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Applying concepts of fuzzy cognitive mapping to model IT/IS investment evaluation factors
The justification process is a major concern for many organisations that are considering the adoption of Information Technology (IT) and Information Systems (IS), and is a barrier to its implementation. As a result, the competitive advantage of many companies is being put at risk because of management's inability to evaluate the holistic implication of adopting new technology, both in terms of on the benefit and cost portfolios. This paper identifies a number of well-known project appraisal techniques used in IT/IS investment justification. Furthermore, the concept of multivalent, or fuzzy logic, is used to demonstrate how inter-relationships can be modeled between key dimensions identified in the proposed conceptual evaluation model. This is highlighted using fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) as a technique to model each IT/IS evaluation factor (integrating strategic, tactical, operational and investment considerations). The use of an FCM is then shown to be as a complementary tool which can serve to highlight interdependencies between contributory justification factors
Recent Conceptual Consequences of Loop Quantum Gravity. Part II: Holistic Aspects
Based on the foundational aspects which have been discussed as consequences
of ongoing research on loop quantum gravity in the first part of this paper,
the holistic aspects of the latter are discussed in this second part, aiming at
a consistent and systematic approach to eventually model a hierarchically
ordered architecture of the world which is encompassing all of what there
actually is. The idea is to clarify the explicit relationship between physics
and philosophy on the one hand, and philosophy and the sciences in general, on
the other. It is shown that the ontological determination of worldliness is
practically identical with its epistemological determination so that the
(scientific) activity of modelling and representing the world can be visualized
itself as a (worldly) mode of being.Comment: 20 page
Conceptual Spaces in Object-Oriented Framework
The aim of this paper is to show that the middle level of
mental representations in a conceptual spaces framework is consistent
with the OOP paradigm. We argue that conceptual spaces framework
together with vague prototype theory of categorization appears to be
the most suitable solution for modeling the cognitive apparatus of
humans, and that the OOP paradigm can be easily and intuitively
reconciled with this framework. First, we show that the prototypebased
OOP approach is consistent with GĂ€rdenforsâ model in terms
of structural coherence. Second, we argue that the product of cloning
process in a prototype-based model is in line with the structure of
categories in GĂ€rdenforsâ proposal. Finally, in order to make the fuzzy
object-oriented model consistent with conceptual space, we
demonstrate how to define membership function in a more cognitive
manner, i.e. in terms of similarity to prototype
Vop\v{e}nka's Alternative Set Theory in the Mathematical Canon of the 20th Century: Author's Translation from Czech
Vop\v{e}nka's Alternative Set Theory can be viewed both as an evolution and
as a revolution: it is based on his previous experience with nonstandard
universes, inspired by Skolem's construction of a nonstandard model of
arithmetic, and its inception has been explicitly mentioned as an attempt to
axiomatize Robinson's Nonstandard Analysis. Vop\v{e}nka preferred working in an
axiomatic theory to investigating its individual models; he also viewed other
areas of nonclassical mathematics through this prism. This article is a
contribution to the mapping of the mathematical neighbourhood of the
Alternative Set Theory, and at the same time, it submits a challenge to analyze
in more detail the genesis and structure of the philosophical links that
eventually influenced the Alternative Set Theory.Comment: This is the author's translation into English of her paper published
originally in Czech. 14 page
Alfredo Deaño and the non-accidental transition of thought
If the cultural variations concerning knowledge and research on ordinary
reasoning are part of cultural history, what kind of historiographical method is needed
in order to present the history of its evolution? This paper proposes to introduce the
study of theories of reasoning into a historiographic perspective because we assume
that the answer to the previous question does not only depend of internal controversies
about how reasoning performance is explained by current theories of reasoning. [...
A comparison of techniques for learning and using mathematics and a study of their relationship to logical principles
Various techniques exist for learning mathematical concepts, like experimentation and exploration, respectively using mathematics, like modelling and simulation. For a clear application of such techniques in mathematics education, there should be a clear distinction between these techniques.
A recently developed theory of fuzzy concepts can be applied to analyse the four mentioned concepts. For all four techniques one can pose the question of their relationship to deduction, induction and abduction as logical principles. An empirical study was conducted with 12-13 aged students, aiming at checking the three reasoning processes
Mythemesis: The Human Way of Knowing and Believing
Although science, philosophy, literature, and religion each have a different way of formulating explanations, they are all telling stories of why and how. The author describes how the human propensity to seek explanation through narrative can he understood as the product of an embodied mind. He offers a hypothesis ( \"mythemesis\" ) to explain the process and goes on to show that it may provide an opportunity to reduce scientific-religious conflict by transcending the dichotomy between first- and third-person modes of experience
Cognitive Sociology
Cognitive sociology is the study of the conditions under which meaning is constituted through processes of reification. Cognitive sociology traces its origins to writings in the sociology of knowledge, sociology of culture, cognitive and cultural anthropology, and more recently, work done in cultural sociology and cognitive science. Its central questions revolve around locating these processes of reification since the locus of cognition is highly contentious. Researchers consider how individuality is related to notions of society (structures, institutions, systems, etc.) and notions of culture (cultural forms, cultural structures, sub-cultures, etc.). These questions further explore how these answers depend on learning processes (socialization, acculturation, etc.) which vary according to the position one takes on the role of language in cognition. It is from these positions that we operationalize a theory of human nature and construct a justification for the organization of the state of human affairs and the related conceptualizations of identity, self, and the subject. In this way, cognitive sociology seeks to establish the minimal model of the actor (the ontology) that underpins not only other subfields of sociology but also the human sciences in general. In this way, cognitive sociology analyzes the series of interpersonal processes that set up the conditions for phenomena to become âsocial objects,â which subsequently shape thinking and thought. In classical cognitive sociology, the historical traditions of the sociology of knowledge and phenomenology are emphasized, with the work of Bourdieu and Goffman given special treatment, given their contributions as precursors to many of the contemporary contingencies and consequences of debates in culture and cognition. The principle organizing the more contemporary literature are the paradigmatic assumptions concerning the locus of cognition, which have been organized into five ideal-types. These elucidate the points of agreement and disagreement in the field by addressing how thematic concerns (e.g., knowledge, rationality, embodiment, practices, discourse, etc.) highlight the priority of individuality in modeling society, to illustrate what makes cognitive sociology at once interdisciplinary yet contentiously distinct in addressing the politics of âtacit knowledge.
The ontology of signs as linguistic and non-linguistic entities: a cognitive perspective
It is argued that the traditional philosophical/linguistic analysis of semiotic phe-nomena is based on the false epistemological assumption that linguistic and non-linguistic entities possess different ontologies. An attempt is made to show where linguistics as the study of signs went wrong, and an unorthodox account of the na-ture of semiosis is proposed in the framework of autopoiesis as a new epistemology of the living
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