[Xmca-l] Re: What is science?: Where to start doctoral students?

[Wagner Luiz Schmit]

Hello Martin,

I struggle not of accepting the idea of ontology, but the concept itself.
Is it a "way to exist"? But to acknowledge that we exist, or the way we
exist, isn't also "to know"? Isn't this the base of the "cogito, ergo sum",
I think therefore I exist? So what is the difference between ontology and
epistemology?

I feel like the "ontology" is kind of related to the German bildung
tradition, or is this wrong?

Sorry if those sounds like silly questions. I am just beginning my studies
on philosophy, so sorry.

And thanks for your attention.

Wagner

On Fri, Nov 2, 2018 at 12:38 PM Martin Packer <mpacker@cantab.net> wrote:

> Wagner, the Chalmer’s book looks interesting: it’s unusual to see an
> introductory textbook cover not only Kuhn but also Lakatos and Feyerabend.
> I think though that Latour’s work, from Laboratory Life to Inquiry into
> Modes of Existence, has changed the way we think about science.
>
> Can I ask, though, why are you “struggling" with the notion of ontology?
> It is true that since the Logical Positivists the emphasis has been on
> epistemology, on knowledge. But it has been clear from Kohn onwards that
> every scientific discipline, indeed every paradigm, assumes an ontology,
> usually tacit. That is to say, in simpler terms, researchers make
> assumptions about the kinds of things, entities, or objects about which
> they are trying to obtain knowledge.
>
> So every science is ontological. but often its ontology is taken for
> granted, and so ignored. Lukács laid out a “social ontology”: exploring how
> new *kinds* of entities have been created through human activity, which
> call for new kinds of investigation. Vygotsky rejected the ontology of
> dualism: the way that psychologists assume that the objects they are
> studying are mental entities, distinct from the material entities studied
> by the natural sciences.
>
> Martin
>
> *"I may say that whenever I meet Mrs. Seligman or Dr. Lowie or discuss
> matters with Radcliffe-Brown or Kroeber, I become at once aware that my
> partner does not understand anything in the matter, and I end usually with
> the feeling that this also applies to myself” (Malinowski, 1930)*
>
>
>
> On Nov 2, 2018, at 10:03 AM, Wagner Luiz Schmit <wagner.schmit@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> This is also of my interest, so thank you very much for the indications.
> Also, I want to know your opinion on this book:
>
>
> https://www.amazon.com/What-This-Thing-Called-Science/dp/162466038X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541166995&sr=8-1&keywords=chalmers+science
>
> In my PhD classes one teacher is proposing that the need of an
> "ontological" "marxist" way of science in Vygotsky, through György
> Lukács. I am still struggling a lot with the concept of "ontology", but any
> opinions on this also?
>
> Wagner
>
> On Thu, Nov 1, 2018 at 12:33 PM Beth Ferholt <bferholt@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Great. Kuhn and Thinking and Speech are two of the few things on my list
>> already and I’ll start reading the other two, sensible or no, now! Thanks
>> so much, Beth
>>
>> On Thursday, November 1, 2018, Andy Blunden <andyb@marxists.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Beth, much as a part of me would like to recommend the Preface to
>>> Hegel's Phenomenology, being sensible I would still recommend:
>>>
>>>    1. The first chapter of Thinking and Speech
>>>    https://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/words/ch01.htm
>>>    2. Marx's Method of Political Economy
>>>    https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/grundrisse/ch01.htm#loc3
>>>    3. And they should read Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific
>>>    Revolutions
>>>
>>>    https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/us/kuhn.htm
>>>
>>> Who knows? You might be fostering an original thinker?
>>> Andy
>>> ------------------------------
>>> Andy Blunden
>>> http://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm
>>> On 1/11/2018 11:43 PM, Beth Ferholt wrote:
>>>
>>> On Wed, Oct 31, 2018 at 10:09 AM Beth Ferholt < <bferholt@gmail.com>
>>> bferholt@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm starting to take the role of advisor on doctoral dissertations and
>>>>>>> wonder how best to begin to discuss "what is science?" with students who
>>>>>>> will need to respond concisely when asked about the rigor and reliability
>>>>>>> of their formative intervention, narrative and/or autobiographical studies.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'm looking for an overview or paper that does more than argue the
>>>>>>> value of one approach -- something to start them off thinking about the
>>>>>>> issues, not immerse them in one perspective quite yet.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If not an overview then maybe a paper that contextualizes "rigor"
>>>>>>> and "reliability".
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Obviously this is an endless topic but do some people reading XMCA
>>>>>>> have some favorite papers that they give to their advisees or use when they
>>>>>>> teach a methods class?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks!
>>>>>>> Beth
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Beth Ferholt
>>>>>>> Associate Professor, Department of Early Childhood and Art
>>>>>>> Education;
>>>>>>> Affiliated Faculty, CUNY Graduate Center
>>>>>>> Brooklyn College, City University of New York
>>>>>>> 2900 Bedford Avenue
>>>>>>> <https://maps.google.com/?q=2900+Bedford+Avenue+Brooklyn,+NY+11210&entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>>>>> Brooklyn, NY 11210
>>>>>>> <https://maps.google.com/?q=2900+Bedford+Avenue+Brooklyn,+NY+11210&entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>>>>> -2889
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Email: <bferholt@brooklyn.cuny.edu>bferholt@brooklyn.cuny.edu
>>>>>>> Phone: (718) 951-5205
>>>>>>> Fax: (718) 951-4816
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Beth Ferholt
>> Associate Professor, Department of Early Childhood and Art Education;
>> Affiliated Faculty, CUNY Graduate Center
>> Brooklyn College, City University of New York
>> 2900 Bedford Avenue
>> Brooklyn, NY 11210-2889
>>
>> Email: bferholt@brooklyn.cuny.edu
>> Phone: (718) 951-5205
>> Fax: (718) 951-4816
>>
>>
>
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