Traditional Epistemology Reconsidered A Reply to Eflin

In this article, I reply to Juli Eflin's "Epistemic Presuppositions and Their Consequences." I query Eflin's construal of the aims, scope and method of traditional epistemology, and go on to evaluate several of the central characteristics of Eflin's positive account – pluralistic virtue epistemology.     

Traditional Epistemology Reconsidered A Reply to Eflin

In this article, I reply to Juli Eflin's "Epistemic Presuppositions and Their Consequences." I query Eflin's construal of the aims, scope and method of traditional epistemology, and go on to evaluate several of the central characteristics of Eflin's positive account – pluralistic virtue epistemology.     

The Cybernetic Metaphor: A Critical Examination of Ecosystemic Epistemology as a Foundation of Family Therapy

This article proposes that recent disputes between two groups of family therapists, represented by Watzlawick and Keeney, have a substantive base as yet unexplicated in current literature. However, guiding principles of the approach known as ecosystemic epistemology have received considerable attention by Wittgenstein, a colleague of Russell's, and Rorty, a contemporary philosopher. Both contend that the prospect of systematizing language and culture may be ill advised. The article suggests that discussion regarding the nature and practice of family therapy ought not be confined to epistemological thinking.     

A Plea for a Historical Epistemology of Research

The paper approaches the topic of what a general philosophy of science could mean today from the perspective of a historical epistemology. Consequently, in a first step, the paper looks at the notion of generality in the sciences, and how it evolved over time, on the example of the life sciences. In the second part of the paper, the urgency of a general philosophy of science is located in the history of philosophy of science. Two attempts at the beginning of the twentieth century are particularly highlighted: that of Karl Popper and that of Martin Heidegger. Both of them concentrate, albeit in widely different form, on the phenomenon of research as an open-ended process. This trend is even more pronounced in Gaston Bachelard??s version of a historical epistemology, whose work is taken as a point of reference for a general historical epistemology of research. The paper concludes with a plea to look, with Georges Canguilhem, at the history of the sciences as a laboratory for epistemology.     

Ecosystemic Epistemology: Critical Implications for the Aesthetics and Pragmatics of Family Therapy

This paper proposes that family therapy be responsive to both aesthetic and pragmatic considerations. Ecosystemic epistemology, a framework of ideas based on cybernetics, ecology, and systems theory, is suggested as a way of encompassing these different perspectives. Several critical ideas, often ignored by an overemphasis on pragmatics, involve: (a) the function of language in the relation between epistemology and clinical practice; (b) healthy and pathological family ecologies; (c) art and technique in therapy; and (d) the issue of manipulation.     

The Ethnomethods of Ethnography: A Trans-situational Approach to the Epistemology of Qualitative Research

The article is concerned with the everyday activities of sociology, focusing on ethnography. It argues that empirical study of the ethnomethods of ethnography allows for a deeper insight into the dynamics and procedures of this research practice. Based on empirical data from two ethnographic studies (in a martial arts club and in a flamenco class), I suggest to observe how such an investigation is conducted in various situations: in the field, on the ethnographer’s desk, in data sessions, in conferences and in written papers. This serves to gather and produce empirical traces from the field. These are de- and re-contextualized while they are taken into the sociological field(s). This process can be analyzed drawing on Goffman’s notion of Frame Analysis, particularly drawing on his notion of keyings. Ethnography can thus be described as a trans-situational practice that systematically couples situations and communications in order to understand and reconstruct other social practices for sociological reasons.     

Epistemology Factualized: New Contractarian Foundations for Epistemology

Many epistemologists are interested in offering a positive account of how it is that many of our common sense beliefs enjoy one or another positive epistemological status (e.g., how they are warranted, justified, reasonable, or what have you). A number of philosophers, under the influence of Wittgenstein and/or J. L. Austin, have argued that this enterprise is misconceived. The most effective version of this argument is to be found in Mark Kaplan’s paper “Epistemology on Holiday”. After explaining what this criticism amounts to and why it is important, I then respond to it. My response is based upon, and is intended to display the explanatory power of, a contractarian account of our practice of epistemic appraisal.     

Psychotherapy Research Needs Theory. Outline for an Epistemology of the Clinical Exchange

This paper provides an analysis of a basic assumption grounding the clinical research: the ontological autonomy of psychotherapy—based on the idea that the clinical exchange is sufficiently distinguished from other social objects (i.e. exchange between teacher and pupils, or between buyer and seller, or interaction during dinner, and so forth). A criticism of such an assumption is discussed together with the proposal of a different epistemological interpretation, based on the distinction between communicative dynamics and the process of psychotherapy—psychotherapy is a goal-oriented process based on the general dynamics of human communication. Theoretical and methodological implications are drawn from such a view: It allows further sources of knowledge to be integrated within clinical research (i.e. those coming from other domains of analysis of human communication); it also enables a more abstract definition of the psychotherapy process to be developed, leading to innovative views of classical critical issues, like the specific-nonspecific debate. The final part of the paper is devoted to presenting a model of human communication—the Semiotic Dialogical Dialectic Theory–which is meant as the framework for the analysis of psychotherapy.     

Expanding Epistemology: A Responsibilist Approach

Abstract

The first section of this paper asks why we need, or what would motivate, a meaningful expansion of epistemology. It answers with three critical arguments found in the recent literature, which each purport to move us some distance beyond the preoccupations of ‘post-Gettier era’ analytic epistemology. These three—the ‘epistemic luck,’ ‘epistemic value’ and ‘epistemic reconciliation’ arguments associated with Duncan Pritchard, Jonathan Kvanvig, and Michael Williams, respectively—each carry this implication of needed expansion by functioning as forceful ‘internal critiques’ of the tradition. The second section of the paper asks what specific directions an expanded field of epistemology should take. While this is taken as an open question for debate, the expansion suggested here remains continuous with the analytic tradition, while also underlining the centrality of the acquired or ‘reflective’ intellectual virtues in meeting the burdens of the three arguments. Responsibilism, as here understood, is not a philosophical thesis so much as an orientation of commitment to clearing away philosophical assumptions that systematically obstruct recognition of the importance of empirically-informed research programs into the reflective virtues.     

Rawls and Research on Cognitively Impaired Patients: A Reply to Maio

In his paper, “The Relevance of Rawls’ Principle of Justice for Research on Cognitively Impaired Patients” (Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 23 (2002):45–53), Giovanni Maio has developed athought-provoking argument for the permissibility of non-therapeutic research on cognitively impaired patients. Maio argues that his conclusion follows from the acceptance of John Rawls’s principles of justice, specifically, Rawls’s “liberty principle” Maio has misinterpreted Rawls’s “libertyprinciple” – correctly interpreted it does notsupport non-therapeutic research on cognitivelyimpaired patients. Three other ‘Rawlsian’ arguments are suggested by Maio’s discussion –two “self-respect” arguments and a “presumed consent” argument – but none of them are convincing. However, an alternative argument developed from Rawls’s discussion of “justice in health care” in his most recent book, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement, may justify certain kinds of non-therapeutic research on some cognitively impaired patients in special circumstances. We should not expect anything more permissive from a liberal theory of justice. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Problems in Psychiatric Genetic Research: A Reply to Faraone and Biederman

This article examines evidence cited in favor of the operation of genetic factors in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Like other psychiatric conditions, a belief in the genetic basis of ADHD is derived from the results of family, twin, and adoption studies. Because family studies are widely believed to be confounded by environmental factors, primary emphasis is placed on twin and adoption studies. ADHD twin studies depend on the validity of the equal environment assumption (EEA), which holds that the environments of identical (MZ) and fraternal (DZ) twins are the same. Here it is argued that however the EEA is defined, it cannot be accepted. Therefore, the greater similarity or concordance of MZ twins when compared to DZ twins is plausibly explained by environmental factors. Adoption studies constitute a third method for investigating the role of genetic factors in ADHD. It is argued that these studies are greatly flawed by factors including non blinded diagnoses and the failure to study the biological relatives of adoptees. After an examination of the total weight of evidence in favor of a genetic basis or predisposition for ADHD, it is concluded that a role for genetic factors is not supported and that future research should be directed toward psychosocial causes     

Marijuana: A Review of Medical Research With Implications for Adolescents

Recent medical evidence indicates that marijuana is more harmful than had previously been suspected. A review of recent research in the following areas is presented: tolerance and persistence, reproductive system, respiratory system, immune system, central nervous system, genetic and chromosomal effects, and behavioral effects. Implications for mental health professionals are discussed.     

Creativity, Pathology, and Family Structure: A Cybernetic Metaphor

This paper describes a cybernetic metaphor as a novel paradigm for family theory, linking aspects of cybernetic epistemology as described by Bateson ( 1 ) with the tropes, major figures of speech, as defined by the linguist Jakobson ( 25 ). Jakobson describes two operations characteristic of all human discourse at many levels of organization and abstraction: the metaphoric, linking by similarity; and the metonymic, linking by contiguity.
A cybernetic metaphor suggests a view of individuals as adaptive systems able to transform novelty into expectations ( 49 ) in one of two ways and thereby maintain a relationship with their context. Those who encounter contexts characterized by "dissonances" in structure and basic premises would adopt the metaphoric mode by finding similarities in apparent differences and thus learn to link separate domains. Those learning to orient themselves in a context of consistent basic premises and structure would adopt the metonymic mode, linking by temporal or spacial contiguity within an implicit assumed whole. Clinical examples and the literature on the families of symptomatic and creative individuals will be used as illustrations of this process of learning communicative modes.