Дисертації з теми "System theory; science philosophy; postmodernism"

Among the 123 political science programs listed by the American Political Science Association that grant Ph.D.s in political science, only seven require every student to complete some sort of political theory or philosophy course. Eighty-one offer students the opportunity to select political theory or philosophy as a concentration. Most surprising, 39 programs advertise no courses in political theory or philosophy at all. Political philosophy, at the doctoral level, is being treated as an optional option. Given these findings about the lack of political philosophy and theory at the doctoral level, the study of all things theoretical or philosophical seems to be overshadowed by other subfields of research. The not so subliminal message being sent by this sort of phenomenon is that some subfields of political science have a higher priority than others. In addition to identifying the number of political science programs that require coursework in political theory, this thesis explores the shift of the political theory offered away from traditional philosophical foundations and toward a postmodern pedagogical approach. This type of pedagogy can have the secondary effect of devaluing traditional notions of teaching and learning in favor of collaborative learning and learner centered teaching. Following the movement to reform the educational system in France after the student riots of 1968, narratives of morality were replaced by the idea that such social constructs ought to be abandoned for a focus on individualism and intertexuality.
Master of Arts

This thesis employs perspectives inspired by General Systems Theory to address issues in philosophy, including moral philosophy and philosophy of mind. I present an overview of a range of ideas from the study of physical systems that may be used to provide a firm physicalist foundation to explorations of some common questions in philosophy. I divide these topics into three categories: the Physical Category, the Relevance Category and the Signal Elements Category. I interpret concepts from General Systems Theory, including information and entropy, in a way that I believe facilitates their incorporation into philosophical discussion. I also explain various points arising from General Systems Theory, such as order and disorder, stability, complexity, and self-organisation, and show how ideas from these areas can be applied to certain philosophical problems. I explain relevance in terms of stability, in order to link these scientific perspectives to questions in moral philosophy. I suggest a possible physical foundation for a theory of morality, which takes the form of a variety of Utilitarianism, intended to balance the competing needs of open systems to manage entropy. Such a theory of morality must be capable of dealing with limitations arising from the physicality of information; I propose game theory as a solution to this problem. This thesis also covers issues connected to the above points regarding the nature of consciousness and communication. In particular, I examine the role of linguistic associations in consciousness; and some related features of language and other non-linear representational schemes.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2005.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The focus in this thesis is on sensemaking in organisations and the aim was to offer an interpretation of the thought of Karl E. Weick. The interpretation subsequently consists of a description and discussion of concepts, underlying theories and paradigmatic perspectives that are integrated into and deployed in Weick's sensemaking framework. After a description and definition of sensemaking terms and concepts, it is argued that a process cosmology forms the ground theory in Weick's sensemaking framework. In order to elucidate this interpretation, the organic model of the world of Bergson and Whitehead is introduced. Special attention is given to pragmatism's underlying process ontology and themes which social consructionism, symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology share in common with pragmatism. The aim is to show how these perspectives and themes are taken up in Weick's sensemaking in organisations and organisational theory. A failure to make sense is both consequential and existential. This aspect of Weick's thought is discussed in the context of Bergson's process cosmology. It is followed by a description and discussion of Weick's use of systems theory with special attention given to Weick's concept of 'enactment' . How and why does an organisation becomes what it becomes? This question is addressed in the context of a description and discussion of complexity theory. A core concept in both complexity theory and Weick's thought is self-organisation. The aim is to show how sense making appears on systems level. Finally, this thesis attempts to addresses the question of the relationship between organisation and organising and how both terms is to be understood in terms of Weick's ontological view of the world. This aim is to show that Weick's understanding of "the" organisation (noun) can be conceived of as an abstraction and organisation (verb - 'organising') in terms of relating and as process in becoming and how he thereby gives social construction an ontological twist. The conclusion reached is that, in the type of world Weick describes, it makes sense to make sense.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis fokus op 'sensemaking' in organisasies - om die dubbelsinnige, onduidelike en onverwagse meer duidelik, begryplik and redelik te maak vir persone om te weet wat besig is om te gebeur en gepaste aksies te neem. Die doel was derhalwe 'n interpretasie van die denke van Karl E. Weick. Die interpretasie omvat gevolglik 'n beskrywing en bespreking van konsepte, teorieë en paradigmatiese perspektiewe wat Weick in sy sensemaking raamwerk integreer en ontplooi. Ná 'n definiëring en beskrywing van terme en konsepte word geargumenteer dat 'n proses beskouing van die werklikheid Weick se sensemaking raamwerk onderlê. Hierdie interpretasie word toegelig met 'n bespreking en beskrywing van die organiese model van Bergson en Whitehead, sowel as die proses ontologie onderliggend aan pragmatisme. Gevolglik kom pragmatisme, sosiale konstruksionisme, simboliese interaksionisme en etnometodologie aan die orde. Verskeie temas word beskryf en bespreek in die konteks van sensemaking en organisasie-teorie. 'n Mislukking in sensemaking het newe gevolge en is dit ook eksistensieël van aard. Hierdie aspek van Weick se denke word beskryf en bespreek in die konteks van Bergson se proses kosmologie en word die interpretasie opgevolg met 'n bespreking van sisteem-teorie. Hoe en waarom verander organisasies wanneer hulle verander? Die antwoord op hierdie vraag kom aan die orde in die konteks van 'n bespreking van kompleksiteits-teorie. 'n Kern konsep in beide Weick se sensemaking en kompleksiteits-teorie is self-organisasie. 'n Baie belangrike doel is om aan te dui hoe sensemaking voorkom en plaasvind op sisteem-vlak. Ten slotte poog die tesis om die verband tussen organisasie en organisering in Weick se denke meer verstaanbaar te maak. Die argument hier is dat Weick se verstaan van "die" organisasie (selfstandige naamwoord) as 'n abstraksie en organisasie (werkwoord) in terme van relasies en proses in wording geïnterpreteer kan word, en Weick sodoende 'n ontologiese kinkel in die verstaan van sosiale konstruksionisme teweeg bring. Die slotsom tot waartoe in hierdie studie gekom word is dat, in die wêreld wat Weick beskryf, maak dit 'sense' om 'sense' te maak.

This thesis tries to evaluate the very large question of how globalization can be said to have an effect on democracy by reducing both concepts to a more usable format. In doing so it tries to evaluate how a special theory of democracy put forward by Robert Dahl in 1971 – polyarchy – could be said to be affected by the workings of contemporary globalization. When assessing the variables of the investigation, globalization is being represented by two constructed ideal images that are later measured against a set of seven variables extracted from Dahl’s theory.

By the use of qualitative text analysis the constructed ideal types help provide a framework for how one can measure the effects of globalization on polyarchy. The analysis ends in a result where it is clear that if globalization is understood as a neo-liberal ideal image it is making the circumstances for the creation of polyarchies in the future more favorable. However, if globalization is understood as an ideal image of world-system theory explanations then the circumstances for future polyarchies are less favorable. In a concluding discussion important implications of the results are highlighted when the thesis concludes that regardless of ideological starting point globalization can be said to affect the theory of polyarchy in such a way that it is in dire need of reevaluation. At the same time the essay concludes that whenever the concept of globalization is being used with scientific ambitions by politicians, they need to be aware of, and reflect, the different results that it brings depending on how it is explained.

abstract: Health and healing in the United States is in a moment of deep and broad transformation. Underpinning this transformation is a shift in focus from practitioner- and system-centric perspectives to patient and family expectations and their accompanying localized narratives. Situated within this transformation are patients and families of all kinds. This shift's interpretation lies in the converging and diverging trails of biomedicine, a patient-centric perspective of consensus between practitioner and patient, and postmodern philosophy, a break from prevailing norms and systems. Lending context is the dynamic interplay between increasing ethnic/cultural diversity, acculturation/biculturalism, and medical pluralism. Diverse populations continue to navigate multiple health and healing paradigms, engage in the process of their integration, and use health and healing practices that run corollary to them. The way this experience is viewed, whether biomedically or philosophically, has implications for the future of healthcare. Over this fluid interpenetration, with its vivid nuance, loom widespread health disparities. The adverse effects of static, fragmented healthcare systems unable to identify and answer diverse populations' emergent needs are acutely felt by these individuals. Eradication of health disparities is born from insight into how these populations experience health and healing. The resulting strategy must be one that simultaneously addresses the complex intricacies of patient-centered care, permits emergence of more localized narratives, and eschews systems that are no longer effective. It is the movement of caregivers across multiple health and healing sources, managing care for loved ones, that provides this insight and in which this project is keenly interested. Uncovering the emergent patterns of caregivers' management of these sources reveals a rich and nuanced spectrum of realities. These realities are replete with opportunities to re-frame health and healing in ways that better reflect what these diverse populations of caregivers and care recipients need. Engaging female Mexican American caregivers, a population whose experience is well-suited to aid in this re-frame, this project begins to provide that insight. Informed by a parent framework of Complexity Science, and balanced between biomedical and postmodern perspectives, this constructivist grounded theory secondary analysis charts these caregivers' processes and offers provocative findings and recommendations for understanding their experiences.
Dissertation/Thesis
Ph.D. Healthcare Innovation 2013

Alan Sokal has questioned the postmodern assertion that 'science is ... a "myth'', a "narration" ... a "social construction'" (1998: x). This dissertation examines his reasons for rejecting this allegedly postmodern declaration. Firstly, it suggests that the basis for Sol'1ll's contention that a 'true' world exists beyond one's awareness of it extends to an attack on modem philosophy, and is not limited to its postmodern component. Then, it describes defences of the 'linguistic construction' of science as thinly veiled attempts at emulating scientific discourses. In a more speculative vein, the dissertation goes on to evaluate claims made against science in terms of its connection to warfare; its insensitivity to mythology, and its generally misdirected values. It is in terms of value that the dissertation detects an analogous relationship between the discourses of mythology and science. Finally, a playful 'postmodern' reading is attempted of Sol'1ll's use of fiction in establishing the truth of his assertions.
English Studies
M.A.(English)

Bibliography: leaves 308-316.
v, 346 leaves ; 30 cm.
This thesis seeks to understand the interrelation of knowledge, power and culture in the context of globalization. Crisis of Marxism has prompted intense reflection on the nature of modernity as a post-cultural phenomenon. This discourse highlights forms of domination and resistance neglected by Marxism and Liberalism. Intellectual developments in the West have acquired a halo of universality which makes it difficult for outsiders to recognise their limitations. The debate between modernists and postmodernists is a case in point. Post-colonial theorists appropriation of post-structuralism, thematic and methodological, raises questions about their own relationship to Western theory and whether their analyses neglect material aspects of globalization as well as problems specific to post-colonial societies. This thesis contends that it is unnecessary to absolutise the "culture vs. materialism" dichotomy. While it may be true that the cultural is "always already" political, critical theory must insist on foregrounding a more activist notion of political agency in a conjecture marked by global management of dissent, economic fundamentalism, media spectacles and cynical conflation of democracy with consumption.
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Politics, 1998?

From metaphors to mathematized models, the complexity sciences are changing the ways disciplines view their worlds, and ideas borrowed from complexity are increasingly being used to structure conversations and guide research on teaching and learning. The purpose of this corpus of research is to further those conversations and to extend complex systems ideas, theories, and modeling to curricula and to research on learning and teaching. A review of the literatures of learning and of complexity science and a discussion of the intersections between those disciplines are provided. The work reported represents an evolving model of learning qua complex system and that evolution is the result of iterative cycles of design research. One of the signatures of complex systems is the presence of scale invariance and this line of research furnishes empirical evidence of scale invariant behaviors in the activity of learners engaged in participatory simulations. The offered discussion of possible causes for these behaviors and chaotic phase transitions in human learning favors real-time optimization of decision-making as the means for producing such behaviors. Beyond theoretical development and modeling, this work includes the development of teaching activities intended to introduce pre-service mathematics and science teachers to complex systems. While some of the learning goals for this activity focused on the introduction of complex systems as a content area, we also used complex systems to frame perspectives on learning. Results of scoring rubrics and interview responses from students illustrate attributes of the proposed model of complex systems learning and also how these preservice teachers made sense of the ideas. Correlations between established theories of learning and a complex adaptive systems model of learning are established and made explicit, and a means for using complex systems ideas for designing instruction is offered. It is a fundamental assumption of this research and researcher that complex systems ideas and understandings can be appropriated from more complexity-developed disciplines and put to use modeling and building increasingly productive understandings of learning and teaching.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Many variations of Systems Development Life Cycle models have evolved over the last fifty years of systems engineering and software science, yet not enough knowledge is available to better understand these as Complex Adaptive Systems by studying chaos and complexity theories. The primary application domain of the thesis is focused on the development of electronic hardware and software products. There is a great need for innovation to reach all corners of the development ecosystem; however a large cognitive distance exists between the concept of systematic product development and that of value creation. Instruments are needed to aid process agility, for defusing imminent problems as they mount, and for making effective decisions to sustain maximum productivity. Many of these objectives are neglected in systems development practices. As with so many management fads, it appears that no single one of these models lived up to all of the expectations and in many cases ended up being recipes for disaster. The statistics available on failed projects are concerning but has not stopped the scientific and engineering communities from trying over, and over again, to make progress. The goal of the thesis is therefore to identify the most viable model that supports the sustainability of systems development team performance. The research draws insights from extant literature, by applying a knowledge management theory based analysis on the various models with specific attention given to complexity theory. The dominant metric discovered is to measure the Value Velocity of a Systems Development Team. This metric is determined by two independent variables, being Value Created and Delivery Delay. Complex Adaptive Systems simply requires a guiding vision and a carefully selected set of generative rules for increasing and sustaining the Value Velocity.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Menige variasies van stelselsontwikkelingsmodelle het ontwikkel oor die afgelope vyftig jaar in stelselsingenieurswese en sagtewarewetenskap, en steeds is daar nie genoegsame kennis beskikbaar om beter begrip te kry oor hoe hierdie stelsels as Komplekse Aanpassende Sisteme bestudeer kan word nie, ten einde die bestuur daarvan te verbeter. Die primêre toepassingsgebied in die tesis is gespits op die ontwikkeling van rekenaarhardeware en - sagteware. Die behoefte vir innovasie moet al die fasette van die ontwikkelingsekosisteem bereik. Die bewusheidsgaping tussen sistemiese produkontwikkeling en waardeskepping, is te wyd. Instumentasie word benodig om te help met ratsheid in prosesuitvoering, om dreigende probleme te ontlont, en effektief besluitneming toe te pas, en sodoende produktiwiteit op ‘n maksimum vlak te hou. Hierdie doelwitte word tot ’n meerdere mate in die huidige praktyk verontagsaam. Net soos somige bestuursadvies oneffektief is, blyk dit dat daar nog steeds geen stelselsmodelle is wat alle verwagtinge bevredig nie. In baie gevalle eindig die toepassing daarvan in waan en mislukking. Die statistiek beskikbaar op mislukte projekte is onrusbarend, tog het dit nie vooruitgang gekelder nie, en die behoefte na verbetering bestaan steeds. Die doelwit van die tesis is dus om die mees lewensvatbare model wat die voortbestaan van stelselsontwikkelingsgroepe sal kan handhaaf, uit te sonder. Die navorsing neem insigte uit hedendagse literatuur en is gebasseer op ’n analiese van verskeide kennisbestuursteorieё teenoor die bestaande stelselsontwikkelingsmodelle. Die fokus is meer spesifiek toegespits op kompleksiteitsteorie. Die hoofmaatstaaf is om die Waardesnelheid van ’n stelselsontwikkelingspan te bepaal. Hierdie maatstaaf word gepyl deur twee onafhanklike veranderlikes, naamlik die Waarde Geskep en die Afleweringsvertraging. Ten slotte, vereis Kompleks Aanpassende Sisteme slegs die aanwesigheid van 'n leidende visie tesame met 'n goeddeurdagte stel ontwikkelingsreëls, wat aanleiding sal gee tot die verhoging en behoud van die Waardesnelheid.

This creative thesis is written in two parts: Volume 1 is a novel and Volume 2 is the accompanying exegesis which explains the process of contextualising a school of philosophy’s politics within the novel. These volumes combine to build a new window onto contemporary theoretical debate regarding the sustainability of so-called liberal democracy. Volume 1, the novel, provides a fictionalised account of federal government involvement with the popular music industry in Australia during the 1990s. The story is told from the point of view of a newcomer to a music industry organisation funded by the federal government called the ‘Oz Rock Foundation’. This organisation is run by a former federal politician who maintains close links with his political colleagues still in government. When the newcomer discovers a young Aboriginal prisoner with exceptional musical talents, the former politician seizes this opportunity to help launch the Oz Rock Foundation in the ‘Year of the Indigenous Person’. This venture, however, has unexpected consequences which emerge as the story develops. Volume 2, the exegesis, employs a narrative framework to explain the process by which an analysis of philosopher Richard Rorty’s version of neopragmatism fed into the creation of the novel. Political issues raised by neopragmatism are thematically linked to fictional contexts informed by the history of government experimentation with the Australian music industry. The process is guided by questions designed to assess whether a neopragmatic version of liberal democracy is sustainable in this form. The novel is further shaped by its attempt to extend a particular tradition, within the genre of the political novel, that contextualises themes related to ‘natural rights’ as the foundation of liberal democracy. The exegesis, in its discussion of issues raised by the completed novel, then draws on existing research into the sustainability of democracy in order to synthesise an overall perspective. NOTE: Due to copyright arrangements with the publisher of Making Noises, the text of the novel (Volume 1) is not available as part of the digital version of this thesis. The novel was published in November 2006 by OverDog Press (Melbourne, Australia). The ISBN is: 9780975797921

Community development and in particular participatory development is about people. This means that the person who studies or practices participatory development or any other of the participatory pratices should have a particular way of thinking about people. The main aim motivating this study was to investigate the paradigm/s about people on which participatory practices are based. This included a literature research on five participatory practices namely participatory development; participatory communication; participatory learning; participatory research; and participatory management. A guideline for paradigm analysis was developed by using Schriver's (1995) and Capra's (1996) descriptions of a paradigm as well as ideas of hermeneutics. From the paradigm analysis on the participatory practices two themes emerged: A shift from modernism to post modernism in the thinking processes and participatory practices. From the participatory practices the same concepts repeatedly emerged indicating a similar paradigm for all the participatory practices. Three post modern theories were therefore applied to enhance the description of the different concepts. The end result of this study is the development of an evolving paradigm for participatory practices in order to give enhanced meaning to concepts in the participatory vocabulary. Finally a critical reflection was done on the post modern research process.
Text in Afrikaans
Social Work
D.Phil. (Social Work)