Against Coherence

Against Coherence PDF

Author: Erik J. Olsson

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2005-04-21

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 0191535583

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It is tempting to think that, if a person's beliefs are coherent, they are also likely to be true. Indeed, this truth-conduciveness claim is the cornerstone of the popular coherence theory of knowledge and justification. Hitherto much confusion has been caused by the inability of coherence theorists to define their central concept. Nor have they succeeded in specifying in unambiguous terms what the notion of truth-conduciveness involves. This book is the most extensive and detailed study of coherence and probable truth to date. Erik Olsson argues that the value of coherence has been generally overestimated; it is severely problematic to maintain that coherence has a role to play in the process whereby beliefs are acquired or justified. He proposes that the opposite of coherence, i.e. incoherence, can still be the driving force in the process whereby beliefs are retracted, so that the role of coherence in our enquiries is negative rather than positive. Another innovative feature of Olsson's book is its unified, interdisciplinary approach to the issues at hand. The arguments are equally valid for coherence among any items of information, regardless of their sources (beliefs, memories, testimonies, and so on). Writing in accessible, non-technical language, Olsson takes the reader through much of the history of the subject, from early theorists like A. C. Ewing and C. I. Lewis to contemporary figures like Laurence BonJour and C. A. J. Coady. Against Coherence will make stimulating reading for epistemologists and anyone with a serious interest in truth.

Against Coherence

Against Coherence PDF

Author: Erik J. Olsson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2005-04-21

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 0199279993

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It is tempting to think that, if a person's beliefs are coherent, they are also likely to be true. Indeed, this truth-conduciveness claim is the cornerstone of the popular coherence theory of knowledge and justification. Hitherto much confusion has been caused by the inability of coherence theorists to define their central concept. Nor have they succeeded in specifying in unambiguous terms what the notion of truth-conduciveness involves. This book is the most extensive and detailedstudy of coherence and probable truth to date.Erik Olsson argues that the value of coherence has been generally overestimated; it is severely problematic to maintain that coherence has a role to play in the process whereby beliefs are acquired or justified. He proposes that the opposite of coherence, i.e. incoherence, can still be the driving force in the process whereby beliefs are retracted, so that the role of coherence in our enquiries is negative rather than positive. Another innovative feature of Olsson's book is its unified,interdisciplinary approach to the issues at hand. The arguments are equally valid for coherence among any items of information, regardless of their sources (beliefs, memories, testimonies, and so on). Writing in accessible, non-technical language, Olsson takes the reader through much of the history of thesubject, from early theorists like A. C. Ewing and C. I. Lewis to contemporary figures like Laurence BonJour and C. A. J. Coady. Against Coherence will make stimulating reading for epistemologists and anyone with a serious interest in truth.

Against Coherence

Against Coherence PDF

Author: Erik J. Olsson

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2008-09-11

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780199550517

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Erik Olsson's book is the most extensive and detailed study of coherence and probable truth to date. Setting new standards of precision and clarity, Olsson argues that the value of coherence has been widely overestimated. Against Coherence will make stimulating reading for epistemologists and anyone with a serious interest in truth.

Coherence

Coherence PDF

Author: Michael Fullan

Publisher: Corwin Press

Published: 2015-07-16

Total Pages: 114

ISBN-13: 150630172X

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Complex times call for clear solutions—If initiative overload and fragmentation are keeping your best plans from becoming reality, it’s time to start leading differently. The key to bringing about the kind of successful and sustainable change you need is the Coherence Framework, a dynamic, customizable road map made up of four essential components: Focused direction to build collective purpose Cultivating collaborative cultures while clarifying individual and team roles Deepening learning to accelerate improvement and foster innovation Securing accountability from the inside out Coherence provides the insights and tools to drive effective leadership. Now you can gain a deeper understanding of Coherence with The Taking Action Guide to Building Coherence in Schools, Districts, and Systems. Coherence is a book that demands action – it moves from the narrative of fixing one teacher at a time, to asking about the coherence of the system (be it school, national, or world issues). Fullan and Quinn create an important narrative about direction, working together, deepening learning, and securing accountability. The book sparkles with examples of coherence in action, it makes no excuses for employing the wrong levers of change. This is the blueprint for a new vocabulary of education action; it shows where we need to go next, and is another example of Fullan at the top of his game. John Hattie Director, Melbourne Education Research Institute and Author of Visible Learning "School systems that struggle are riddled with incoherence—mismatched strategies, competing cultures, and illogical initiatives. Fullan and Quinn explain clearly how coherence can solve the problem. Based on solid research and lessons drawn from effective practice, Coherence provides a comprehensive model to guide educators as they learn and lead their way to better schools." Susan Moore Johnson Jerome T. Murphy Research Professor Harvard Graduate School of Education

Coherence in Thought and Action

Coherence in Thought and Action PDF

Author: Paul Thagard

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2002-07-26

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 9780262700924

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This book is an essay on how people make sense of each other and the world they live in. Making sense is the activity of fitting something puzzling into a coherent pattern of mental representations that include concepts, beliefs, goals, and actions. Paul Thagard proposes a general theory of coherence as the satisfaction of multiple interacting constraints, and discusses the theory's numerous psychological and philosophical applications. Much of human cognition can be understood in terms of coherence as constraint satisfaction, and many of the central problems of philosophy can be given coherence-based solutions. Thagard shows how coherence can help to unify psychology and philosophy, particularly when addressing questions of epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and aesthetics. He also shows how coherence can integrate cognition and emotion.

Coherence

Coherence PDF

Author: Alan Watkins

Publisher: Kogan Page Publishers

Published: 2013-11-03

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0749470062

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Every business leader faces innumerable challenges every working day, each one taking their toll on precious energy levels and the ability to respond and react positively in a commercial environment. Coherence recognizes the key factors that take their toll on a leader's effectiveness and ability to lead, and provides the reader with unique solutions designed to improve physiological factors that impact on core competencies. Problems today cannot be solved with yesterday's level of thinking. CEOs fail and leaders burn out because our thinking has not sped up or powered up. The author not only recognizes that leaders have the potential for limitless processing power, but shows them how to access it, taking them back to fundamentals and, quite literally, to the heart of who we are and how we function successfully. By showing leaders how to be 'younger, smarter, healthier and happier' Coherence gives every decision maker the power to make influential decisions under pressure and achieve sustainable success at every level.

The Coherence of Theism

The Coherence of Theism PDF

Author: Richard Swinburne

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 0198779690

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This substantially revised second edition of a classic text in philosophy of religion explores what it means, and whether it is coherent, to say that there is a God. Swinburne takes account of new developments in the debate over the past 40 years, and develops his views on central claims about the nature of God in light of recent discussion.

Introduction to the Theory of Coherence and Polarization of Light

Introduction to the Theory of Coherence and Polarization of Light PDF

Author: Emil Wolf

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2007-10-11

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 0521822114

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All optical fields undergo random fluctuations. They may be small, as in the output of many lasers, or they may be appreciably larger, as in light generated by thermal sources. The underlying theory of fluctuating optical fields is known as coherence theory. An important manifestation of the fluctuations is the phenomenon of partial polarization. Actually, coherence theory deals with considerably more than fluctuations. Unlike usual treatments, it describes optical fields in terms of observable quantities and elucidates how such quantities, for example, the spectrum of light, change as light propagates. This book is the first to provide a unified treatment of the phenomena of coherence and polarization. The unification has been made possible by very recent discoveries, largely due to the author of this book. The subjects treated in this volume are of considerable importance for graduate students and for research workers in physics and in engineering, who are concerned with optical communications, with propagation of laser beams through fibers and through the turbulent atmosphere, with optical image formation, particularly in microscopes, and with medical diagnostics, for example. Each chapter contains problems to aid self-study. Book jacket.

Coherence and Cohesion in Spoken and Written Discourse

Coherence and Cohesion in Spoken and Written Discourse PDF

Author: Olga Dontcheva-Navratilova

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2020-07-13

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 152755662X

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Coherence and Cohesion in Spoken and Written Discourse provides new insights into the various ways coherence works in a wide spread of spoken and written text types and interactional situations, all of which point to the dynamics and subjectivity of its nature. Despite the variety of approaches the authors adopt, they share an understanding of language as a dynamic and heterogeneous system mediating interaction in social and cultural contexts and explain how coherence and cohesion are reflected in different contextually bound aspects of human communication. The chapters of the book comprise essays by linguists working in the fields of pragmatics, discourse analysis and stylistics which explore features contributing to the perception of cohesion and coherence in spoken and written varieties of English, namely impromptu, academic and political discourse within the former variety, and media, academic and fictional discourse within the latter. This volume, which combines theoretical insights with practical analyses of different varieties of spoken and written English discourse, will be of interest to a wide range of researchers, scholars and students of English.

Life Stories

Life Stories PDF

Author: Charlotte Linde

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1993-07-01

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0195360842

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All adult speakers in Western cultures have life stories argues Charlotte Linde, and the ways in which these life stories are formed and exchanged with others have a powerful effect on all of us. Life stories express our sense of self, who we are and how we got that way. According to Linde, we also use these stories to show that our lives can be understood as coherent, and to assert or negotiate group membership. These life stories take part in the highest level of social constructions, since they are built on cultural assumptions about what is expected in a life, what the norms for a successful life are, and what common or special belief systems are necessary to establish coherence. The life story, illuminated by this engrossing study, is a form of everyday discourse which has not previously been precisely defined or studied. It is an oral, discontinuous unit, consisting of stories which are retold in a variety of forms over a long period of time, and which may be revised and changed as the speaker comes to drop old meanings and add new ones to parts of the life story. The life story is a particularly rich and important area for study, because it represents a crossroads of linguistic structure and social practice. Linde's analysis is of importance to linguistics, as well as having broader implications for anthropology, psychology, and sociology.