and other themes in James’s work, including pluralism and the idea of pure experience. His work belongs to an effort from the latter nineteenth century to make empiricism more consistently empirical by overcoming the legacy of Ockham and nominalism, and it is this anti-nominalist animus that radicalizes James’s empiricism.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document