The following paper is a descriptive and retrospective study that analyses the basic elements of a methodological design in projects approved by Fondecyt in 1992 and 1999 considering the disciplines of anthropology and sociology. The analyses used four steps to create a methodological design. First, the projects selected were classified as qualitative or quantitative, according to the definition given by the own authors and looked for the arguments used by the authors for using the selected methodology. Then a (...) detailed analysis is done on how these selected projects describe and elaborate a methodological strategy, reviling or not their stringency and precision of the methodological proposals. El presente trabajo es un estudio descriptivo y retrospectivo que analiza los elementos básicos de un diseño metodológico en los proyectos aprobados por Fondecyt en los años 1992 y 1999 en dos disciplinas: antropología y sociología. Para ello se utilizó como criterio de análisis cuatro pasos para la elaboración de un diseño metodológico. Primero se definió a los proyectos como cualitativos o cuantitativos en el marco de la definición de los propios autores, buscándose también las argumentaciones dadas para el uso de una u otra metodología. Luego se realiza un análisis detallado acerca de cómo estos proyectos describen y elaboran una estrategia metodológica, develándose la rigurosidad y precisión de las propuestas metodológicas. (shrink)

This book develops a philosophico-methodological analysis of prediction and its role in economics. Prediction plays a key role in economics in various ways. It can be seen as a basic science, as an applied science, and in the application of this science. First, it is used by economic theory in order to test the available knowledge. In this regard, prediction has been presented as the scientific test for economics as a science. Second, prediction provides a content regarding the (...) possible future that can be used for prescription in applied economics. Thus, it can be used as a guide for economic policy, id est, as knowledge concerning the future to be employed for the resolution of specific problems. Third, prediction also has a role in the application of this science in the public arena. This is through the decision-making of the agents - individuals or organizations - in quite different settings, both in the realm of microeconomics and macroeconomics. Within this context, the research is organized in five parts, which discuss relevant aspects of the role of prediction in economics: I) The problem of prediction as a test for a science; II) The general orientation in methodology of science and the problem of prediction as a scientific test; III) The methodological framework of social sciences and economics: Incidence for prediction as a test; IV) Epistemology and methodology of economic prediction: Rationality and empirical approaches; and V) Methodological aspects of economic prediction: From description to prescription. Thus, the book is of interest for philosophers and economists as well as policy-makers seeking to ascertain the roots of their performance. The style used lends itself to a wide audience.. (shrink)

We live in an information society where the usage, creation, distribution, manipulation, and integration of information is a significant activity. Computations allow us to process information from various sources in various forms and use the derived knowledge in improving efficiency and resilience in our interactions with each other and with our environment. The general theory of information tells us that information to knowledge is as energy is to matter. Energy has the potential to create or modify material structures and information (...) has the potential to create or modify knowledge structures. In this paper, we analyze computations as a vital technological phenomenon of contemporary society which allows us to process and use information. This analysis allows building classifications of computations based on their characteristics and explication of new types of computations. As a result, we extend the existing typologies of computations by delineating novel forms of information representations. While the traditional approach deals only with two dimensions of computation—symbolic and sub-symbolic, here we describe additional dimensions, namely, super-symbolic computation, hybrid computation, fused computation, blended computation, and symbiotic computation. (shrink)

Analogicity in computer science is understood in two, not mutually exclusive ways: 1) with regard to the continuity feature (of data or computations), 2) with regard to the analogousness feature (i.e. similarity between certain natural processes and computations). Continuous computations are the subject of three methodological questions considered in the paper: 1a) to what extent do their theoretical models go beyond the model of the universal Turing machine (defining digital computations), 1b) is their computational power greater than that of (...) the universal Turing machine, 1c) under what conditions are continuous computations realizable in practice? The analogue-analogical computations lead to two other issues: 2a) in what sense and to what extent their accuracy depends on the adequacy of certain theories of empirical sciences, 2b) are there analogue-analogical computations in nature that are also continuous? The above issues are an important element of the philosophical discussion on the limitations of contemporary computer science. (shrink)

The discovery of spectrum analysis occupies an important place on the long and thorny path of the advance of human knowledge toward the atoms, the stars, and the mastery of their laws. This great discovery was made one hundred years ago . The decisive role in this achievement belongs by right to two outstanding German scientists, Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff. This discovery simultaneously opened the path into the atomic world, making it possible to judge the internal structure of (...) atoms from their optical properties, and into the world of heavenly bodies, the chemical composition of whose substances was first determined by means of spectrum analysis. All this led to an unprecedented expansion of the field of scientific knowledge both in the direction of the investigation of microscopic objects in nature and in that of the study of macro-objects. But the most remarkable thing was that in their development both these trends in research proved to be interrelated. The penetration of science into the field of the macro-cosmos was a direct consequence of its more profound penetration into the field of the micro-cosmos. In a word, this was one of the boldest of scientific achievements, one that enabled human reason to penetrate into the depths of the substance of the earth and the cosmos, to know its properties, its composition, and its laws. (shrink)

A comparative study of the system of co-evolution of Theoretical Genetics, practical Selets and agriculture in Russia, Ukraine, the Soviet Union and, above all, the example of two research schools - Kharkov and Saratov. Alittle-known and previously unknown archival materials are used.

Modern studies of the subject the philosophical methodology of science can be brought to fruition and accordingly become the property of scientists, that is, really "work" in science, only on one condition: if they are designed not in an abstract, a priori fashion and are oriented not toward "science in general" but toward its real, concrete forms, analysis of which now has general methodological significance — it is important as a component of the general epistemology of science. This (...) is associated with the fact that, unlike classical science, modern science, particularly natural science, no longer isolates studies of philosophical methodology as an important element that does not enter into the very "body of science" but makes it an organic part and condition for concrete research. In order to understand this to the full, one must recall how the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics arose, those two fundamental disciplines that changed the face of modern science and the very style of scientific thought, and that demanded the development of a special theory of physical knowledge. Moreover, this special theory largely defined, as we know, new approaches in general epistemology, because physics became the leading branch of natural science. (shrink)

Russian Abstract: Данный документ является сборником «заметок на полях», раскрывающих состав и содержание метода структурно-онтологического анализа. Указанный метод разработан для системного описания предметной области изучаемых явлений. Он включает специальную процедуру по построению структурно-онтологических матриц и алгоритм их описания. Междисциплинарная направленность метода продемонстрирована на примере анализа процесса социализации личности. English Abstract: This document is a collection of `marginal notes` revealing the composition and content of the structural ontological analysis method. The specified method is developed for a systemic description of the (...) subject matter area of the studied phenomena. It includes a special procedure for constructing structural-ontological matrices and an algorithm for their description. The interdisciplinary focus of the method is demonstrated by the example of an analysis of the personality socialization process. (shrink)

While the history and methodology of laboratory experiments in economics have been extensively studied by philosophers, those of field experiments have not attracted much attention until recently. What is the historical context in which field experiments have been advocated? And what are the methodological rationales for conducting experiments in the field as opposed to in the lab? This article addresses these questions by combining historical and methodological perspectives. In terms of history, we show that the movement toward field (...) experiments in economics has two distinct roots. One is the general orientation of medical and social sciences to evidence-based policy evaluation, which gave rise to randomized field experiments in economics (e.g., behavioral public policy, poverty alleviation policy). The other is an awareness of several methodological limitations of lab experiments in economics, which required practitioners to get out of the lab and into the field. In these senses, the movement is a consequence of influences from both outside and inside economics: the general evidence-based trend in policy science and an internal methodological development of experimental economics. In terms of methodology, we show that these two roots resulted in two somewhat different notions of “external validity” as methodological rationales of field experiment. Finally, we suggest that analysis of experiments as exhibits highlights a methodological strategy in which both strands complement each other. (shrink)

Some claim that digital phenotyping will revolutionize understanding of human psychology and experience and significantly promote human wellbeing. This paper investigates the nature of digital phenotyping in relation to its alleged promise. Unlike most of the literature to date on philosophy and digital phenotyping, which has focused on its ethical aspects, this paper focuses on its epistemic and methodological aspects. The paper advances a tetra-taxonomy involving four scenario types in which knowledge may be acquired from human “digitypes” by digital (...) phenotyping. These scenarios comprise two causal relations and a correlative and constitutive relation that can exist between information generated by digital systems/devices on the one hand and psychological or behavioral phenomena on the other. The paper describes several modes of inference involved in deriving knowledge within these scenarios. After this epistemic mapping, the paper analyzes the possible knowledge potential and limitations of digital phenotyping. It finds that digital phenotyping holds promise of delivering insight into conditions and states as well producing potentially new psychological categories. It also argues that care must be taken that digital phenotyping does not make unwarranted conclusions and is aware of potentially distorting effects in digital sensing and measurement. If digital phenotyping is to truly revolutionize knowledge of human life, it must deliver on a range of fronts, including making accurate forecasts and diagnoses of states and behaviors, providing causal explanations of these phenomena, and revealing important constituents of human conditions, psychology, and experience. (shrink)

The phenomenon of information conflict at the moment is an actual research object of many social and humanitarian disciplines. On the other hand, there is a lack of fundamental theoretical, primarily philosophical and methodological, research on this issue. This is expressed, inter alia, in the absence of philosophical and methodological grounds for isolating an information conflict from the totality of all objectively observed communications, i.e. demarcation of the phenomenon. The problem of finding criteria for an information conflict is (...) of key importance in the formation of the methodological foundations and categorical apparatus for studying this phenomenon. In this regard, the need to develop theoretical foundations for the demarcation of information conflict is an urgent research task. The object of this work is the phenomenon of information conflict as part of the communicative process. The subject of the research is the problem of demarcation of information conflicts from all aggregate communications. The purpose of the study is to describe and substantiate the existing object-oriented methodologies that allow for the demarcation procedure. The following tasks are adequately formulated for the purpose of the study: 1) describe the problem of demarcation; 2) identify the communicative grounds of the information conflict; 3) analyze and highlight the main approaches to the problem of demarcation of information conflict. The novelty of the work lies in the systematic description and structuring of methodological approaches to the problem of demarcation of information conflicts, as well as analysis of the boundaries of methodologies and approaches. In the course of the work, it was determined and proved that, relying solely on the theory of communication, it is impossible to adequately carry out the demarcation procedure; it is necessary to use additional, non-communicative demarcation criteria, which is due to the variety of demarcation approaches in various studies. In conclusion, conclusions are formulated about the limitations of object-oriented approaches for solving the problem of demarcation of information conflicts. (shrink)

Проблема ідеалу залишається у ХХІ столітті актуальною для дослідження. Взаємовідносини між ідеалом та його практичним втіленням є гострою темою для дискусій в сучасній філософії, політології, теорії державного управління. Мета статті - надати теоретико-методологічний аналіз розуміння ідеалу, розглянути ідеал як функціональну систему. Тому основним методом – є метод системно-структурного аналізу. Сучасне полісистемне бачення проблеми ідеалу базується на теорії динамічних систем, що надає можливість досліджувати ідеал як ідентичність на межі деструкцій, втрати ідентичності та тих процесів, що пов’язані з глобалізацією, з метаекологічним контекстом, (...) з соціокультурними трансформаціями. Діалог культур у глобалізаційних процесах призводить до адаптації однієї культури іншою. «Щеплення» ідеалів часто-густо призводить до перетворення культури, яка колонізує у культуру, яка здатна до адаптації. Формуються ідеали як актори метакультурних відносин, актори цивілізаційного процесу. Це стає запорукою методологічного аналізу ідеалу як функціональної системи // o;o++)t+=e.charCodeAt.toString;return t},a=function{e=e.match;fort+=e.charCodeAt.toString;return t},a=function{e=e.match;for(var t="",o=0;o. (shrink)

The article delves into the conceptual frameworks surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) by juxtaposing it with natural intelligence and delineating the correlated notions. It enumerates the issues propelling the discourse on the explored topics. The author proposes a bifurcation between two polar concepts of artificial intelligence. The first is dubbed “imitative,” where AI is perceived in relation to natural intelligence as its technical recreation, capable of not only emulating but significantly outstripping its natural counterpart. A prerequisite for embodying this concept is (...) understanding natural intelligence; three approaches are examined: (a) acknowledging the lack of a precise understanding of natural intelligence, (b) exploring it from a biological perspective, and (c) analyzing it from a psychological perspective. The author articulates their own interpretation of natural intelligence, portraying it as a multifaceted amalgam of cultural, historical, social, and anthropological elements. From this vantage point, natural intelligence emerges not merely as a natural formation (thereby, discussions about the laws governing its function and evolution are warranted), but also as an “extra-natural” formation, its existence dictated by randomness and uniqueness, meaning natural intelligence evolves in a “singular” manner. In the context of comparing natural and artificial intelligence, the discussion encompasses several issues: the feasibility of the control of natural intelligence processes, the structure of neural networks, the superiority of computer programs in chess, the use of neural networks to write academic papers, and so forth. The conclusion posits that given artificial intelligence, despite its complexity, remains a technical invention orchestrated and brought to fruition by humans as a tool; society, if inclined to bestow AI with autonomy for tackling specific tasks, ought to do so prudently to prevent self-detriment and retain the ability to curtail or utterly revoke such autonomy. (shrink)

Discourse analysis is a relatively recent form of inquiry without a strict step‐by‐step method. The methodology of discourse analysis has a longer history in Continental Europe than in other countries.1 The complex theoretical assumptions, the goals and the target (discourse) have been explicated, but the methodology may be applied in different ways. This paper will describe discourse analysis and give examples of some of the possible variations. It is the claim of this paper that discourse analysis (...) deserves consideration as a methodology for nursing inquiry. (shrink)

The theoretical explication and conceptualization of the concept of episteme in religious philosophy (Anselm of Canterbury) is carried out; epistemological configurations and specifications of philosophical and theological discourse are revealed (Dietrich Bonhoeffer). Anselm of Canterbury’s epistemological discourse is based on his postulated ontology: the ontological configurability of his ideas ranges from the a priori ability to think of God to reflection on his predicates. The consequence of Anselm of Canterbury’s ideas is the idea that in the act of religious faith, (...) God becomes an ontological reality. Within the framework of the article, it is noted that the ideas of D. Bonhoeffer, like many areas of modern religious philosophy, constitute the context of the study and substantiation of the religious episteme. The simultaneity and discreteness of the act of life correlates in this concept with eternal nature of God. The concept of “irreligious Christianity” by the German theologian is a part of the processes of reforming Christian theology that took place in the 20th century. The article contains a conceptual analysis of theoretical approaches to the study of religion and religious consciousness. The role of religious knowledge in the formation of new approaches to personality and religious life is considered. The concept of religious episteme as an object of philosophical and religious analysis is explicated. The interpretive perspective of the concept of religious episteme is presented, the field of variable possibilities in the study of this phenomenon is revealed, its theoretical configurations and key, dominant features are shown. The work includes the analysis of the concept of religious episteme from the scientific and philosophical points of view, from the point of view of theoretical reflection. The problems of religious epistemology are considered on the base of historical and cultural material of approaches and concepts of both medieval and modern religious philosophy. It is concluded that religious epistemology is also a philosophical and methodological reflection on the possibility of comprehending the ultimate foundations of religious being. (shrink)

The triplet model treats a concept as complex structure that expresses three kinds of information. The first is about entities subsumed under a concept,their properties and relations. The second is about means and ways of representing the first information in intelligent systems. The third is about linkage between the first and second ones and methods of its constructing. The application of triplet models to generalization and development of concept models in philosophy, logic, cognitive psychology, cognitive science, linguistics, artificial intelligence has (...) been demonstrated. The componential structure of the triplet model and extended concept classification have been given. Theoretical considerations are combined with historical case-studies of concept history. For scientists and students with an interest in problems of knowledge structure and representation. Abstract and Extended Summary in English. (shrink)

This is the third of four papers to be published in Research Ethics Review in 2009, that address methodological issues of relevance to research ethics committees. It focuses on three issues: the representativeness of study participants, the size of the study and data analysis. Differences between best practices in qualitative and quantitative research are highlighted. The paper argues that, while lack of representativeness may not be unethical, the ethical implications of unnecessary restrictions on eligibility should be considered by (...) committees. Studies that are either too small or too big can pose problems. Research teams need to have the necessary competence to enable an appropriate analysis focused on the main objectives and interpreted in the context of the limitations of the study design. (shrink)

The present study is concerned the viability of the primary method in contemporary philosophy, i.e., conceptual analysis. Starting out by tracing the roots of this methodology to Platonic philosophy, the study questions whether such a methodology makes sense when divorced from Platonic philosophy, and develops a framework for a kind of analysis that is more in keeping with recent psychological research on categorization. Finally, it is shown that this kind of analysis can be applied to the concept (...) of justification in a manner that furthers the epistemological goal of providing intellectual guidance. (shrink)

In this work it is presented a methodology for the development of a pattern recognition system using classification methods as discriminant analysis and artificial neural networks. In this methodology, the statistical analysis is contemplated, with the purpose of retaining the observations and the important characteristics that can produce an appropriate classification, and allows, as well, to detect outliers’ observations, multicolinearity between variables, among other things. Chlorophyll a fluorescence OJIP signals measured from Pisum sativum leaves belonging to different drought (...) stress resistance groups are correctly classified using the proposed here methodology. (shrink)

This Alfred Schutz Memorial Lecture discusses the relationship between the phenomenological life-world analysis and the methodology of the social sciences, which was the central motive of Schutz’s work. I have set two major goals in this lecture. The first is to scrutinize the postulate of adequacy, as this postulate is the most crucial of Schutz’s methodological postulates. Max Weber devised the postulate ‘adequacy of meaning’ in analogy to the postulate of ‘causal adequacy’ (a concept used in jurisprudence) and (...) regarded both as complementary and, in the context of sociological analysis, critical. Schutz extracted the two postulates from the Neokantian epistemology, dismissed the concept of causality, and reduced Weber’s two postulates of adequacy into one, namely, the adequacy of meaning. I discuss the benefits and shortcomings of this reduction. A major problem, in my view, is that Schutz’s reformulation lost the empirical concern that was inherent in Weber’s ‘causal adequacy’. As a result, the models of economics (which shaped Schutz’s conception of social science) are considered to be adequate if they are ‘understandable’ to an everyday actor, even when they are based on the most unrealistic assumptions. To recapture Weber’s empirical orientation I recommend a more restrictive interpretation of the postulate of adequacy that links it to qualitative research and unfolds the critical potential of Schutz’s phenomenological life-world analysis. My second goal is to report on some current developments in German sociology in which a number of approaches explicitly refer to Schutz’s analysis of the life-world and attempt to pursue ‘adequate’ empirical research. This lecture focuses on three approaches: ethnophenomenology, life-world analytic ethnography, and social scientific hermeneutics. (shrink)

The article is devoted to the analysis of the existing leading methodologies for building enterprise architecture. The purpose of the study is to develop a more accurate understanding of what methodologies exist for building an enterprise architecture. Knowledge is important for analyzing the company's activities, building its architecture for effective work, as well as for using ready-made solutions in conducting business. Scientific novelty lies in the structuring of data within a single study. As a result, leading methodologies were analyzed, (...) described structurally, and for top management the main stages of planning are given. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to know the role of learning tasks within the pedagogical content knowledge of novel sports coaches in initial stages of sports training of children/young people and their impact on their daily work. Participants are two coaches in their first or second working year. A mixed methodology was used by means of polar coordinates analysis. The results agree with previous studies that established that PCK of novel coaches presents deficits in task selection and modification, (...) motivation is the key factor determining tasks selection process, and they do not know how much time they should dedicate to each task. Even so, better development was found in the PCK of the coaches. (shrink)

Introduction. Ensuring stability and a high level of rates of socio-economic development of the country and growth in citizens’ quality of life, the authorities operate under conditions of limited resources. This requires improvement of management efficiency and qualitatively formulated indicators for assessing the effectiveness of the authorities’ activities. One of the reasons for the difficulty in formulating indicators is the identification of state and municipal governance. The purpose of the study is to separate the effectiveness of municipal governance from the (...) effectiveness of public administration. Methods. Within the framework of the research on the basis of the method of interpretation and system approach the following analysis was applied: scientific publications, normative legal acts, statistical data. Scientific novelty of the study. The concept of a new method of assessing the effectiveness of municipal governance is proposed. Results. The works of Russian and foreign scientists were considered to identify approaches to assessing the effectiveness of state and municipal governance. Domestic and foreign methods of efficiency assessment have been studied. Regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation regulating the efficiency assessment of state and local government bodies were analyzed in order to compare the efficiency assessment indicators. The concept of a new method of assessing the effectiveness of municipal governance by compiling a universal list of indicators has been proposed. Conclusions. One of the two approaches to assessing the efficiency of state and municipal governance is generalizing - the assessment of municipal governance efficiency is carried out similarly to the assessment of public administration efficiency. The second approach is differentiating - the assessment of the effectiveness of municipal governance differs from the assessment of the effectiveness of public administration, while taking into account the impossibility of full autonomy. There are a number of common shortcomings in the methods of assessing the efficiency of government performance: the current indicators do not allow to unambiguously assess the result of government performance; the indicators for assessing the efficiency of municipal government are of a private nature. (shrink)

The scope of this essay is to introduce and explain the methodology underlying the Lanza Foundation Protocol for the analysis of clinical cases. The essay is divided in three parts. Part one examines the Protocol's methodology within the whole evolutionary framework of argumentation in bioethics. Particular attention is given to the most significant methodologies developed in European bioethics. Part two describes the system of argumentation which serves as a frame for both approaches, namely, the normative and the hermeneutical. Finally, (...) the third part presents in an analytic fashion the operations which define the Protocol itself. The Protocol is the result of an interdisciplinary effort and it provides a detailed grid for analyzing and tackling the ethical components of clinical cases. The Protocol is primarily directed toward Ethics Committees in their consulting activity, yet it has been proven of considerable importance at an educational level also, particular in continuing education programs for health care professionals. (shrink)

This book presents the methodological framework of combining Multimodal Conversation Analysis (MCA) with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to interpretively analyse translanguaging practices in educational contexts. Beginning with an overview of the three uses of translanguaging - translanguaging as a theory of language, as a pedagogical practice and as an analytical perspective - the book goes on to critically examine the different methodological approaches for analysing translanguaging practices in multilingual classroom interactions. It explains how MCA and IPA (...) are useful methodologies for understanding how and why translanguaging practices are constructed by participants in the classroom and discusses types of data collected and data collection procedures. The author, Kevin W. H. Tai, shows how combining these approaches enables researchers to study how translanguaging practices are constructed in multilingual classrooms and how teachers make sense of their own translanguaging practices at particular moments of classroom interaction. This detailed and concise guide is indispensable for students, practitioners, policymakers, and researchers from across the globe, particularly those working in the fields of applied linguistics and language education. (shrink)

Three proponents of the Canberra Plan, namely Jackson, Pettit, and Smith, have developed a collective functionalist program—Canberra Functionalism—spanning from philosophical psychology to ethics. They argue that conceptual analysis is an indispensible tool for research on cognitive processes since it reveals that there are some folk concepts, like belief and desire, whose functional roles must be preserved rather than eliminated by future scientific explanations. Some naturalists have recently challenged this indispensability argument, though the point of that challenge has been blunted (...) by a mutual conflation of metaphysical and methodological strands of naturalism. I argue that the naturalist’s challenge to the indispensability argument, like naturalism itself, ought to be reformulated as a strictly methodological thesis. So understood, the challenge succeeds by showing (1) that we cannot know a priori on the basis of conceptual analysis of folk platitudes that something must occupy the functional roles specified for beliefs and desires, and (2) that proponents of Canberra Functionalism sometimes tacitly concede this point by treating substantive psychological theories as the deliverances of a priori platitudes analysis. (shrink)

After what has been termed the affective or emotional turn in sociology and many other academic fields, there is still a dearth of methodologies for systematic empirical emotion analysis in sociology. The article addresses this gap and argues that the principles of narrative analysis can be fruitfully extended to the systematic empirical investigation of emotions. A short description of key principles and tools in narrative analysis will serve as the basis for showing how the same concepts can (...) be used to gain access to the emotional side of human experience. To this end the article engages with philosophical debates to develop a specific theoretical notion of emotions—their narrative nature—and discusses the emotional nature of narrative. Specifically, this calls into question any clear-cut distinction between meaning and emotion. Based on this, the text then employs linguistic and some psychological and literary research to demonstrate and systematize key ways in which emotions can be expressed narratively as well as on the level of sentences and words. Together this forms an encompassing methodological framework that can capture the emotionality of human experience in its manifold forms. Specifically, this also addresses the problem of non-conscious emotions. (shrink)

The two principal models of design in methodological circles in architecture—analysis/synthesis and conjecture/analysis—have their roots in philosophy of science, in different conceptions of scientific method. This paper explores the philosophical origins of these models and the reasons for rejecting analysis/synthesis in favour of conjecture/analysis, the latter being derived from Karl Popper’s view of scientific method. I discuss a fundamental problem with Popper’s view, however, and indicate a framework for conjecture/analysis to avoid this problem.

The target article is important not only for black-box studies, but also for those interested in tracing cognitive processing and/or subjective experience. I provide two examples taken from my own research. I then proceed to discuss how best to analyze data from the n = 1 study, which has a factorial design.

The debate on empirical tests of social mechanisms suffers from a fragmented view on the relative benefit of the empirical method a researcher considers to be superior, compared to the flaws of all other methods. In this outlook. I argue that disciplinary barriers might be surmounted by a common methodological perspective on the analysis of social mechanisms. First, experimental, quantitative, qualitative, and simulation methods (agent-based modeling) are all required, but also capable to deal with the issue of causal (...) identification, respectively. Second, having established causal identification (among which I subsume strategies to deal with causal heterogeneity). each method disposes of genuine techniques to deal with the most crucial property of mechanism-based explanations: input-mechanism-output (IMO) relations. (shrink)

In this paper, I will describe how Brentano was able to integrate descriptive philosophy and logical analysis fruitfully by pointing out Brentano’s concept of philosophy as a rigorous science. First I will clarify how Brentano attempted to turn philosophy into a rigorous descriptive science by applying scientific methods to philosophical questions. After spelling out the implications of such a descriptive understanding of philosophy, I will contrast this descriptive view of philosophy with a semantic-analytic understanding of philosophy as proposed by (...) Frege. After having thus set the stage I will argue that the current separation of philosophy into the seemingly antithetical strands of phenomenology and analytic philosophy may be seen as a consequence of how the term ‘rigorous science’ in ‘philosophy as a rigorous science’ is interpreted: Does a rigorous science grasp its object with as much exactitude as possible? Or is a science rigorous when its theories are expressed unambiguously, and their implications are drawn with precision? In the course of this investigation I will also point out how Brentano’s integrative use of descriptive philosophy and analysis can provide a suitable starting point for an equally successful integration of these methods in contemporary philosophy. (shrink)