Nye organisationsformer i offentlige vidensinstitutioner

fra hum.ku.dk/kalender/2011/november/politisk-epistemologi/

David Budtz Pedersen forsvarer sin ph.d.-afhandling:

Politisk epistemologi. Om begrundelser, normer og konsekvenser af nye organisationsformer i offentlige vidensinstitutioner

Tid: 25. november 2011 kl. 13.00 - af hensyn til kandidaten lukkes dørene præcis 13.00

Sted: København, Studiestræde 6, Studiegården, Anneks A

Arrangør: Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet

Bedømmelsesudvalg:
Lektor Jan Faye, formand (Københavns Universitet)
Professor Aant Elzinga (Göteborgs Universitet)
Docent Karen Siune (Aarhus Universitet)

Leder af forsvarshandlingen:
Lektor Maja Horst (Københavns Universitet)

Et antal eksemplarer af afhandlingen er fremlagt til gennemsyn og hjemlån i Det Kgl. Biblioteks information på Københavns Universitet Amager og til gennemsyn på Det Kgl. Biblioteks læsesal Øst, Diamanten samt på Institut for Medier, Erkendelse og Formidling, Njalsgade 76.

Et resumme af afhandlingen kan ses her:

http://hum.ku.dk/kalender/2011/november/politisk-epistemologi/Resume.pdf/

Forsknings- og universitetspolitiske ph.d.-afhandlinger

Den 26. august forsvares to ph.d.-afhandlinger indenfor det universitetspolitiske felt:

den ene om basismidlernes udvikling /afvikling (se her)

den anden om uddannelsespolitikkens kompetencebegreb (se her).

Naturalisme i matematikfilosofi

Ph.D.-defense:

Mikkel Willum Johansen:

Naturalism in the philosophy of mathematics

Time: Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 13:00 OBS: changed to:

Time: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 10:00 am

Place: Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, København, auditorium A.

Abstract:

In modern philosophy of mathematics a number of different naturalistic explanations of mathematical knowledge have been given. In my dissertation I present and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of three such approaches. These are 1) evolutionary biology, 2) cognitive science, and 3) sociology of science. Each of these approaches claim that mathematical knowledge can be explained by a particular type of facts about human nature. The type of facts varies with the approach; the evolutionary biology approach states facts from evolutionary theory, the cognitive science approach states cognitive facts etc.

My aim in the dissertation is double. On the one hand, I want to evaluate the different approaches, but on the other I want to give a new and more adequate naturalistic explanation of mathematics. As I see it, mathematics is much too rich to be understood on a single level of explanation. Explanations solely operating within a single theoretical framework, such as cognitive semantics or evolutionary biology are valuable in many ways, but in my view they inevitably lead to an unproductive reductionism. As I see it, mathematics cannot be reduced to a single type of phenomena or facts. For this reason, the main aim of the dissertation is to show how explanation from both the biological, the cognitive and the social level of explanation can be pieced together to form consistent and non-reductive understanding of mathematics.

The thesis can be downloaded from

http://www.nbi.dk/natphil/prs/mwj/Dissertation-mwj2010.pdf

Assessment committee:

Professor Carl Winsløv, Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen (chairman);

Professor Paolo Mancosu, Department of Philosophy, University of California Berkeley;

Professor Stig Andur Pedersen, Deparment of Philosophy and Science Studies, Roskilde University.

Co-chairman [ordstyrer]:

Kjeld Bagger Laursen, Department of Mathematical Sciences and Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen

Supervisors:

Professor Jesper Lützen, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Copenhagen

Associate professor Claus Emmeche, Center for the Philosophy of Nature and Science Studies, University of Copenhagen.

Samarbejde og hjernearbejde i Wikipedia

Ph.D.-defense:

Rut Jesus:

Cooperation and Cognition in Wikipedia Articles

A data-driven, philosophical and exploratory study

Time: Saturday, September 4, 2010 at 13:00
Place: Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, København, auditorium A.

Abstract:
Wikipedia has created and harnessed new social and work dynamics, which can provide insight into specific aspects of cognition, as amplified by a multitude of editors and their ping-pong style of editing, spatial and time flexibility within unique technology-community fostering features. Wikipedia's motto "The Free Encyclopedia That Anyone Can Edit" is analyzed to reveal human, technological and value actors within a theoretical context of distributed cognition, cooperation and technological agency. In the Data-driven studies using data from Wiki log pages, network visualization and bicliques are used and developed to focus closer on the process of collaboration in articles and meta-articles, and inside the article "Prisoner's dilemma" and the policy article "Neutral Point of View". The several tools used reveal clusters of interest, dense areas of coordination, a blend between coordination and direct editing work, and point to Wikipedia's dynamic stability in content and form. In the philosophical-cognitive studies, a distinction between Cognition for Planning and Cognition for Improvising is proposed to account for Wikipedia's success and mode of editing whereby many small edits are used for its improvement. In the exploratory part an installation of a 'live-Wiki' 'Our Collnnective Minds' piece reflects on several aspects of Wikis, free culture, open source and Do-It-Yourself by engaging in the debate in a more creative and participative form. These studies contribute to constructing an ecology of the article, a vision of humanities bottom-up, and a better understanding of cooperation and cognition within sociotechnological networks.

The thesis can be downloaded from
http://www.nbi.dk/~vulpeto/jesus_thesis_final.pdf

Assessment committee:
Associate Professor Lisbeth Klastrup, Digital Culture & Mobile Communication Research Group, IT University of Copenhagen (chairman);
Professor Stevan Harnad, School of Electronics and Computer Science University of Southampton;
Professor Juha Suoranta, Department of Education, University of Tampere

Co-chairman [ordstyrer]:

associate professor Klemens Kappel, Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, University of Copenhagen

Supervisor:
Associate professor Claus Emmeche, Center for the Philosophy of Nature and Science Studies, University of Copenhagen.

Total programme:
After the defense, there will be a reception in auditorium C, planned to start around 15:30. Please tell us (by email to Di Ponti [ vulpeto [at] gmail.com ]) about your presence here, so as to estimate the volume of wikisoup.

After the reception, at 16:30 (estimated) to 18:30, we hope also to see you at a Meta-Ph.D. Performance.

Teoretiske livtag med livsformer

OFFENTLIGT FORSVAR FOR PH.D.-AFHANDLING

Jesper Andresen

Formbegreber i spil

En videreudvikling af livsformsanalytiske tanker

Tid: Onsdag d. 28. april 2010, kl. 13.00 præcis.
Sted: Det Humanistiske Fakultet – lokale 22.0.11 (Nye KUA), Njalsgade 120, København

Bedømmelsesudvalget: Lektor Niels Jul Nielsen (formand), Københavns Universitet; Lektor Steen Brock, Aarhus Universitet; Lektor Jørgen Huggler, Danmarks Pædagogiske Universitetsskole. Leder af forsvarshandlingen: Lektor Tine Damsholt, Københavns Universitet.
Et antal eksemplarer af afhandlingen er fremlagt til gennemsyn og hjemlån i Det Kgl. Biblioteks information på Københavns Universitet Amager og til gennemsyn på Det Kgl. Biblioteks læsesal Øst, Diamanten samt på Saxo-Instituttet, Njalsgade 80, 2300 København S.

Resumé: Denne afhandling forsøger at tage livtag med en række videnskabsfilosofiske problematikker forbundet med Livsformsanalysen for at kunne fremstille væsentlige dele af den på en mere hensigtsmæssig og kohærent måde.
Livsformsanalysen er udviklet omkring seminaret Strukturel Dialektik med specielt Anders Boserup og Thomas Højrup som bærende kræfter. Afhandlingen søger at vise, hvordan en genkomponering af Livsformsanalysens videnskabsfilosofiske udgangspunkt kan sammenfatte og reformulere den indre sammenhæng i teoriens opbygning, således at den videnskabelige proces kan fremstå i en mere helstøbt form. Den teoretiske reformulering afprøves afslutningsvis i en konkret skitse til en etnologisk kulturanalyse, der erfaringsmæssigt peger ind mod grænsebetingelserne for livsformsteoriens rækkevidde.
Første kapitel udspænder en refleksiv diskussion om, hvordan det overhovedet kan blive muligt at finde en platform, hvorfra man som videnskabsfilosofisk iagttager kan bedømme en videnskabsteori som Livsformsanalysen. Med inspiration fra Bachelards rationalitetskritiske perspektiv vurderes det, at en sådan analyse kun kan bedrives indefra, som aktiv medforsker på teoriens egne præmisser. Andet kapitel udfolder en analyse af, hvorledes jeg som medforsker mest hensigtsmæssigt kan forstå Livsformsanalysens erkendelsesteoretiske randbetingelser i forhold til andre etnologiske videnskabsteoretiske ståsteder. Livsformsanalysen udlægges som værende en del af en ikke-relativistisk erkendelsesteoretisk tradition med arbejdsformer ikke blot relateret til en nyere fransk/tysk skoling, men med rødder solidt hvilende i det antikke Grækenland. Tredje kapitel problematiserer Livsformsanalysens forståelse af begreber og kobler dens ikke-relativistiske erkendelsesteoretiske bestræbelser sammen med en præcisering af, at den som etnologisk videnskabsteori bedst forstår sig selv som udfoldende en begrebsrealistisk ontologi. Althussers ”teoretiske objekt” sættes i spil som inkarnationen af Livsformsanalysens empiri, således at dens hidtidige skel imellem intensionalitet og ekstensionalitet præciseres og drejes væsentligt. Fjerde kapitel forsøger at finde ind til en mulig videnskabsteoretisk arbejdsform baseret på en begrebsrealistisk ontologi og en ikke-relativistisk epistemologi. Dele af det livsformsanalytiske univers fremhæves og fremstilles som en kumulativ dialektisk videnskabsproces differentieret imellem et felt, et modelværksted og et teoriværksted. Femte kapitel reflekterer over, hvilken form for regelfølge, der kan bestå imellem det teoretiske værksteds indre begrebsbestemmelser. De interne ræsonnementer vises at være baseret på både en traditionel logik og på en dialektisk logik. Regelfølgeproblematikken føres tilbage til de af Wittgenstein afledte privatsprogsargumenter i forhold til at kunne lade det teoretiske værksted tage udgangspunkt i en præciseret formulering af begrebet praksis-anerkendelserelationen. Sjette kapitel beskriver, hvordan dette udgangspunkt kan udfoldes til en specificering af forskellige typer af anerkendelsesrelationer imellem statsformer og livsformer. Interpellationsbegrebet specificeres som en bestemt praksis-anerkendelsesform. Syvende kapitel er en skitse af en etnologisk kulturanalyse, der med udgangspunkt i selvstændighedsproblematikken i Grønland anno 2010 forsøger at fremstille en begrebsramme for en kohærent livsformsanalytisk forståelse af, hvordan de centrale diskussioner kan gribes. Ottende kapitel er en sammenfattende afrunding.

Eksperter i det globale risikosamfund

ph.d.-forsvar

Anders Blok,

Sociologisk Institut, KU (abl [at] soc.ku.dk):

Divided socio-natures

– essays on the co-construction of

science, society, and the global environment

Controversies between scientific experts as to the exact nature of global environmental crises have become ubiquitous aspects of contemporary Euro-American public life. What might sociology tell us about the social significance of scientific knowledges in contemporary disputes on the fate of threatened nature in ‘world risk society’? This thesis draws on developments in the field of science and technology studies (STS), and particularly on the actor-network theory (ANT) of Bruno Latour and others, in outlining a novel analytical agenda for a globalized environmental sociology. Empirically, the thesis is organized around two multi-sited ethnographic case studies into world-spanning scientific and political conflicts surrounding Japanese whaling (biodiversity) and carbon markets (climate change). Each of these natureculture domains is analysed as important manifestations of the dynamic co-construction of science, society, and the global environment. Scientific knowledges turn out to be densely interwoven with cultural understandings of nature, collective social identities, and contentious projects of political ecology. Symmetrically, sociological theory and methodology stand in need of ‘ecological’ reconstruction, in taking seriously the role of non-human material agencies in global social life.

Københavns Universitet, SAMF.

Forsvaret finder sted 14.april kl.13.00 på Københavns Universitet, Alexandersalen, Bispetorvet. Bedømmelsesudvalget består af Ulrich Beck, Alan Irwin og Inge Kryger Pedersen.

Epistemiske værdier i adfærdsøkologi og palæontologi

Ph.D. forsvar:

Christian Baron:

Epistemic values in Behavioural Ecology and Paleontology

Wednesday, April 7, 2009 at 14:00

NBI, Blegdamsvej 21, København, auditorium M.

Abstract:
This thesis investigates the role of epistemic values, understood as methodological criteria of judgment, in two areas of evolutionary biology; behavioural ecology and paleontology. The focal point of the investigation on behavioural ecology is the debates on a cluster of problems related to the origin and maintenance of biological labour division, altruism, the theory of group selection vs. other kinds of selectionist accounts, and the handicap hypothesis concerning the reliability of biological signaling. The focal point of the investigation on paleontology is a cluster of problems that are all connected with the discussion on the evolutionary interpretation and significance of the Cambrian fossils of Burgess Shale, and include the scientific debates on their systematic interpretation, their morphological disparity, and the role of contingency in evolution. Based on a comparative study of publications connected to various scientific controversies in the two domains of inquiry it put forwards three general claims concerning the role of epistemic values in science that are empirically supported by the case studies: 1) There is a relation of reciprocal underdetermination between epistemic values and other important variables in the scientific process; 2) It is considerably easier for an individual scientist to convince other scientists of the validity of his of her conclusions if they are based on a set of values that are compatible with the dominant epistemic ideals of the scientific community of which the scientist is a member, and 3) the actions of individual scientists in scientific controversies constitute an important level of analysis in the investigation of epistemic values, where interesting phenomena occurs that may otherwise go unnoticed when focusing exclusively on the scientific collective. The existence of a relation of reciprocal underdetermination between epistemic values and other important epistemic variables is a serious hindrance for any universalist approach that attempts to establish the unification of the sciences on a uniform application of epistemic values. The dissent created by disagreements about how epistemic values are to be applied, is necessary in order to ensure a critical scrutiny of decisions that are based on these values.

Assessment committee: Associate professor Jens T. Høeg, Institute of Biology, KU (Chairman), Associate professor Anne-Marie Eggert Olsen, The Danish School of Education, Associate professor Rasmus G. Winther, Dept. of Philosophy, UCSC. Supervisor: Associate professor Claus Emmeche, Center for the Philosophy of Nature and Science Studies, KU.

Alle er velkomne. Afhandlingen kan findes her.

Torkild Thellefsen forsvarer semiotik-ph.d.

Tuesday the 24th of November Torkild Thellefsen defends his dissertation:

“Fundamental Signs and Significance-effects – A Semiotic outline of Fundamental Signs, Significance-effects, Knowledge Profiling and their use in Knowledge Organization and Branding”.

Time and venue: 13.00-17.00 with a reception afterwards, Copenhagen Business School, Dalgas Have 15, auditorium SC.033 by the central hall is right next to the Metro station Lindevang, and there is free parking at the back of the building, where all entrance doors lead to the central hall.

Participation is free

Hugin og Munin 248

Kære Hugin og Munin-læser

Så er Hugin og Munin på banen igen. Efter en kortere pause i nyhedsbrevet og den tilhørende blog, opdaterer vi nu igen bloggen løbende og udsender nyhedsbreve.

Det betyder også, at indsendte forslag til opslag på bloggen og nyhedsbrevet nu igen ekspederes med relativ kort varsel.

Denne udgave af Hugin og Munin annoncerer bl.a. en række af efterårets foredragsrækker, så husk at orientere dig om i de tilhørende links.

God læsning!


Indhold

Ph.d.-forsvar
7. oktober forsvarer cand.mag. Nana Benjaminsen sin ph.d.-afhandling:
AUTORISATIONS - A STS approach to computer based teaching (7. okt., KBH)

Gæsteforelæsninger
Gæsteforelæsning af Bruno Latour på CBS (30. okt., KBH)

Call for abstracts
Der er call for abstracts til konferencen 'Biological Explanation - Systems, Levels and Causes' (10.-12. dec., Olso) OBS: Deadline for abstracts er 12. oktober.

Arrangementer
Oktober hos Fagmiljø for Pædagogisk Filosofi og Idéhistorie (7. okt., 29. okt. og 31. okt., KBH)

Workshop på ITU: 'Numerical Practices' with Dr. Helen Verran (12. okt., KBH)

Efterårets program for Forum for Eksistens og Videnskab (okt, nov. og dec., KBH)

History of Science-seminar med Christoph Lehner: 'The Resolution of the Particle-Wave Dualism: Pascal Jordan and the Quantum Field Theory Program' (19. okt., KBH)

Symposium hos forskningsnetværket Materiel Kultur, Kognition og Natur: 'Senses and Materiality. The Senses at Work' (26. nov., Aarhus)

Nyt fra Etisk Råd:
Konferencer annonceret via Etisk råd (21. okt., Stokholm, 6.-7. nov., Tyskland, 17. nov., Finland)

Arrangementer 2010
EASST konference annonceret: Practicing Science and Technology, performing the Social (2.-4. sep., 2010, Italien)

Studiegrupper
Den københavnske læsekreds har annonceret efterårets program:
Efterårets program for STS-læsekredsen (okt., nov. og dec., KBH)

Jobopslag

PSBio-gruppe i Oslo tilbyder ph.d.-stilling til projektet: "Philosophical Foundations of Systems Biology" OBS: Ansøgningsdeadline 20. november.

Ph.d.-forsvar: AUTHORISATIONS - A STS approach to computer based teaching

Den 7. oktober 2009, kl. 14-17 forsvarer cand.mag. Nana Benjaminsen sin ph.d.-afhandling AUTHORISATIONS - A STS approach to computer based teaching. Forsvaret finder sted i lokale D174 på DPU (dørene lukkes præcist).

Læs mere her.

Virkeligheder på spil

Christopher Gad forsvarer ph.d.-afhandling
Christopher Gad forsvarer afhandlingen Virkeligheder på spil - studier i empirisk filosofi, fiskerikontrol og ontologisk arbejde. Forsvaret finder sted mandag d. 8.6, kl. 13-16, IT-byen Katrinebjerg, lille auditorium, åbogade 19, 8200 Århus N. 

Efter forsvaret afholdes reception i frokoststuen på IMV. Find afhandlingen her.