scholarly journals Mario Bunge’s systemic thesis of truth: implications for research practice and the “reproducibility crisis”

2019 ◽  
pp. 363
Author(s):  
Luis Marone ◽  
Javier Lopez de Casenave ◽  
Rafael González del Solar
Keyword(s):  
Hypothesis Testing ◽  
Community Ecology ◽  
Scientific Realism ◽  
Research Program ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Predictive Capacity ◽  
The Core ◽  
External Consistency ◽  
The One ◽  
Scientific Test

There are currently serious concerns that published scientific findings often fail to be reproducible, and that some solutions may be gleaned by attending the several methodological and sociological recommendations that could be found in the literature. However, researchers would also arrive at some answers by considering the advice of the philosophy of science, particularly semantics, about theses on truth related to scientific realism. Sometimes scientists understand the correspondence thesis of truth (CTT) as asserting that the next unique empirical confirmation of a hypothesis suffices to attribute truth to it provisionally. Such empiricist bias is not necessarily at the core of CTT, but Mario Bunge proposed the synthetic thesis of truth (STT), based on CTT, to explicitly avoid the bias. STT requires considering a hypothesis corroborated, both by purely empirical confirmation and external consistency or compatibility with the bulk of existing background knowledge (systemicity). While a capricious understanding of CTT could be rigged to recommend the “one shot game” in hypothesis testing, STT clearly demands the use of multiple approaches, empirical as well as theoretical, and it asserts that a scientific test is effective to the extent to which it is neither purely empirical, nor viewed in isolation. Pattern consistency (empirical control) together with an understanding of causal relations (rational together with empirical control) make confirmed hypotheses robust and more reliable. The militancy of the double mechanism of hypothesis control of STT can help mitigate the reproducibility crisis. Earl Werner’s research program in community ecology is an example of the (implicit) use of STT criteria, which leads to the development of reliable, cross-checked, ecological results, with high predictive capacity.

scholarly journals Analysis of the Labour Market in Metropolitan Areas: A Spatial Filtering Approach

2012 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-48
Author(s):  
Tomasz Kossowski ◽  
Jan Hauke
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
Spatial Filtering ◽  
The Other ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The Core ◽  
The One ◽  
Filtering Approach ◽  
Filtering Techniques

Analysis of the Labour Market in Metropolitan Areas: A Spatial Filtering ApproachThe power of today's computers allows us to perform computation on massive quantities of data on the one hand and produces enormous amounts of analysis output on the other, as noted by Griffith in his 2003 book. Besides, visualisation and spatial filtering (the core of considerations in Griffith's book) have a chance to be widely used in research practice, especially in geosciences and, more precisely, for georeferenced data. Following the idea proposed by Patuelli et al. (2006, 2009), we analysed the labour market in Poland, focusing on metropolitan areas and their surroundings. The analysis was performed on a data set for the unemployment rate in the 2,478 Polish communes. We took into account spatial autocorrelation and used spatial filtering techniques to construct components of an orthogonal map pattern. As shown in Tiefelsdorf & Griffith (2007), the spatial filtering techniques could be employed in both, parametric and semi-parametric approaches. In this paper we adopted a parametric one.

The Salvage of Ideas: Schumpeter and the Core Problems Still Confronting Economics

2003 ◽  
pp. 15-26
Author(s):  
P. Wynarczyk
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
The Core ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One

Two aspects of Schumpeter' legacy are analyzed in the article. On the one hand, he can be viewed as the custodian of the neoclassical harvest supplementing to its stock of inherited knowledge. On the other hand, the innovative character of his works is emphasized that allows to consider him a proponent of hetherodoxy. It is stressed that Schumpeter's revolutionary challenge can lead to radical changes in modern economics.

AFRICAN WOMEN AND FORBIDDEN GROUNDS: FEMALE SEXUALITY AND SELF-DETERMINATION IN AFRICAN LITERATURE

Imbizo ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-54
Author(s):  
Oyeh O. Otu
Keyword(s):  
Female Sexuality ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
African Literature ◽  
The Other ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
African Women ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
Sexual Repression

This article examines how female conditioning and sexual repression affect the woman’s sense of self, womanhood, identity and her place in society. It argues that the woman’s body is at the core of the many sites of gender struggles/ politics. Accordingly, the woman’s body must be decolonised for her to attain true emancipation. On the one hand, this study identifies the grave consequences of sexual repression, how it robs women of their freedom to choose whom to love or marry, the freedom to seek legal redress against sexual abuse and terror, and how it hinders their quest for self-determination. On the other hand, it underscores the need to give women sexual freedom that must be respected and enforced by law for the overall good of society.

Evaluation of Road Utilisation as Space For Holding Social Ceremonies in Indigenous Residential Area of Ogbomoso, Nigeria

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (March 2018) ◽  
Author(s):  
S.A Okanlawon ◽  
O.O Odunjo ◽  
S.A Olaniyan
Keyword(s):  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
Noisy Environment ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Core ◽  
Local Roads ◽  
Strict Enforcement ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The One ◽  
The City ◽  
The Town

This study examined Residents’ evaluation of turning transport infrastructure (road) to spaces for holding social ceremonies in the indigenous residential zone of Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria. Upon stratifying the city into the three identifiable zones, the core, otherwise known as the indigenous residential zone was isolated for study. Of the twenty (20) political wards in the two local government areas of the town, fifteen (15) wards that were located in the indigenous zone constituted the study area. Respondents were selected along one out of every three (33.3%) of the Trunk — C (local) roads being the one mostly used for the purpose in the study area. The respondents were the residents, commercial motorists, commercial motorcyclists, and celebrants. Six hundred and forty-two (642) copies of questionnaire were administered and harvested on the spot. The Mean Analysis generated from the respondents’ rating of twelve perceived hazards listed in the questionnaire were then used to determine respondents’ most highly rated perceived consequences of the practice. These were noisy environment, Blockage of drainage by waste, and Endangering the life of the sick on the way to hospital; the most highly rated reasons why the practice came into being; and level of acceptability of the practice which was found to be very unacceptable in the study area. Policy makers should therefore focus their attention on strict enforcement of the law prohibiting the practice in order to ensure more cordial relationship among the citizenry, seeing citizens’ unacceptability of the practice in the study area.

Investigation of irradiated metal of WWER-type reactor internals after 45 years of operation. Part 1. Research program and cutting out of samples from pressure vessel internals

2020 ◽  
pp. 135-143
Author(s):  
B. Z. Margolin ◽  
A. Ya. Varovin ◽  
A. J. Minkin ◽  
D. A. Gurin ◽  
V. A. Glukhov
Keyword(s):  
Research Program ◽  
Pressure Vessel ◽  
The Core ◽  
Type Reactor ◽  
Cutting Out ◽  
Cylindrical Samples ◽  
Reactor Internals

The program is presented for investigations of the metal of the most irradiated elements of the WWER-440 reactor of the Novovoronezh NPP Unit 3 decommissioned after 45 years of operation. The fragments (cylindrical samples) were cut out from various zones of the core baffle and segment of forming ring of core barrel.

Scientific realism, or the risks of importing research models into psychology

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-432
Author(s):  
David Carré
Keyword(s):  
Standard Model ◽  
Scientific Realism ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Behavioral Research ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Philosophical Basis ◽  
The Standard Model

In “Scientific Realism and the Issue of Variability in Behavior,” Arocha (2021) develops an acute critique of “the standard model of current research practice in psychology” (p. 376), sharply dissecting five unwarranted assumptions behind it. To address these issues, the author proposes adopting a nonpositivist philosophical basis for behavioral research: scientific realism. Behind this argumentation, however, it is implied that scientific realism is fit for becoming the metatheoretical framework for psychology because it addresses the shortcomings of the current positivist model. In this commentary, I argue that scientific realism is not fit for becoming that philosophical basis, because it is open to reducing the discipline’s subject matter—the human person—to make it fit with models that have been fruitful in other sciences. Three historical examples are presented to show the risks of adopting models from disciplines devoted to explaining other phenomena to tackle the complexity of psychology’s subject matter.

Interactional means of teaming up: enacting the features of contemporary working life in a theater performance

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Riikka Nissi ◽  
Melisa Stevanovic
Keyword(s):  
Working Life ◽  
Social World ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Setting ◽  
Live Performance ◽  
Societal Issues ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Social ◽  
Workplace Organization ◽  
The One

Abstract The article examines how the aspects of the social world are enacted in a theater play. The data come from a videotaped performance of a professional theater, portraying a story about a workplace organization going through a personnel training program. The aim of the study is to show how the core theme of the play – the teaming up of the personnel – is constructed in the live performance through a range of interactional means. By focusing on four core episodes of the play, the study on the one hand points out to the multiple changes taking place both within and between the different episodes of the play. On the other hand, the episodes of collective action involving the semiotic resources of singing and dancing are shown to represent the ideals of teamwork in distinct ways. The study contributes to the understanding of socially and politically oriented theater as a distinct, pre-rehearsed social setting and the means and practices that it deploys when enacting the aspects of the contemporary societal issues.

Making Geoeconomics an IR Research Program

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong Jung Kim
Keyword(s):  
Research Program ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Great Power ◽  
Grand Strategy ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Parsimonious Explanation ◽  
Conceptual Clarity ◽  
The One ◽  
New Research

Abstract In contrast to growing public attention to geoeconomics as the new mode of conducting great power competition, the IR discipline has not actively engaged in conceptual and theoretical analysis from the geoeconomic viewpoint. This article examines issues that geoeconomics needs to solve to become a new theoretical framework in the positivist “American” IR scholarship that dominates research on great power competition. On the one hand, the concept of geoeconomics needs to be redefined and account for a phenomenon that is not already covered in extant IR scholarship. Thus, geoeconomics should be considered as a form of grand strategy and defined as the use of economic instruments to advance mid- to long-term strategic interests in a geographical region of the world. On the other hand, geoeconomics in positivist IR should take into account international economic structure and domestic politics in developing a parsimonious explanation for the conditions to employ geoeconomic grand strategy. In this process, the theorist needs to make an analytical choice to concentrate on certain factors and mechanisms to assure theoretical parsimony. This article concludes that addressing the issues of conceptual clarity and parsimonious theorization would potentially allow geoeconomics to become a new research program in positivist IR.

Reconciling Confucianism and Nationalism

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 33-54
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Bell
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
The Core ◽  
The One ◽  
Party State

Confucianism has made a comeback in mainland China over the last two decades or so. Politically minded Confucian revivalists see Confucianism as the core of national identity that differs from ‘‘foreign’’ traditions such as liberalism and they argue for replacing Marxism with Confucianism as the core ideology of the one-party state. But is the ancient tradition of Confucianism compatible with the modern tradition of nationalism? And is it possible to defend a morally appealing form of ‘‘Confucian nationalism’’? This essay argues that both questions can be answered affirmatively.

Polycomb genes role in cancer pathophysiology is offering targets for therapeutics including gene therapy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moataz Dowaidar
Keyword(s):  
Catalytic Activity ◽  
Detailed Understanding ◽  
The Core ◽  
Chromatin Regulators ◽  
Genetic Modifications ◽  
Anti Cancer ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Study Context

Several phenotypes can come from transcription regulation. Sequence-specific transcription factors are needed to effectively execute transcriptional programs, however they are often not operating alone. Polycomb PcG proteins are a well-known class of chromatin regulators found in Drosophila melanogaster and other species, including humans. As time passed, the concept of a PCG gene or protein shifted from the original phenotypic meaning of mutant flies to the contemporary biochemical description. PCG genes and proteins are under investigation for their critical contributions to physiology and their cancer treatment potential. Adding additional PcG members, with substantial responsibilities in PRC modulation, has opened new routes of inquiry in the issue. It is still needed to discover the many PRC variations' roles and how their catalytic activity is controlled. This review covers mutually exclusive PRC2 variants and employs a technique like the one used for PRC1 variants. Based on current biochemical findings, these classifications are valid. More auxiliary PcG subunit research is needed for now. Moreover, it is unknown how many PRC cell variations occur (hypothetically, there could be more than 100 different PRC variants).In order to fully elucidate the new PcG proteins and complexes, it is necessary to perform comprehensive research. We must study context-specific genetic modifications to better provide remedies. Current anti-cancer drugs target mainly the core subunits and catalytic activity of PRC2 and PRC1, and understanding these functions is critical. Targeting each particular activity that has been deregulated might be rather beneficial. PCG proteins are involved in oncogenesis, tumor suppression, and development/congenital illness as well. PcG involvement in cancer, once revealed, would be intriguing. Successful and effective therapeutic therapies will be helped by a detailed understanding of the pathways that contain PcG proteins.

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