• Title/Summary/Keyword: Thought Experiment

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Thought Experiments: on the Working Imagination and its Limitation (사고실험 - 상상의 작용과 한도에 대해)

  • Hwang, Hee-sook
    • Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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    • v.146
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    • pp.307-328
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    • 2018
  • The use of thought experiments has a long history in many disciplines including science. In the field of philosophy, thought experiments have frequently appeared in the pre-existing literature on the contemporary Analytic Philosophy. A thought experiment refers to a synthetic environment where the designer of the experiment-with his or her intuition and imagination-tests common-sense knowledge. It can be understood as a conceptual tool for testing the validity of the common understanding of an issue or a phenomenon. However, we are not certain about the usefulness or efficacy of a thought experiment in knowledge production. The design of a thought experiment is meant to lure readers into believing as intended by the experiment itself. Thus, regardless of the purpose of a thought experiment, many readers who encounter the experiment could feel deceived. In this paper, to analyze the logic of thought experiments and to seek the source of uneasiness the readers and critics may feel about thought experiments, I draw lessons from three renowned thought-experiments: Thomson's 'ailing violinist', Putnam's 'brain in a vat', and Searle's 'Chinese room'. Imaginative thought experiments are usually constructed around a gap between the reality and the knowledge/information at hand. From the three experiments, several lessons can be learned. First, the evidence of the existence of a gap provided via thought experiments can serve as arguments for counterfactual situations. At the same time, the credibility and efficacy of the thought experiments can be damaged as soon as the thought-experiments are carried out with inappropriate and/or murky directions regarding the procedures of the experiment or the background of the study. According to D. R. Hofstadter and D. C. Dennett(1981), the 'knob setting' in a thought experiment can be altered in the middle of a simulation of the experimental condition, and then the implications of the thought experiment change altogether, indicating that an entirely different conclusion can be deduced from thought experiment. Lastly, some pre-suppositions and bias of the experiment designers play a considerable role in the validity and the chances of success of a thought experiment; thus, it is recommended that the experiment-designers refrain from exercising too much of their imagination in order to avoid contaminating the design of the experiment and/or wrongly accepting preconceived/misguided conclusions.

The Problems of Information, Knowledge, and Truth: An Epistemological Thought Experiment with Implications for Information Literacy in the Era of Post-Truth (정보, 지식, 그리고 진실의 문제들: 탈진실 시대에 정보문해력에 관한 인식론적인 사고 실험과 함의)

  • Hollister, Jonathan M.
    • Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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    • v.51 no.4
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    • pp.279-311
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    • 2020
  • People collectively understand and often use information and knowledge as terms in a variety of contexts without concern nor discussion of their many competing conceptual and theoretical definitions. The concepts of information and knowledge are intrinsically linked and suffer some of the same problems when scholars try to define them, especially when truth is a prerequisite. This theory paper presents a simple thought experiment that relates the reliabilist and truth-tracking analyses of knowledge with the physical and cognitive paradigms of information, respectively. The results of the thought experiment are discussed within the context of the Post-Truth era, with implications and applications for information literacy.

Jang Woo-Jae's Theater Aesthetics and Thought Experiment (장우재의 연극미학과 사유실험)

  • Shim, Jae-Min
    • Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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    • v.15 no.3
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    • pp.101-125
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    • 2021
  • This paper aims from various angles to examine the context of the problem situations that Jang Woo-Jae describes from contemporary korean society, to examine which chance of thinking is in this case given to the audience, and to examine whether through the plays in the theater this chance of thinking can be referred to public opinion. This study considers not only the contribution of Jang's thought experiment that is connected to the dramaturgical function including the aspects of dramatic form and content to dramatic effects for the audience, but also the possibility of an arrangement for a new way of thinking by the audience. Thus, Jang's thought experiment should be understood in connection with the whole message of his plays. And this study researches, how an new attention to the public nature of common world, which should be demanded for the sake of a mature civil society comes into existence within the point of contention in every play based on Jang's thought experiment. Finally this paper inspects through Jang's plays the possibility of contribution of performing art to contemporary korean society, and takes account of self-examination in meta-dimension of the theater regarding the role and meaning for the sake of human being and gemeinschaft.

Analysis of Middle School Students' Thinking Processes in Galileo's Free Fall Thought Experiment (갈릴레오의 자유낙하 사고실험에 대한 중학생들의 사고과정 분석)

  • Jeong, Su-In;Park, Jong-Won
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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    • v.21 no.3
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    • pp.566-579
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    • 2001
  • The purpose of this study was to investigate students' actual thinking processes during conceptual change about free fall. To do this, middle school students were made an interview designed based on a teaching model using thought experiment. From the study, it was found that strategy for generating cognitive conflict by suggesting opposite views was not effective. However, many students changed their prior conceptions when new explanatory hypothesis, which explained why heavy object and light object fall equally, was introduced. And finally, even though students realized that the changed idea did not accord with the real world, they could easily solve that problem by observing demonstration designed to show the effect of air resistance.

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Perceptions on Microcomputer-Based Laboratory Experiments of Science Teachers that Participated in In-Service Training (연수에 참여한 교사들의 MBL실험에 대한 인식)

  • Park, Kum-Hong;Ku, Yang-Sam;Choi, Byung-Soon;Shin, Ae-Kyung;Lee, Kuk-Haeng;Ko, Suk-Beum
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.59-69
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    • 2007
  • The aim of this study was to investigate teachers' perceptions on MBL (microcomputer-based laboratory) experiment training program for teachers, the expecting effects of MBL experiment and application of MBL experiment after conducting MBL experiment training for science classes in schools. This study showed that most of the teachers who participated in the training program thought that the MBL experiment training program was very useful and instructive. Many teachers considered that MBL experiments using a computer could decrease time spent in the experiment by accurate and fast data collection and analysis. They also thought that the reduced time could be used more effectively in the analysis of experimental data and discussion activities leading to correct concept formation as well as in the development of graphical analysis and science process skills. However, they thought that MBL experiments were ineffective in learning how to operate experiment apparatus. This study also revealed that most teachers intended to apply MBL experiments in real classrooms context right after the training course and they pointed out many obstacles in introducing MBL experiments into their classrooms such as a budget to purchase equipment, poor laboratory conditions, and few MBL experiment training opportunities. In order to apply MBL experiment into the real classrooms, further changes were suggested as follows; development of technologies to reduce unit cost of equipment for MBL experiments, production and supply of many kinds of sensors, development of MBL experiment materials, and expansion of the training program for teachers.

Carrying Out the Method of Steepest Ascent in a Response Surface Experiment with Split-Plot Structure (분할법 구조를 갖는 반응표면 실험에서 최대경사법 수행 방법)

  • Lee, Jong-Seong
    • Journal of Industrial Technology
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    • v.31 no.A
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    • pp.27-31
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    • 2011
  • In many industrial experiments, some practical constraints often force factors in an experiment to be much harder to change than others. Such an experiment involves randomization restrictions and it can be thought of as split-plot experiment. This paper investigates the path of steepest ascent/descent within a split-plot structure. A method is proposed for calculating the coordinates along the path.

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A Discord among Individual, Race, and History: Focused on Philip Roth's The Plot Against America (개인, 인종, 그리고 역사의 불협화음 -필립 로스의 『미국에 대한 음모』를 중심으로)

  • Jang, Jung-hoon
    • Journal of English Language & Literature
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    • v.58 no.5
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    • pp.809-837
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    • 2012
  • Philip Roth rejects the narrative unity and singularity of the traditional novel and creates instead a multi-levelled, fragmentary, and repetitive narrative. It is not easy to distinguish fact from fiction in The Plot Against America. As an entertaining and creative work of the postmodern historiographic metafiction, Philip Roth's The Plot Against America interrogates the existence of historically verifiable facts, the validity of authentic and official version of history, and reexamines the narrative conventions of history writing. The aim of this paper is to examine Roth's narrative experiment or 'thought experiment' and to explore the intention of creating alternative history in The Plot Against America. Roth does a 'thought experiment' in The Plot Against America. In this cautionary "what if" political fable, Roth hypothesizes that in 1940 aviation hero Charles Lindbergh, an ardent isolationist who was sympathetic to Hiltler, won the presidency. Jewish communities are stunned and terrified as America flirts with fascism and anti-semitism. Reimagining his children-with considerable fact mixed in with the fiction-Roth narrates an alternative history that has an unsettling plausibility. Roth has constructed a brilliantly telling and disturbing historical prism by which to refract the American psyche as it pertain to the discord of individual, race, history in The Plot Against America. Roth analyzes the life of individual in a historic space, the situation of anti-semitism in world of invisible order, racial conflict between black and white in world of visible order, and the darkest side of national power in this work. Roth's stories argue for the equality of various cultures grounded on the common notion of humanity, for an ethic of mutual respect, and for the peaceful resolution of conflicts.

A Comparison of Instruction Effectiveness between the Experiment of Precipitation and the Experiment with Ball and Stick Model Related to 'Law of Definite Proportions' (일정성분비의 법칙에 관련된 앙금생성실험과 모형실험수업의 효과 비교)

  • Paik, Seoung-Hey;Kim, Hyeong-Sam;Han, Yu-Haw;Kim, Seoung-Hey
    • Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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    • v.54 no.3
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    • pp.338-349
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    • 2010
  • This study compared the instruction effectiveness between experiments of precipitation and a ball & stick model related to the 'Law of Definite Proportions' of 9th grade science in this study. The subjects were 250 students in the 9th grade. They were divided into two groups, an experimental group and a model group. The results showed that the ratio of thought in which the elements were divided in the solutions and the ratio of thought in which a new compound was created when the two solutions were mixed were higher in the precipitation experiment group than in the model group. The two groups were not different in terms of the ratio of thought related to the reason for the creation of the precipitate. The ratio of thought pertaining to incorrect answers was high, implying that the two strategies were not effective in correcting students' thoughts. However, the ratio of finding patterns from the measuring data in the model group was higher than in the experimental group. However, the ratios of 'definite proportions' inference in the bonding of the reactants were similar in the two groups. From these data, we concluded that the inference of the 'Law of definite proportion' from experiments or models was not suitable for middle school students.

Robotics Projects at Pusan National University

  • Kwak, Seung-Chul;Sung, Ji-Hoon;Shim, In-Bo;Yoon, Joong-Sun
    • 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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    • 2004.08a
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    • pp.814-819
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    • 2004
  • Soft engineering, based on symbiotic coexistence of human, machines and environment, is a new engineering field to explore the proper technology and the proper way of engineering. To explore soft engineering intents easily, various robot projects at Pusan National University conducted are presented. Thought experiment, interactive e-leaning, rapid prototyping engineering, biomimciry, tangibility, and ubiquity are concepts to be explored. Thought experiments projects are organized and performed, which include robot assembly game, Turing test, and robotics in science fiction. "Junk robot project" and "ubiquitous Pusan National University (u-PNU) project" have been organized. Also, bug robot project, interactive robot project, and interactive emotional robot projects are introduced. Weekly science fiction films are shown and discussed.

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Archival Symposium for Rethinking Archives (기록학과 교육적 관점 기록향연, 몇 가지 단상)

  • Lee, Young-nam
    • The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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    • no.57
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    • pp.165-234
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    • 2018
  • Archival symposium was a time when men thought thoroughly about what archives were, and to carefully record such thoughts. In the time of archival symposium, I observed the people archiving. To bring out a thought for a man was a physical action that moves his own desire, language, emotion and senses simultaneously. In philosophy thought is not merely a logical and cognitive act. Thought is a physical act that includes logical thinking, feeling, emotion, will, and on. When there is a emotional change in the body, an idea about that change forms. Emotional change acts as a force that increases, decreases, accelerate and hinder the body's abilities. However, there were no suggestions for philosophical concepts from the start. Love is not taught by someone. At some point without oneself knowing we start love and really experience with our bodies what love is, and in this repeat love and undergo all these emotions. Would not the overall story of life be as such. It is different from building a car in a factory. When the archival symposium starts, we asked you to think about what archives are, and to record with such thoughts as reference. Archival symposium is still a proper noun. With the wish for it to become a general term, I report on the process and meaning of archival experiment that is the archival symposium.