The use of theory in science is an ongoing debate in the production of knowledge. Related to qualitative research methods, a variety of approaches have been set forth in the literature using the terms conceptual framework, theoretical framework, paradigm, and epistemology. While these approaches are helpful in their own context, we summarize and distill them in order to build upon the case that a balanced and centered use of the theoretical framework can bolster the qualitative approach. Our project builds on the arguments that epistemology and methodological rigor are essential by adding the notion that the influence of theory permeates almost every aspect of the study—even if the author does not recognize this influence. Compilers of methodological approaches have referred to the use of theory as analogous to a coat closet in which different items can be housed or a lens through which the literature and data in the study are viewed. In this article, we offer an evaluative quadrant for determining the appropriate use of theory in qualitative research and a diagram of the qualitative project that points to the central role of a theoretical framework. We also caution against the overreliance on theory in the event that it begins to limit the ability to see emergent findings in the data.
Epistemology courses are increasingly used to cultivate critical thinking and responsible knowledge use, yet international and national implementations may reflect different curricular logics. Comparing the International Baccalaureate (IB) Theory of Knowledge (TOK) and Turkish Ministry of National Education (MEB) Theory of Knowledge illuminates how global inquiry and local civic aims are translated into design and assessment. This matters for curriculum theory and practice because it clarifies actionable levers for balancing international-mindedness with cultural grounding in secondary education. The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic comparative document analysis of the IB Theory of Knowledge and the Turkish Ministry of National Education’s Theory of Knowledge curriculum in order to identify their underlying curricular logics, points of convergence and divergence, and implications for curriculum design and epistemology education. A qualitative document analysis was conducted on the official IB TOK Guide (first assessment 2022) and the MEB Theory of Knowledge instructional guide (2009). Using comparative thematic coding across four categories: (1) aims and vision, (2) content/structure, (3) pedagogy, and (4) assessment, the data were synthesized into comparative matrices to identify convergences and divergences. Thus, the findings solely reflect the intended curriculum rather than classroom enactment. Both curricula promote critical reflection and ethical responsibility. However, IB’s TOK emphasizes open-ended inquiry, interdisciplinarity, and international-mindedness, operationalized through a globally standardized essay and exhibition. MEB’s Theory of Knowledge foregrounds structured epistemology, civic/national values, and applied learning, assessed via projects, portfolios, and examinations aligned with national priorities. Epistemology can be embedded through distinct yet complementary logics, inquiry-oriented globalism and value-grounded civic education. The study offers design principles for curriculum developers and teacher educators seeking to integrate both approaches, enabling secondary curricula that prepare learners for participation in both global and national communities.
The encounter between human reasoning and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) cannot be adequately described by inherited metaphors of tool use, augmentation, or collaborative partnership. This article argues that such interactions produce a qualitatively distinct cognitive-epistemic formation, designated here as the Third Entity: an emergent, transient structure that arises from the transductive coupling of two ontologically incommensurable modes of cognition. Drawing on Peirce semiotics, Polanyi theory of tacit knowledge, Simondon philosophy of individuation, Ihde postphenomenology, and Morin complexity theory, we develop a multi-layered theoretical account of this formation. We introduce the concept of vibe-creation to designate the pre-reflective cognitive mode through which the Third Entity navigates high-dimensional semantic space and argue that this mode constitutes the automation of tacit knowledge - a development with far-reaching consequences for epistemology, the philosophy of mind, and educational theory. We further propose the notion of asymmetric emergence to characterize the agency of the Third Entity: genuinely novel and irreducible, yet anchored in human intentional responsibility. The article concludes by examining the implications of this theoretical framework for the transformation of educational institutions and the redefinition of intellectual competence in the age of GenAI.
This paper explores the creative process as a human form of knowledge from a Fluxian perspective, integrating art, epistemology, and lived experience. Through the analysis of his own expanded art practice and the exhibitions “El Todo y la Nada” (Museum of Contemporary Art of Bogotá) and “Forever” (La Neomudéjar Museum, Madrid), the author proposes an understanding of art as a path of knowledge irreducible to animal instinct or technical rationality. The text interweaves thought and poetics to situate contemporary art as a space of epistemological and metaphysical revelation.
This paper concentrates on architectural epistemology, which has been dominated by Western intellectualism for a long time. Consequently, those “non-Western” built phenomena often occupy two positions in the global theoretical map. Whilst one is being subordinated in a Western-centric context, the other is being isolated from such a context. Both forms, however, display either the surfaced or twisted meaning of such a subject. Such innocence and misunderstanding, I argue, are imposed by a binary knowledge system rooted in the West. I intend to seek an alternative and adaptative way of achieving an understanding. The rising geopolitical significance of Asia and its role as the 2020 global pandemic’s origin draw attention to the region – not only empirically, but also theoretically. In this paper, I suggest to engage and problematise postcoloniality in contemporary architectural theory. I shall discuss a comparative analysis amongst architecture and urbanism strategically observed in Singapore and Taiwan with a critical literature review. I contend that a theorisation of the postcoloniality of architecture in urban maritime Asia suggests a new épistémè which, through a view from historical materialism, transcends the limitations noticed in current global scholarship of architectural theory.
A introdução do conceito de arquétipo na Imunologia foi proposta em 2019. Considerando-se as amplas e complexas funções do sistema imune, a coleção dos diversos tipos celulares e de citocinas, os programas de expressão gênica e a plasticidade celular, a aplicação do conceito de arquétipo poderá desempenhar papel organizador e norteador para a geração de novas práticas e teorias imunológicas. Neste artigo, analisarei o conceito de arquétipo imune e farei uma breve incursão pela origem do termo e seus significados em alguns contextos não biológicos e em contextos biológicos significativos, como a morfoanatomia, a neurobiologia e a ecologia. À luz dessas considerações, eu proporei um arquétipo imune, o granuloma, estrutura celular complexa e conservada evolutivamente. Concluirei este trabalho retomando os significados de arquétipo nos diferentes contextos, comparando-os com aquele proposto para os fenômenos imunológicos e, assim, contribuindo para a reflexão sobre temas de interesse da filosofia da imunologia.
Biology (General), Epistemology. Theory of knowledge
M. V. Piterskiy, A. A. Storozhev, Yu. A. Zakharova
et al.
Relevance. Prisoners have a high risk of contracting hemocontact viral infections (including HIV, viral hepatitis B and C, etc.), which creates an additional infectious burden on the entire population living in the territory. Aims. To study the level of immune protection to viral hepatitis B in risk groups (age, HIV status, and injection drug use) of persons held in places of detention to identify those in need of vaccine prophylaxis. Materials & Methods. 343 blood serum samples obtained in 2021 from males with negative HBsAg status were studied. Anti-HBs antibodies to HBsAg were determined using a set of reagents “VectoHBsAg-antibodies” (Vector-Best, Russia). Results and discussion. The protective titer of anti-HBs antibodies was detected in 44.0% (n = 151) of cases, and was absent in 56.0% of the subjects. At the same time, anti-HBs was significantly more often detected in people living with HIV/AIDS (p = 0.038), injecting drug users (p = 0.002), as well as young people born after 1984 (p = 0.019). Conclusion. The lack of a significant level of collective immunity among prisoners, primarily the older age group before 1984, their risky behaviors (sexual, injection) indicate the need for active identification of seronegative persons serving sentences in places of detention and specific immunoprophylaxis.
The first chapter reveals the international aspect of the synergy of religion and politics in the digital age. The author analyzed the specifics of various manifestations of religious beliefs in the environment against the backdrop of extreme events associated with revolutions and the COVID-2019 pandemic. Digital platforms serve as regulators of the religious impulse, which can both stabilize the social situation and transfer it to a state of bifurcation. The author paid considerable attention to the study of the impact of the digitalization of religion on young people. We are exploring the problem of how religious digital practices today find broad support from the international community, how they manifest themselves at the everyday level, and cause the formation of new traditions and rituals based on online myth-making.
Adapting general large language models (LLMs) to specialized domains presents great challenges due to varied data distributions. This adaptation typically requires continual pre-training on massive domain-specific corpora to facilitate knowledge memorization, followed by training to apply this knowledge following human instructions and preferences. However, this method may result in inefficient knowledge memorization due to a lack of awareness of knowledge utilization and imposes substantial demands on LLMs to simultaneously learn knowledge utilization and format alignment with limited training samples. To facilitate the domain adaptation of LLM, we revise this process and propose a new domain adaptation framework including domain knowledge learning and general format alignment, called Mix-CPT. Specifically, we first conduct a knowledge mixture continual pre-training that concurrently focuses on knowledge memorization and utilization, allowing for mutual reinforcement. To avoid catastrophic forgetting during the continual pre-training process, we further incorporate a logit swap self-distillation constraint. Subsequently, leveraging the knowledge and capabilities acquired during continual pre-training, we efficiently perform instruction tuning and alignment with a few general training samples to achieve format alignment. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our proposed Mix-CPT framework can simultaneously improve the task-solving capabilities of LLMs on the target and general domains compared to the traditional adaptation methods.
Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable capabilities, but updating their knowledge post-training remains a critical challenge. While recent model editing techniques like Rank-One Model Editing (ROME) show promise, their effectiveness may vary based on the nature of the knowledge being edited. We introduce the concept of ``perplexingness'': the degree to which new knowledge conflicts with an LLM's learned conceptual hierarchies and categorical relationships. For instance, editing ``British Shorthair is a kind of cat'' to ``British Shorthair is a kind of dog'' represents a low-perplexingness edit within the same taxonomic level, while editing ``A cat is a kind of animal'' to ``A cat is a kind of plant'' represents a high-perplexingness edit that violates fundamental categorical boundaries. To systematically investigate this phenomenon, we introduce HierarchyData, a carefully curated dataset of 99 hyponym-hypernym pairs across diverse categories. Through controlled experiments across three models and four editing methods, we demonstrate a strong negative correlation between the perplexingness of new knowledge and the effectiveness of knowledge editing. Our analysis reveals that edits involving more abstract concepts (hypernyms) generally exhibit higher perplexingness and are more resistant to modification than their specific counterparts (hyponyms). These findings highlight a fundamental challenge in LLM knowledge editing: the more a new fact contradicts an LLM's learned conceptual hierarchies, the harder it becomes to reliably encode that knowledge.
Abstract. Ethnobiology has become increasingly concerned with applied and normative issues, such as climate change adaptation, forest management, and sustainable agriculture. Applied ethnobiology emphasizes the practical importance of local and traditional knowledge in tackling these issues but thereby also raises complex theoretical questions about the integration of heterogeneous knowledge systems. The aim of this article is to develop a framework for addressing questions of integration through four core domains of philosophy—epistemology, ontology, value theory, and political theory. In each of these dimensions, we argue for a model of “partial overlaps” that acknowledges both substantial similarities and differences between knowledge systems. While overlaps can ground successful collaboration, their partiality requires reflectivity about the limitations of collaboration and co-creation. By outlining such a general and programmatic framework, the article aims to contribute to developing “philosophy of ethnobiology” as a field of interdisciplinary exchange that provides new resources for addressing foundational issues in ethnobiology and also expands the agenda of philosophy of biology.
The recent epistemological turn in populism studies has produced many valuable insights pertaining to populist knowledge practices, conspiracy theories, information bubbles, and cognitive biases. However, various elements of populist epistemology are still studied separately, and there are no common theoretical assumptions that would arrange them into a comprehensive epistemic theory of populism. Thus, apart from presenting a preliminary mapping of recent changes in the field, the article proposes a basic theoretical framework for an epistemic approach to studying populism by conceptualising populism as a set of epistemic interventions: discursive and non-discursive practices that construe the people as a political subject and result in the emergence of a populist epistemic community. The article discusses how the latter concept may help to link discursive, performative, communicative, and cognitive elements of populism, along with describing key features of populist epistemic communities and indicating possible directions for future research on populist epistemology.
25 февраля 2023 г после тяжелой и продолжительной болезни на 68 году жизни ушел из жизни Заслуженный работник высшей школы РФ, доктор медицинских наук, профессор, полковник медицинской службы в отставке, всеми нами уважаемый Павел Иванович ОГАРКОВ.
Human knowledge is subject to uncertainties, imprecision, incompleteness and inconsistencies. Moreover, the meaning of many everyday terms is dependent on the context. That poses a huge challenge for the Semantic Web. This paper introduces work on an intuitive notation and model for defeasible reasoning with imperfect knowledge, and relates it to previous work on argumentation theory. PKN is to N3 as defeasible reasoning is to deductive logic. Further work is needed on an intuitive syntax for describing reasoning strategies and tactics in declarative terms, drawing upon the AIF ontology for inspiration. The paper closes with observations on symbolic approaches in the era of large language models.
Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that concerns itself with the theory of knowledge. It is regarded as a core area of philosophy because it deals with the nature of our knowledge. Drawing on the literature on epistemology, this article provides some basic definitions of the term epistemology and answers some key epistemological questions such as: “what is knowledge?” “what are the sources of our knowledge?” “what do we know?” and “what differentiates knowledge from wisdom and opinion?” The article also discusses key epistemological approaches, namely positivism, interpretivism, and pragmatism, which are central to research. The article concludes that a high degree of epistemic justification is required for knowledge claims and for the conduct of research.
As plantas estiveram presentes em diferentes escritos redigidos por leigos e religiosos durante o período moderno. As propriedades alimentares, virtudes terapêuticas e usos domésticos das espécies nativas do Velho e do Novo Mundo foram exploradas em cartas, crônicas, tratados e sermões redigidos em língua portuguesa. Para além dos usos cotidianos, alguns escritos também versaram sobre os significados espirituais das espécies vegetais, como fizeram Frei Isidoro de Barreira e Frei Antônio do Rosário. Ao versarmos sobre as obras redigidas por estes dois letrados, Tractado das significaçoens das plantas (1622) e Frutas do Brasil (1702), exploraremos alegorias envolvendo as espécies vegetais e os comportamentos humanos, como as virtudes morais e principalmente, os vícios recorrentes entre os homens.
Epistemology. Theory of knowledge, History (General)
No século XIX, o progresso da biologia evolutiva esteve pautado por dois programas de pesquisa: um de desenvolvimento mais amplo e com maior reconhecimento institucional, que foi o programa filogenético; e outro, o programa adaptacionista, cujo desenvolvimento foi mais restrito ou até mesmo marginal. Fritz Müller (1822-1897) contribuiu para ambas as agendas de pesquisa. Sua contribuição pioneira para o programa filogenético, está em seu livro Für Darwin. Instigado pelo próprio Darwin, também obteve resultados de pesquisa que foram marcos para a consolidação do programa adaptacionista, como por exemplo, seus trabalhos sobre mimetismo.
Biology (General), Epistemology. Theory of knowledge
Neural Networks (NNs) have been widely {used in supervised learning} due to their ability to model complex nonlinear patterns, often presented in high-dimensional data such as images and text. However, traditional NNs often lack the ability for uncertainty quantification. Bayesian NNs (BNNS) could help measure the uncertainty by considering the distributions of the NN model parameters. Besides, domain knowledge is commonly available and could improve the performance of BNNs if it can be appropriately incorporated. In this work, we propose a novel Posterior-Regularized Bayesian Neural Network (PR-BNN) model by incorporating different types of knowledge constraints, such as the soft and hard constraints, as a posterior regularization term. Furthermore, we propose to combine the augmented Lagrangian method and the existing BNN solvers for efficient inference. The experiments in simulation and two case studies about aviation landing prediction and solar energy output prediction have shown the knowledge constraints and the performance improvement of the proposed model over traditional BNNs without the constraints.