This monograph addresses the worlds of social science theory and artificial intelligence AI. The book examines the interaction of individual cognitive factors and social influence on human action and discusses the implications for developments in artificial intelligence.; This book is intended for graduate and research level artificial intelligence and social science theory including sociology, economics, psychology.

In this article, we discuss the process of standardization of Higher education initiated by the Bologna Process bringing to the forefront the temporal politics of the standardization o...

If chemistry is to be taught successfully, teachers must have a good subject matter knowledge (SK) of the ideas with which they are dealing, the nature of this falling within the orbit of philosophy of chemistry. They must also have a good pedagogic content knowledge (PCK), the ability to communicate SK to students, the nature of this falling within the philosophy and psychology of chemical education. Taking the case of models and modelling, important themes in the philosophy of chemistry, an (...) interview-based study was conducted into the SK and PCK of a sample of teachers in Brazil. This paper focuses on the results of the university chemistry teacher sub-sample in that enquiry, analyses their SK and PCK, and speculates on the implications of this for the education of school teachers. Finally, it suggests approaches to the professional development of university chemistry teachers that place an emphasis on the philosophy of chemistry. (shrink)

In this paper, a model of norms as cognitive objects is applied to establish connections between social conventions and prescriptions. Relevant literature on this issue, especially found in AI and the social sciences, will be shown to suffer from a dychotomic view: a conventionalistic view proposed by rationality and AI scientists; and a prescriptive view proposed by some philosophers of law (Kelsen 1934/1979, Hart 1961, Ross, 1958).In the present work, the attempt is made to fill the gap between these views (...) by putting forward a hypothesis concerning the process from perceived behavioural regularities to normative assumptions. The emergence of norms will be here seen as intrinsically intertwined with the emergence of normative beliefs. Unlike that assumed by the conventionalistic sight, the process of emergence is seen as a non-continuous phenomenon. A given behavioural regularity will be argued to give rise to a normative belief if and as long as that regularity is believed to be prescribed within the community. Two corollaries of this hypothesis will be examined: (1) unlike that implied by the conventionalistic view, the spreading of norms is not only due to a passive behavioural social influence (imitation) but also to an active cognitive one (the spreading of normative wants and beliefs); (2) unlike that assumed by the prescriptive view, a norm is not necessarily explicitly and deliberately issued by some normative authority, but is grounded upon the norm-addressees' beliefs that they are generally prescribed to comply with it. (shrink)

In many parts of the world, homework is a form of labour characterised by precariousness, lack of regulation, and invisibility and lack of protection of the workers who are often amongst the world's poorest and most exploited. Homework is spreading, due to firm practices such as outsourcing. The analysis and understanding of complex corporate networks may assist with the identification and protection of those most at risk within the supply chain network. It can also expose some of the key ethical (...) issues and dilemmas of supply chain management and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Based on a case-study of the Australian FairWear Campaign (FWC), this article identifies an ethical network that aims to increase corporate accountability (CA) via greater transparency in corporate supply chains and improve work conditions for homeworkers and increase their recognition in the supply chain. (shrink)

Relativistic geometrical action for a quantum particle in the superspace is analyzed from theoretical group point of view. To this end an alternative technique of quantization outlined by the authors in a previous work and that is based in the correct interpretation of the square root Hamiltonian, is used. The obtained spectrum of physical states and the Fock construction consist of Squeezed States which correspond to the representations with the lowest weights $\lambda=\frac{1}{4}$ and $\lambda=\frac{3}{4}$ with four possible (non-trivial) fractional representations (...) for the group decomposition of the spin structure. From the theory of semigroups the analytical representation of the radical operator in the superspace is constructed, the conserved currents are computed and a new relativistic wave equation is proposed and explicitly solved for the time-dependent case. The relation with the Relativistic Schrödinger equation and the Time-dependent Harmonic Oscillator is analyzed and discussed. (shrink)

This is an excerpt from the contentThe European Social Simulation Association was founded in 2002 by a scientific coalition, the SimSoc consortium, active ever since the first years of social simulation . Ten years before, the first of a series of SimSoc symposia held in Surrey in 1992, marked the birth of a new scientific field, the computer simulation of social life. The volume from the 2nd SimSoc symposium, published in 1995, was titled Artificial Societies . The next year, in (...) 1996, came out the best-seller by Epstein and Axtell Growing Artificial Societies.The planetary dimension of social simulation became apparent through the number of scientific events spreading throughout the world, favoured by increasing synergies both within the social scientific disciplines and across major scientific areas. To computer simulation turned anthropologists, ethologists, geographers, but also computer scientists and ICT designers, ecologists. (shrink)