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This paper provides an overview of working definitions of knowledge, ignorance, information and uncertainty and summarises formalised philosophical and mathematical framework for their analyses. It provides a comparative examination of the generalised information theory and the generalised theory of uncertainty. It summarises foundational bases for assessing the reliability of knowledge constructed as a collective set of justified true beliefs. It discusses system complexity for ancestor simulation potentials. It offers value-driven communication means of knowledge and contrarian knowledge using memes and memetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents an analysis of historicism versus positivism in the realm of the social universe. The issue is whether to present the operative dynamics of the social universe scientifically or historically. It is posited that there can be no middle ground between historicism and positivism. There can be no easy answers and the philosophical issue can be debated endlessly. Instead of attempting to resolve the issue, it is suggested that attention be directed instead to epistemology for answers.

This paper examines problems of development in the light of two opposed concepts identified in John Protevi's examination of the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari. It is argued that much development practice is informed by the concept of hylomorphism, which is ‘the doctrine that production is the imposition of formal order on chaotic or passive matter’. This approach is contrasted with accounts premised on the concept of complexity, which asserts that complex systems are self-organising. It is argued that top-down development interventions (inclusive of those guided by the Washington Consensus) are informed by the hylomorphic principle, while a complexity-orientated approach is more evident in participatory strategies of development. The paper suggests that these two opposing principles must be combined in a creative tension to maximise the possibilities for developmental effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of combined expectancies have shown that spatial cueing effects are reduced on trials on which participants have to respond with an unexpected motor response. In the first two experiments the range of reduced expectancy effects is examined. Advance knowledge of the likely response was combined in a trial-by-trial procedure with modality cueing, object cueing, and task cueing. Effects of modality cueing were reduced on trials on which the target requested an unexpected response. However, effects of object cueing as well as effects of task cueing were unaffected by response cueing. Comparing experiments revealed that different types of cues were used in different experiments. To test the effect of type of cue on the interaction of expectancies the third experiment combined spatial cueing with response cueing. When integrated cues were used that cued the likely target location by an arrow and the likely response by an arrow too, spatial cueing effects were reduced on trials with unexpected responses. However, spatial cueing effects remained unaffected by response cueing when separated cues were used consisting in a word cueing the response and an arrow cueing target location. An account for the modulation of combined expectancies by the relation between cues is suggested in terms of the adjusted expectancy model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personal epistemology has typically been conceptualized in one of two primary ways: as a cognitive developmental process or as a system of beliefs. The approach that is elaborated here is to conceive of epistemological understanding as a metacognitive process that activates epistemic theories, a multidimensional set of interrelated beliefs about knowledge and knowing. Building on the work of Flavell (1979), K. S. Kitchener (1983), and Kuhn (1999b), this article describes the rationale for conceptualizing epistemological awareness at the metacognitive level, delineates the nature of this construct, and describes how this directs methodological choices for research. This is discussed in light of a recent study of students' online searching for a simulated science assignment, investigated through the use of think-aloud protocols. Exploring students' thought processes during online searching allows examination of personal epistemology not as a decontextualized set of beliefs, but as an activated, situated aspect of cognition that influences the knowledge construction process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]