Academic literature on the topic 'Performative episteme'

The rise of digital media has witnessed a paradigmatic shift in the way that media outlets conceptualize and classify their audience. Whereas during the era of mass media, ‘seeing’ the audience was based on a scientific episteme combining social theory and empirical research, with digital media ‘seeing’ the audience has come to be dominated by a new episteme, based on big data and algorithms. This article argues that the algorithmic episteme does not see the audience more accurately, but differently. Whereas the scientific episteme upheld an ascriptive conception which assigned individuals to a particular social category, the algorithmic episteme assumes a performative individual, based on behavioral data, sidestepping any need for a theory of the self. Since the way in which the media see their audience is constitutive, we suggest that the algorithmic episteme represents a new way to think about human beings.

Within academic disciplines, the category of Global South is highly contested with no agreements on the definition of the term. One cannot deny the amorphous nature of the term, yet its gravitational pull can be potentially effective in connecting the different forms of ongoing exploitation – both of humans and more-than-humans. This special issue aims to focus on how to think of the episteme of the Global South in ways that could be enabling, liberating, capacious enough to sharpen our imaginative and performative utopian lens.

abstractIn this study we chart the aspectual characteristics of performative utterances in a cross-linguistic sample of sixteen languages on the basis of native-speaker elicitations. We conclude that there is not one single aspectual type (e.g., perfectives) that is systematically reserved for performative contexts. Instead, the aspectual form of performative utterances in a given language is epistemically motivated, in the sense that the language will turn to that aspectual construction which it generally selects to refer to situations that are fully and instantly identifiable as an instance of a given situation type at the time of speaking. We use the method of Multidimensional Scaling to demonstrate this: whatever the exact value of a given aspectual marker, if it is used to mark performatives, then it also commonly features in the expression of states and habits, which have the subinterval property (they can be fully verified based on a random segment), demonstrations, and other special contexts featuring more or less predictable and therefore instantly identifiable events. On the other hand, our study shows that performative contexts do not normally feature progressive aspect, which is dedicated to the expression of events that are not fully and instantly identifiable.

The German discourse particles ‘ja’ and ‘doch’ both mark the information expressed by their host sentence as somehow given, obvious, or uncontroversial (McCready & Zimmermann 2011 call them ‘epistemic particles’). Two things are puzzling: (i) despite its ‘epistemic’ nature, ‘doch’ can appear in imperatives and with performative modals; (ii) despite their similarity, ‘ja’ is unacceptable in imperatives and forces a descriptive reading of modal verbs. We explain (i) by assuming that the performativity of modalized propositions depends on certain contextual constellations which may conflict with constraints imposed by the particles. To account for (ii), we offer an analysis for ‘ja’ and ‘doch’ that explains the inviolable ban against ‘ja’ (but not ‘doch’) from performative modal contexts in terms of defeasible inferences about the context.

This paper argues that Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) serve as a neoliberal performative act, in which idealized conditions are re-constituted by well-resourced and networked epistemic communities with the objective of bringing a distinctly instrumental and utilitarian relationality between humans and nature into existence. We illustrate the performative agency of hegemonic epistemic communities advocating (P)ES imaginaries to differentiate between the cultural construction of an ideal reality, which can and always will fail, and an external reality of actually produced effects. In doing so, we explore human agency to disobey performative acts to craft embodied and life-affirming relationships with nature.

Through her silencing thesis, Langton has contributed to the study of epistemic injustice by highlighting a possible cause of such a phenomenon: She asserts that the pornographic representation of (straight) sexual relationships affects the felicity conditions of speech uttered by women, so this speech is not understood as an illocution by men. This fact arguably undermines women’s credibility, since their testimony is not even registered in men’s testimonial sensibility. However, this thesis entails problematic consequences from at least two standpoints. From a theoretical perspective, it enacts a circularity when it comes to the empirical individuation of the subordinative effects of pornography. I will point out that this problem arises from Langton’s substantive conception of power, i.e. from her notion of authority as an attribute which can be ascribed to preexisting subjects. From a political perspective, such conception of power allows Langton to performatively rank women as credible when testifying sexual violence, but it also leads her to silencing alternative political strategies, e.g. the ones proposed by Butler. Hence, I propose to consider this form of silencing as a specific kind of epistemic injustice, one that neutralises the performative value of political discourses.

Qualitative researchers are aptly positioned to address issues implicated in the politics of evidence in scholarship. Autoethnography in particular carries important methodological implications for how the body is sited in what constitutes knowledge, evidence, and the evidence of knowledge. I argue that if autoethnography is epistemic, then the evidence of how we know what we know must reside in the aesthetic crafting of critical reflexion upon the body-as-evidence. As we develop “post” methodologies we may be in danger of expecting the personal or emotional to stand in for literary acumen. Performative autoethnography resides in the intersections of knowledge construction and art, in the aesthetic articulation of the performative body, in a personally political reflection whose evidence is an epistemic/aesthetic praxis. I utilize autoethnographic writing on loss and hope to operationalize the epistemic/aesthetic praxis as an ethical imperative for performative autoethnography.

‘Philosophy for Children’, firstly proposed by Matthew Lipman, aims to nourish both critical thinking and argumentative ability of participants. This model conceives of children as a crucial resource for social development: their thought is supposed to be free from undisputable dogmas and theories. Therefore, their questions about philosophical issues can shed new light on them, or even underline some contradictions of the adult-like society, that we unconsciously tend to disregard. The philosophical background of P4C pushes for an in-practice philosophy, highlighting the value of critical thinking and ambitious questioning against a docile acceptance of well-established theories (and social practices). Yet, a radical interpretation of this claim results in a widespread relativism that would mislead models such as P4C from their own goals. In this paper, resulting from the observation of several P4C sessions, I argue that, although they are supposed to be cross-sections of social environments, communities of inquiry as defined by Lipman are conventional (ceremonial) contexts: the sentences pronounced within the community, are highly performative. Moreover, the quality of research crucially rests on the epistemic openness of a jointly-chosen question, that influences the following discussion. However, sometimes social and cultural differences among participants are not completely erased within heterogeneous communities of inquiry. Hence, by rejecting the radical interpretation, I propose a methodological integration to the standard P4C model, that could assure both participation and epistemic openness even in heterogeneous communities.

Depuis les années 1950, l'industrie pharmaceutique n'est pas épargnée par les affaires de scandales sanitaires (thalidomide 1961, 1962 et 1963), Distilbène (1977), Médiator (2009) etc. Il s'agit en général des produits de santé dont les effets indésirables graves n'ont pas été identifiés plus tôt ou simplement dissimulés par les fabricants tout au long de la chaîne de développement des produits de santé (CDPS). Ces effets ont généré des conséquences désastreuses en France et à l'étranger, augmenté les dépenses de santé publique et dégradé l'image de l'industrie pharmaceutique et la confiance des populations à l'égard de ladite industrie. Ce diagnostic laisse présager l'existence d'un dilemme auquel cette industrie fait face. Dans cette recherche, nous abordons ce dilemme sous l’angle de la fraude normalisée par les grandes entreprises pharmaceutiques (G.E.P) dans la CDPS qui illustre le parcours d’un produit de santé. Notre sujet de recherche, positionné dans le champ de recherche de la criminalité d'affaires (criminalité en col blanc, Edwin. Sutherland, 1930), pose une question pratique : de quelle manière la grande entreprise pharmaceutique fait « faire » pour normaliser la fraude dans la chaîne de développement des produits de santé (CDPS) ? Le déploiement de la M.C.R.A.A (Méthode de Contextualisation et d'analyse par la Recherche des Alliés et des affinités) a été l'approche méthodologique mobilisée dans le cadre de cette recherche. Cela nous a permis de produire des résultats en deux temps. Le premier type de résultat est assimilé à l’émergence du concept de Poche Organisationnelle Informelle (« P.O.I. »), en tant que dispositif formé par ses ressources matérielles, symboliques et ses membres affiliés, c’est-à-dire des acteurs équipés partageant un secret organisationnel autour d’un produit de santé faisant l’objet de fraude d’une part, et des acteurs externes d’autre part. Ce résultat a été progressivement transformé en résultats définitifs après renouvellement de notre processus de recherche. Cette transformation met en évidence les deux phases du cycle de vie de la P.O.I : sa réussite (résultats principaux de la thèse) et son échec (résultats secondaires de la thèse) dans la normalisation de la fraude dans la chaîne de développement des produits de santé (CDPS)
Since the 1950s, the pharmaceutical industry is still affected by the scandals of health scandals (thalidomide 1961, 1962 and 1963), Distilbène (1977), Vioxx (2004), Mediator (2009), breast prostheses PIP (2010), ...These are generally health products that have a harmful effect that is not detected earlier in the collective management of these products throughout the health product development chain. These harmful effects have generated disastrous consequences in France and abroad ( some organizations say that these are cases of pain that have caused illness, cancer or death), but also in economic and financial terms (national health costs), image and trust. This is the diagnosis made about the functioning of the pharmaceutical industry. This diagnosis reveals the existence of a dilemma that this sector must undoubtedly resolve. Various situations are often mentioned to refer to this dilemma. Some situations refer to the negligence and imprudence of institutions and organizations for the control and supervision of health products, others are oriented towards the fault and error of the actors involved in the collective management of these products, and others are about fraud perpetrated by actors mandated to develop health products that help the population to eliminate the different diseases. This thesis focuses on situations of fraud committed by big pharma as a research subject. She positions him in the field of white-collar crime, a term invented by American sociologist Edwin. Sutheland in the 1930s). The analysis of this research subject poses a practical question: How big pharma performs to normalize fraud in the health product development chain that includes national, transnational and global levels. It is important to note that this thesis does not aim to stigmatize big pharma, which are essential actors because they contribute to the disappearance of diseases by providing health products to society. Rather, it focuses on a phenomenon that has been clearly identified and that represents a threat to the planet, which has already affected health systems several times, thousands of people in the world and caused considerable human and financial losses. Thus, it relies on the experience of institutional, organizational and individual actors in the health sector, in terms of health scandals marked by pharmaceutical fraud, to answer research questions. The research results show that, big pharma is instrumentalising P.O.I, a structured and structuring organisation, to perform the actors who are involved in the collective management of health products in such a way that their practices and discourse are consistent with what she thinks, says and does. It is through this mechanism that pharmaceutical fraud is normalized at the national, transnational and global levels. More specifically, the P.O.I is a network organisation composed of human and non-human actors.Hidden within the big pharma, it materializes the ability of this enterprise to produce a generalized effect in the process that describes the different phases of realization of a health product, which will encourage the actors involved to legitimize the fraud in order to serve the interests of the entreprise in which it is housed

This study examines the teaching-artist's philosophies and practice in the digital arts context, interrogating the limitations and potential at the nexus of teaching-artistry, arts learning and digital technology to create enhanced learning and capitalise on the capacities of learners. The practice at the heart of this research features the performative workshop 'Creature Interactions: an interactive workshop', staged at the Out of the Box Festival, Sydney Opera House, and XinTiandi Festival in Shanghai. The performative workshop features large-scale digitally interactive projections presented in a VR CAVE environment.

The author argues against the universality thesis, by which “the properties of the English word know and the English sentence “S knows that p” are shared by translations of these expressions in most or all languages.” The author argues that not only does the Sanskrit pramā, the closest term to English knowledge, have different properties, but its properties are most closely related to what epistemologists are investigating. English epistemic vocabulary brings with it parochial associations, including a static rather than a performative picture of epistemic agency, a model of justification that skews discussion about the value of epistemic practices, and possibly a nonfactive semantics at odds with the goals of epistemology. In this chapter, the author cites both theoretical writings about epistemology in Sanskrit and intuitions about the use of Sanskrit epistemic vocabulary to show that meaning is not easily translated.

Hearing Maskanda outlines how people make sense of their world through practicing and hearing maskanda music in South Africa. Having emerged in response to the experience of forced labour migration in the early 20th century, maskanda continues to straddle a wide range of cultural and musical universes. Maskanda musicians reground ideas, (hi)stories, norms, speech and beliefs that have been uprooted in centuries of colonial and apartheid rule by using specific musical textures, vocalities and idioms. With an autoethnographic approach of how she came to understand and participate in maskanda, Titus indicates some instances where her acts of knowledge formation confronted, bridged or invaded those of other maskanda participants. Thus, the book not only aims to demonstrate the epistemic importance of music and aurality but also the performative and creative dimension of academic epistemic approaches such as ethnography, historiography and music analysis, that aim towards conceptualization and (visual) representation. In doing so, the book unearths the colonialist potential of knowledge formation at large and disrupts modes of thinking and (academic) research that are globally normative.

The lecture performance is a format in contemporary dance, established since the 1990s in various pieces by choreographers and performers from different fields. This chapter draws on the history, aesthetics, and theory of the lecture performance from modern dance and the avant-garde to postmodern dance, and discusses examples of contemporary lecture performance, including Xavier Le Roy, Jérôme Bel, Lindy Annis, Martin Nachbar, among others. Starting from current definitions of “performance,” the chapter focuses on questions of the “solo”—the model of showing/demonstrating that is part of the performative and epistemic presentation of the lecture performance—and questions of gesture and movement, and shows the different formats choreographers have developed for the lecture performance. It also traces the question of media and the intersection of art forms, and shows how audiovisual media are integrated in the process of lecturing/performing.

This chapter focuses on two themes that recur throughout the writings of Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905–1988) and that provide keys to understanding his theological epistemology: (i) Christian experience and its relation to the ‘form of Christ’, and (ii) the connection between holiness and theology. The chapter also considers the role of ‘exemplary people’, or saints, within Balthasar’s epistemology and discusses the impact of his theological anthropology on his epistemological position. In examining these themes and ideas this chapter throws light onto the epistemic considerations that lie at the heart of Balthasar’s theology. The chapter discusses two objections to his approach: one from Karen Kilby (2012) who charges Balthasar with a ‘performative contradiction’, and the further complaint that his demand for holiness on the part of theologians is too stringent a requirement. The chapter concludes with the observation that Balthasar’s epistemology is highly suggestive of a form of exemplarism.

Transdisciplinary art-science learning is linked to semiosis and the performative nature of learning. At the core of contemporary learning is sensemaking through images. We learn through how we perceive, remember, and imagine the world. An ethics-approved inquiry looked at the artmaking practices of gifted secondary school students between the ages of 15 and 17 years (n = 108) with a focus on their art-science performative learning. The study applies Deleuzoguattarian thinking and other post-structural perspectives on contemporary representational practices for learning and communication in art-science spaces. One of the research key findings is that artified visual pedagogies can both transverse and/or facilitate meaning-making across art-science spaces and brings forth the creation of science-linked identities. Educators must now engage with the idea that visual reasoning as performative action is now the connecting pedagogy in all epistemic fields.

In Chapter 8, the author articulates two more principles of epistemic irrationality, one that applies to self-refuting views and one that applies to self-undermining views. A self-refuting view is one that says, or in an indirect way communicates, “I am not true nor approximately true nor true enough.” A self-undermining view is one that says, or in an indirect way communicates, “It is not epistemically rational to believe me to be true or approximately true or true enough.” The author uses Grice’s idea of a conversation implicature and the Apel-Habermas idea of a performative contradiction to explain and formulate three presuppositions of making an argument and uses them to explain why any arguments for a behaviorist or eliminative materialist position are self-undermining. He then proposes an Epistemic Anthropic Principle: when scientists present arguments for a scientific theory, the theory must be compatible with the possibility of making rational arguments for it.

This chapter interrogates the search for origin in classical antiquity alongside the search for an underlying reality in contemporary physics. Drawing on Butler’s notion of gender performativity as well as a phenomenological approach to the natural world that brings to bear the thinking of John Sallis, Alphonso Lingis, and Luce Irigaray upon early Greek texts, Bianchi develops a phenomenological and elemental account of nature as itself thoroughly performative, a theater of display, effect, and response that may never succumb to full epistemic illumination. In so doing, she at once radicalizes the Heideggerian account of ancient physis, while mounting an intervention into what she sees as the reductionism and scientism of contemporary theorists of the posthuman such as Karen Barad.

Focusing on the work, that is located at the productive and innovative interfaces between of the Epistemai of Islam and Christianity, of Orient and Occident, this article will describe Khabiti’s ‘performative’ thinking and praxis in relation to the actual theory and praxis of ‘belonging’, ‘hospitality’, and ‘identity’ that are always dependent on language, on one’s own chosen language, and which are inserted into the body and steered or driven by emotion. The concept of “cultural performance” and the idea of a “performative identity” or of a “performative diaspora” are at the centre of Khatibi’s thinking and writing and generate the reinvention of the Self and a radical individual and democratic system. Khatibi represents one of the best examples of this phenomenon, but located in a “cosmopolitanism” and “cosmo-humanism.” Living in Rabat he became at the same time a cosmopolitan and a great cosmo-humanist at the very moment at which he began to deal as well with Western and Oriental cultural systems. He began to navigate in and to travel through many diverse systems of thinking, of literature, of culture and sciences – his erudition, his privileged sensibility and intelligence made him a cosmopolitan and cosmo-humanist. It developed his way of placing himself in the world, and of reading and writing about the world. His life was a “worlding-life,” his literature a “worlding-literature” within the interface of deconstruction, as well as of the Occidental and Oriental logoi. This article will describe his cultural location and find his voice through a triple act of “translatio” on the base of the axis of a “double critique” and of the “pensée autre”. He becomes an “écrivain-voyageur infatigable”, a “voyageur cosmopolite”, “voyageur ou migrant professionnel” of diverse worlds. The article will also describe Khatibi’s ‘accent’, his polyphony of voices, his thought, working, and writing in the fissure.

This concluding chapter draws together some of the core findings of this book: the epistemic uncertainties that algorithmic personalization creates for users that emerge at times as trust or anxiety; the struggle for autonomy that users must negotiate with algorithms that seek to co-constitute their sense of self; and the performative implications of personalization that impose models of identity that are inherently in tension. The author proposes that it is in approaching personalization algorithms through the lens of the everyday that one can most productively interrogate identity as co-constituted both inside and outside of the algorithm. This means looking beyond calls for more user consent over data tracking to instead consider users’ power as algorithmic tacticians capable of deploying algorithmic capital. Algorithmic personalization must be approached in and through the situated subjectivities of everyday web use if one is to productively understand its increasingly invisible place in algorithmic culture.