scholarly journals Themata in science and in common sense

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Marková
Keyword(s):  
Common Sense ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
The Self ◽  
Scientific Thinking ◽  
Scientific Theories ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Human Thinking ◽  
Theory Of Social Representations

AbstractHuman thinking is heterogeneous, and among its different forms, thinking in dyadic oppositions is associated with the concept of themata. Gerald Holton characterises themata as elements that lie beneath the structure and development of physical theories as well as of non-scientific thinking. Themata have different uses, such as a thematic concept, or a thematic component of the concept; a methodological (or epistemological) thema; and a propositional thema. Serge Moscovici has placed the concept of themata in the heart of his theory of social representations which is based on ‘natural thinking’ and on forms of daily knowing, including common sense. In this article I shall explore some features of thematic concepts and of methodological themata in scientific theories and in common sense. More specifically, I shall refer to the significance of the methodological (or epistemological) thema the Self and Other(s) in common-sense thinking and in social practices.

scholarly journals The Jihadi Current and the Lay Thinking: A “Re-Anchorage” Process Hypothesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 363-374
Author(s):  
Dorra Ben Alaya
Keyword(s):  
Common Sense ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The Social ◽  
Islamist Terrorism ◽  
Familiar Objects ◽  
Theory Of Social Representations

The Jihadi-salafist doctrine which is at the Islamist terrorism origin that affects several countries since the emergence of Al Qaeda in the late 80's, gave birth to the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham/Levant (ISIS/ISIL) established as a Caliphate in 2014. Despite the ISIS official military defeat in 2019, the Jihadi-Salafist current - whose history goes back a long way, is currently behind a number of attacks whether collective or individual, claimed by known organizations or committed in isolation. In our perspective, we try to apprehend the attraction power of the Jihadi narrative issue taking the Theory of Social Representations as a paradigmatic framework. This implies that we dont consider the Jihadi current membership as the manifestation of a deviation from normality or optimal rationality, but as the expression of a certain common sense resonance. More precisely, and taking the case of the Tunisian context, the success of the Jihadi narrative is explained by its effectiveness as an interpretive grid and as a guide for action, making it possible to re-anchor a reality lacking in meaning. This hypothesis of a re-anchoring implies that anchoring as described by Moscovici as one of the two processes at the origin of the social representations formation (with the objectification process), could be not only as a familiarization of the strange by inserting it in an already known pre-existing frame, but by substituting to the frame itself, a new one, in order to be able to insert familiar objects which would have lost their sense precisely because of the old frame itself. This hypothesis could offer a theoretical and heuristic perspective allowing the anchoring process to be conceived as a circular and non-definitive process.

An essay on social representations and ethnic minorities

2011 ◽  
Vol 50 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 442-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serge Moscovici
Keyword(s):  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Ethnic Minorities ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
The World ◽  
Theory Of Social Representations

Persecution of ethnic minorities, social exclusion and racism are phenomena that cannot be studied as isolated variables. Popular forms of these phenomena arise from multitudes of beliefs, values and images with long histories. In discussing the separation of facts and values, the ‘Eichmann experiment’ and obedience and disobedience towards authority, it is shown here that a mechanical obedience corresponds to scientific and technical practices, and to the disenchantment of the world with modern technology. Racism highlights the separation of facts and values and can be viewed as the process of transformation of ‘scientific’ knowledge into common sense and vice versa. The theory of social representations regards these phenomena as processes of anchoring and objectification and as networks of indices and symbols with an imaginary reflection. Drawing on our notion of themata, it is shown that in the case of Roma, themata are articulated around the long historical narratives artistic/criminal. In contemporary situations Roma have a tendency more towards emancipation than towards assimilation.

Accounts of consent: Orienting to self-other relations regarding motivations to participate in cancer bio-banking

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Shipman ◽  
Srikant Sarangi ◽  
Angus J. Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Extreme Case ◽  
The Self ◽  
Case Formulation ◽  
Contrast Structure ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Clinical Encounters ◽  
Rhetorical Discourse ◽  
Motivation To Participate ◽  
Significant Factors

The motivations of those who give consent to bio-banking research have received a great deal of attention in recent years. Previous work draws upon the notion of altruism, though the self and/or family have been proposed as significant factors. Drawing on 11 interviews with staff responsible for seeking consent to cancer bio-banking and 13 observations of staff asking people to consent in routine clinical encounters, we investigate how potential participants are oriented to, and constructed as oriented to, self and other related concerns (Author 2007). We adopt a rhetorical discourse analytic approach to the data and our perspective can be labelled as ‘ethics-in-interaction’. Using analytic concepts such as repetition, extreme case formulation, typical case formulation and contrast structure, our observations are three-fold. Firstly, we demonstrate that orientation to ‘general others’ in altruistic accounts and to ‘self’ in minimising burden are foregrounded in constructions of motivation to participate in cancer bio-banking across the data corpus. Secondly, we identify complex relational accounts which involve the self as being more prominent in the consent encounter data where the staff have a nursing background whereas ‘general others’ feature more when the staff have a scientific background. Finally, we suggest implications based on the disparities between how participants are oriented in interviews and consent encounters which may have relevance for developing staff’s reflective practice.

NONSENSE, ABSURDITY AND PARADOX AS LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL CATEGORIES

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Ontological Category ◽  
Ordinary Meaning ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Human Thinking

In the article the analysis of nonsense, absurdity and paradox from the standpoint of linguistics is giv-en. Different points of view on these categories in relation to the meaning are considered. An attempt is made to reveal the commonality and specificity of nonsense, absurdity and paradox. Some researchers consider nonsense and paradox as a kind of absurdity. There is a dichotomous point of view on nonsense as one of the components of absurdity. However, there are works where these categories are differentiat-ed, for example, absurdity is understood as an ontological category, and nonsense as an epistemological category. There is a view of these categories through the allocation of "non-sense", "out-sense" and 136 "counter-sense" there is also a view that in the case of nonsense we are talking about the incompatibility of representations, and in the case of absurdity-the incompatibility of objects. If there are criteria that allow us to consider the presence of this phenomenon as natural, absurdity ceases to exist. Consequently, the view is expressed that nonsense, absurdity and paradox are different categories of thinking. Paradox is a contradiction arising from the presence of two or more common sense. The absurdity can be seen as a" counter-sense» opposing common sense and putting forward the concept of active impossibility of the latter's existence. As for nonsense, it is the meaning of metaphysical level – a meaning that goes beyond the ordinary meaning and creates new meanings. It is concluded that nonsense, absurdity and paradox are independent categories of human thinking, which is a manifestation of the cognitive function of hu-man consciousness.

Self–Other Knowledge Asymmetry (SOKA) Model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn L. Bollich-Ziegler
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
The Self ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Self Perception ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Self Perceptions ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Knowledge Asymmetry ◽  
Blind Spots

Despite the strong intuition that people know themselves well, much research in self-perception demonstrates the biases present when evaluating one’s own personality traits. What specifically are these blind spots in self-perceptions? Are self-perceptions always disconnected from reality? And under what circumstances might other people actually be more accurate about the self? The self–other knowledge asymmetry (SOKA) model suggests that because individuals and others differ in their susceptibility to biases or motivations and in the information they have access to, self- and other-knowledge will vary by trait. The present chapter outlines when and why other-perceptions are sometimes more accurate than self-perceptions, as well as when self-reports can be most trusted. Also discussed are next steps in the study of self- and other-knowledge, including practical, methodological, and interdisciplinary considerations and extensions. In sum, this chapter illustrates the importance of taking multiple perspectives in order to accurately understand a person.

The Baroque and Philosophy

2018 ◽  
pp. 601-622
Author(s):  
Michael Moriarty
Keyword(s):  
Modern Philosophy ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Visual Arts ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
The Self ◽  
Early Modern Philosophy ◽  
The World ◽  
Baroque Art ◽  
Art And Architecture

Although the concept “baroque” is less obviously applicable to philosophy than to the visual arts and music, early modern philosophy can be shown to have connections with baroque culture. Baroque style and rhetoric are employed or denounced in philosophical controversies, to license or discredit a certain style of philosophizing. Philosophers engage with themes current in baroque literature (the mad world, the world as a stage, the quest for the self) and occasionally transform these into philosophical problems, especially of an epistemological kind (are the senses reliable? how far is our access to reality limited by our perspective?) Finally, the philosophies of Malebranche and Berkeley, with their radical challenges to so-called common sense, and their explanation of conventional understandings of the world as based on illusion, have something of the disturbing quality of baroque art and architecture.

scholarly journals Knowledge About Family and School Contribution in Academic Achievement: The Context of Schooling and Social Representations in India

2021 ◽  
pp. 002205742110259
Author(s):  
Chetan Sinha
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Representation Theory ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Social Representation Theory

The present paper critically examined the available research on role of family and school contribution in academic achievement and explored their social representations. People adaptation with the prevalent notions and thinking beyond the boundary of common sense is required to explain multidimensional picture of any attribute. Previous research applied social representation theory to understand educability, intelligence, academic achievement and failure, and teachership. This article showed a polysemic understanding of family and school contribution where roles and identity matters.

The self and other-blame scales (SOBS)

1996 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 363s
Author(s):  
Ali Besharat ◽  
Ivan Eisler
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Other Blame
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