In this article we describe two core ontologies of law that specify knowledge that is common to all domains of law. The first one, FOLaw describes and explains dependencies between types of knowledge in legal reasoning; the second one, LRI-Core ontology, captures the main concepts in legal information processing. Although FOLaw has shown to be of high practical value in various applied European ICT projects, its reuse is rather limited as it is rather concerned with the structure of legal reasoning (...) than with legal knowledge itself: as many other “legal core ontologies”, FOLaw is therefore rather an epistemological framework than an ontology. Therefore, we also developed LRI-Core. As we argue here that legal knowledge is based to a large extend on common-sense knowledge, LRI-Core is particularly inspired by research on abstract common-sense concepts. The main categories of LRI-Core are: physical, mental and abstract concepts. Roles cover in particular social worlds. Another special category are occurrences; terms that denote events and situations. We illustrate the use of LRI-Core with an ontology for Dutch criminal law, developed in the e-Court European project. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to investigate the consequences of the bibliometrics-based evaluation system of scientific production on the contents and methods of sciences. The research has been conducted by means of in-depth interviews to a multi-disciplinary panel of Italian researchers. We discuss the implications of bibliometrics-based evaluation on the choice of the research topic, on the experimental practices, on the dissemination habits. We observe that the validation of the bibliometrics-based evaluation practices relies on the acceptance and diffusion within (...) the scientific community, and that these practices are self-sustained through their wide application. We discuss possible evolving scenarios, also considering the recent development of digital archives. (shrink)

Como ocorre o progresso científico? Existem critérios para a escolha de teorias científicas? Qual o impacto de valores cognitivos e extra-cognitivos sobre as comunidades científicas? Para tratar de questões como estas, o filósofo da ciência Thomas Kuhn adota uma perspectiva estruturalista com embasamento histórico. Apresentamos a estrutura das revoluções científicas proposta por este pensador. Tratamos, inicialmente, da noção de paradigma, conceito chave da sua explicação do funcionamento da ciência e do progresso científico. Em seguida, expomos as fases pelas quais uma (...) área de pesquisa comumente passa ao longo de sua trajetória: pré-ciência, ciência normal, crise e revolução. Finalizamos o artigo traçando alguns paralelos da posição deste pensador com outras perspectivas epistemológicas do século passado. (shrink)

A Igreja Católica legitimou prática e teoricamente o sistema colonial brasileiro e teve um caráter predominantemente leigo, por força da instituição do padroado. Pouco foi escrito sobre as irmandades de negros. As análises têm se restringido a observar que desempenharam um importante papel na manutenção das crenças religiosas africanas. Com a República, o processo de romanização empreendido pela Igreja teve por objetivo a desvalorização do catolicismo laico, com o desmantelamento das antigas irmandades e sua substituição por novas organizações leigas. Impõe-se (...) caracterizar o papel desempenhado pela resistência, sem o quê seria difícil entender a existência atual da Irmandade Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Homens Pretos de São Paulo, fundada em 1711, na região central da cidade. Sua história se confunde com a história das irmandades de negros em geral, mas oferece exemplo de como continuou a ser repositório da tradição popular, calcada em prática religiosa católica 'branca' e prática religiosa 'negra', pensada a partir do patamar da escravidão. Palavras-chave : religião; poder; laicidade.The Catholic Church legitimized practical and theoretically the Brazilian colonial system and had a predominantly lay character by virtue of the institution of patronage. Little has been written about the brotherhoods among black people. The analysis have been restricted to noting that they have played an important role in maintaining the religious African beliefs. With the Republic, the romanization process undertaken by the Church has aimed the devaluation of the laic Catholicism, with the dismantling of old brotherhoods and their replacement by new lay organizations. It is necessary to characterize the role played by resistance, without which it would be difficult to understand the actual existence of the Irmandade Nossa Senhora dos Homens Pretos de São Paulo, founded in 1711, in the central region of the city. Its history is mixed with the history of black people brotherhoods in general, but provides an example of how it continued to be the repository of folk tradition, grounded in the 'white' catholic religious practice and the 'black' religious practice, seen from the porch of slavery. Keywords : religion; power; secularism. (shrink)