Theme 3: Research and Theory (Reflection)

In this week's theme we discussed the meaning of theory, hypotheses and critically examined a journal article of our choosing.

We discussed with Leif that a theory per se is something that is unproven or speculative. But this can better be characterized by the word hypothesis. A theory is about knowing/seeing (greek: theorem = to look), it offers an exploratory framework for observations that we make and it involves stepping back from what you see in oder to put a proper distance between you and the object you are looking at. A theory is also a contrast to praxis, although it is still a form of practice since practice always has a theoretical dimension. We discussed that theories are tested and regarded as true, that they can show connections between phenomena and explain how, why and what lies behind that. A theory tries to find a causal logic between cause & event. It can also lead to a paradigm shift, which happens when a new theory replaces an old theory. The strength of theory in modern times is related to the diversity of phenomenons it explains.

We also distinguished between philosophical theories and scientific theories. Philosophical theories are based on ideas, while scientific theories are based on empirical data.

Scientific theories are for my understanding more important in the context of Media Technology, as we are researching phenomenons based on data, not ideas. We analyze our data statistically and can make falsifiable predictions (See Karl Popper, Keuth, 2004).

The term research can be summed up as a "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge of man, culture & society and the use of this stock on knowledge to devise new application". (Frascati Manual, 2002).

Scientific research makes practical applications possible through gathering data.

Applied research doesn't develop any theories itself, but uses existing theories and methods to solve practical problems.

Hermeneutics  and semiotics explore issues around an object, such as context (historical, social, political, cultural) without giving an ultimate answer.

Artistic research is practice based and involves design / production of artifacts.

In the seminar with Ilias we discussed once again what theory is and what makes an hypothesis a different word, as we read in Weick (1995) what theory is not.

My group and I came up with the typical scientific cycle (quantitative!) from theory to discussion, as seen in every journal article. A simplified version would be:

Brainstorming > Theory > Phrasing of hypotheses > Choice of method > Choice of participants > Collection of data > Data evaluation > Testing of hypotheses > Results > Discussion > Possible conclusions

This helped us to distinguish theory from hypotheses. Also we discussed that truth is relative. We find truth through falsification. 

I participated actively in class through discussing the concepts of theory and hypotheses. I prepared for this week's lecture through reading about several statistical methods mentioned in my paper such as scale creation and through informing myself in detail about the self-determination theory of Ryan and Deci.

Sources

Alt, D. (2015). College students' academic motivation, media engagement and fear of missing out. Computers in Human Behavior. 49, 111-119. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.057

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum.
Frascati Manual (2002). Proposed Standard Practice for Surveys on Research and Experimental Development, The Measurement of Scientific and Technological Activities. OECD Publishing, Paris. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264199040-en
Keuth, H. (2004). The philosophy of Karl Popper. Cambridge: University Press. 

Sutton, R., Staw, B. M. (1995). What theory is not. Administrative Science Quartely. 40 (3). 371-384.

Weick, E. K. (1995). What theory is not, theorizing is. Administrative Science Quartely. 40 (3). 385-390.

Theme 4: Quantitative Methods (Pre-blog)

For this week's theme I selected the paper "Social networking site or social surveillance site? Understanding the use of interpersonal electronic surveillance in romantic relationships." by Robert Tokunaga (2011) from the journal Computers in Human Behavior.

Which quantitative method or methods are used in the paper? Which are the benefits and limitations of using these methods?

Tokunaga used a measurement based self-report survey to gather the data needed for the statistical work. Through an internet-based questionnaire he asked about surveillance over social network sites (SNS), relational information, demographic information and Internet use information. For that he used the Internet electronic surveillance (IES) Scale for SNSs to measure how SNS were used. The scale of Internet self-efficacy measured the belief of one's ability to execute tasks online. On the basis of a multiple regression, relations between variables could be detected. A benefit of a survey is the easy access to information, anonymity and standardization. Limitations are self-report scales and consequent problems with social desirability. This is particularly interesting when it comes to topics like these, which are sensitive. 

What did you learn about quantitative methods from reading the paper?

I learned more about the creation of the 15-item scale of IES, and how a principal-axis exploratory factor analysis could evaluate its properties. Furthermore I learned how they then conducted a confirmatory factor analysis in order to verify the unidimensionality of the single-factor structure. Overall, the scale was trimmed to 13 items and a reduction in model chi-square and an overall improvement of the model's fit followed.  

However, I'm not all too familiar with this, so I'm not sure if I got this totally right.  

Which are the main methodological problems of the study? How could the use of the quantitative method or methods have been improved?

Limitations of this study were how they developed the items for the IES scale. As it was an armchair approach which consists of brainstorming and discussions it lacked systematic orientation. It could have been approved through using a multistage process for item development. This includes finding constructs and measures and assistance by an expert pool. Another problem was using a confirmatory factor analysis to verify the factor dimensionality of IES, because the study used both data to explore and confirm the factor dimensionality. This should be taken into consideration for future studies.

Drumming in Immersive Virtual Reality: The Body Shapes the Way We Play

Kilteni, Bergström and Slater (2012) try to answer the question regarding the illusion of ownership within virtual tasks and what effects that might have. In an experiment they create the illusion of participants playing virtual drums, while they hands who are playing might have different shade of skin color or fashion style. They asked themselves if people would perform tasks differently or better, just because they feel like their "new" body is more appropriate for it.

They found out that the virtual body indeed has the power to create an illusion of ownership; in this case it was participants who played the drums with the dark shade hands who felt more connected, experienced higher variation and moved more frequently.

Which are the benefits and limitations of using quantitative methods?

Quantitative methods are based on Karl Poppers' critical rationalism and tries to find universally valid laws. It's a deductive approach. You start with a theory and try to come close to the social reality to methodology. The data is standardized (can be replicated easily), evaluations are done based on statistics, and tue researcher is an distanced, independent observer. Within quantitative methods large groups can be researched at once, it's a very systematic approach to investigate and answers the questions "what" and "how many". Limitations are that it's difficult to go in depth, the results are broad and do not necessarily reflect why people really feel/do what the feel/do. Experiments are often conducted in labs, i.e. unnatural surroundings. which might influence the outcome.

Which are the benefits and limitations of using qualitative methods?

Within qualitative methods you can research topics in detail. Small groups are interviewed, so it's more personal, than a internet survey would be. In interviews the questions aren't necessarily asked in a specific order, the interviewer can interact with the subject freely. It can also give some insight to the collected data in quantitative data and explain the answers from a different angel. As only a few people are researched it's more difficult to generalize the results, which clearly is an disadvantage. Answers can be highly subjective. Worst case is, that interviews can be influenced by the interviewer and the answers get skewed. 

Sources

Kilteni, K., Bergström, I., Slater, M. (2012). Drumming in Immersive Virtual Reality: The Body Shapes the Way We Play. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 19 (4), 597-605 http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TVCG.2013.29

Tokunaga, R. S. (2011). Social networking site or social surveillance site? Understanding the use of interpersonal electronic surveillance in romantic relationships. Computers in Human Behavior, 27, 705–713. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.08.014 

Comments, Theme 2

1// http://dont-panic-forty-two.blogspot.se/2015/09/in-retrospect-theme-2.html?showComment=1442999169811#c7861681557535013427

2// http://oscarlimback.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-2-critical-media-studies-after.html?showComment=1443000828926

3// http://mashasthoughts123.blogspot.se/2015/09/seminar-2-reflection.html?showComment=1443001904034#c7613062296675902196

4// http://duckyduckyducky.blogspot.se/2015/09/post-seminar-3.html?showComment=1443002974542#c7147579796923560725

5// http://dm2572byen.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-2-critical-media-studies_20.html?showComment=1443004776028

6// http://platotheplatypus.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-2-post-reflection.html?showComment=1443019213807#c2211346581222183245

7// http://blog4course99.blogspot.se/2015/09/reflection-on-theme-2.html?showComment=1443010034303

8// http://vadfinnsegentligen.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-2-reflection.html?showComment=1443018270942#c3455285407193934525


9// http://tamfmtol.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-2-post-critical-media-studies.html?showComment=1443023221250#c8850916608650603053

10// http://mediatechnologybycorinna.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-2-critical-media-studies_21.html?showComment=1443023705166#c8233724689597209024

Theme 2: Critical Media Studies (Reflection)

To prepare for this week's topic I read the assigned readings, did some research on Karl Marx ideas of dialectical materialism and reviewed once again Adorno and Horkheimers' Frankfurter Schule (Frankfurt School).  I contributed to the seminar group through actively discussing the concepts and ideas of nominalism and realism. 

In the seminar we tried to find answers through history- it is essential to know what background the authors have to be able to fully grasp the meaning of their words. I learned that Walter Benjamin for instance was an intelligent young jewish philosopher, who was torn between religion and communism and unfortunately did not survive the second world war (suicide in Spain). 

In his piece "The work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" he discussed the concepts of Superstructure and Substructure, as well as dialectical concepts. Here he tried to contrast words and to find a third option; although unsuccessfully. He discussed everything in the light of the national socialism. A special focus in the seminar lied on Albert Speer, who arranged mass spectacles during Hitlers' rise as well as on Leni Riefenstein who produced films to create a fandom cult around Adolf Hitler. Benjamin wanted to unpack the nice scenery of the NS and show how media technology can be misused. 

He pursues this thought by bringing up Marxist concepts related to production/media technology: The substructure was everything related to the production, such as the machines, the owners etc.; the superstructure was the art, entertainment and so on. After discussing this in the seminar I also learned how Benjamin argued that through the evolution of cameras and the industry (substructure) the aesthetic mind (superstructure) can be changed. Thus, ordinary people were being dignified in the superstructure as well. 

He also argues that culture has a revolutionary potential in a way that movies for example can be edited and fragmented, and change the way you see things. If you see a movie from your neighborhood you might see it in a different way if it is edited and has a soundtrack. 

Benjamin was torn: In his mind, everything aesthetically related has an aura, i.e. a uniqueness or authenticity. Art was liberated through the means of reproduction, but that does also destroy the aura. So on the one hand, he was happy to see that it was not anymore a privilege of rich people to consume/see art, but on the other hand he was not all to happy about the lack of authenticity. 

Adorno and Horkheimer, who lived in the United States by the time they wrote "The Dialectic of Enlightenment" referred more to the American society than to what was going on in Europe in the 1940's. They were critical about how the people were suppressed by consumerism, not the military. They would repeat the same process over and over again, movies would portray life as it is, not as what it could be and it gave the impression of a non changeable status quo - a deception. This is where they also refer to the concept of Nominalism. 

That's where they differ from Benjamin. While Adorno & Horkheimer don't think that bringing ordinary people in front of the camera has any revolutionary potential, Benjamin thinks the opposite. 

Theme 3: Research and Theory (Pre-blog)

Journal: Computers in Human Behavior

Impact Factor: 2.694

This journal mainly focuses on the use of computers from a psychological perspective. On the one hand the actual use of computers is of interest, on the other hand also the impact of this use on individuals, groups and society is researched and published in this journal. This includes psychological effects on human development, learning, cognition and social interactions. The computer itself isn't being researched, but rather the computer as a medium through which behaviors are expressed. 

The current edition included topics like the impact of media use before sleeping, the role of SNS within adult romantic relationships and computer game misuse and addiction. 

I selected Alt's paper on "College students’ academic motivation, media engagement and fear of missing out", which was published on the 12th of March 2015 in the high quality journal Computers in Human Behavior. 

___________________________________________________________

College students’ academic motivation, media engagement and fear of missing out

Alt, D. (2015)

In the ages of social media, people spend more and more time online. That can also have a negative effect on those, who might be offline for awhile and experience a fear, that they might miss out on something happening in the online world while they're offline. In this paper Alt uses the new phenomenon named Fear of Missing Out (FoMo) to investigate possible links between FoMo, social media engagement and three motivational constructs: Intrinsic, extrinsic and amotivation for learning (amotivation means absence of motivation). While it already has been researched (to some extent) how FoMO is related to Social Media usage, it hasn't been researched in the academic arena. The present study focuses on the social media usage in the classroom. Results showed that students would be more likely to use social media tools in the classroom if they were extrinsically or amotivated students. FoMo was indeed a mediator variable. 

Critical examination 

While the study addresses one of the most current topics in the age of new media, it also has some flaws. First of all the hypotheses aren't well formulated (see example H2):

H2. Based on the assumption that psychological need deficits can lead some toward a general sensitivity to FoMO, it is hypothesized that FoMO would serve as a mediator linking motivational deficits to social media engagement. Furthermore, background variables, such as gender, age, and socio-economic status, will also be addressed in this research in order to assess how these variables intersect and may contribute to the measured variables. Fig. 1 demonstrates the theoretical structure of the proposed framework. 

 I'd say these are rather research questions than hypotheses. They're too long, there are too many variables involved, it's not clear what is going to be the independent or dependent variables etc.

The data was gathered by 296 undergraduate Social-Science students - but over 85% of them were female, which under-represents the male students a lot. I think especially when it comes to media use, gender differences can be found. Also, they only surveyed one college, which makes it hard to generalize the results on other students from other regions/countries.

Furthermore, self-report scales were used. There will always be problems regarding social desirability. Some students might have felt uncomfortable to admit how much they use social media during class and thus adjusted their answers towards a slightly less extreme use in the survey. 

Another flaw is the use of an "unvalidated" new scale of Social Media Engagement (SME). Of course, it is sometimes necessary to develop new scales, but then you have the problem, that you don't really know for sure how reliable the scale is. 

1) Briefly explain to a first year university student what theory is, and what theory is not.

Theories answer the questions of why. They are used to find causal relationships among phenomena, or as Sutton and Staw (1995) say, " to understand the systematic reasons for a particular occurrence or nonoccurence" . A good theory explains, predicts, and delights (Weick, 1995). 

A theory is not the references used to develop the work, or the data which serves as a basis for the study. It is also not the constructs or variables defined in a paper. Nor is it the diagrams used to illustrate the idea, or the hypotheses, which are the conceptual arguments of the work. 

2) Describe the major theory or theories that are used in your selected paper. Which theory type (see Table 2 in Gregor) can the theory or theories be characterized as?

Alt uses the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as basis. This theory has initially been developed by Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan. From the SDT Alt explores FoMO, because SDT is a particularly useful perspective regarding learning motivation. Regarding Gregor's theory types I might say it's the II type, called explanation. SDT provides more background on why people do what they do through analyzing the motivation. This could represent the causality and methods for argumentation. The SDT determines if people  are motivated because of intrinsic or extrinsic reasons. Internal factors can be enthusiasm and pleasure. These people are motivated, because they love what they do. External factors are incentives, such as passing an exam or getting rewarded differently. As Gregor says, this provides us with more insight on why we do what we do. 

3) Which are the benefits and limitations of using the selected theory or theories?

The benefit of this theory is, that is has been used and shaped over the past years, so that it's up to date and useful. There is a lot of research backing it up. There are even six Mini-SDT theories that explain other motivationally based phenomena, that have emerged over the years through field research. 

Limitations would be that Deci and Ryan only propose three psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness). Shouldn't humans have more needs than that?

Sources

Alt, D. (2015). College students' academic motivation, media engagement and fear of missing out. Computers in Human Behavior. 49, 111-119. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.057

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior.  New York: Plenum.

Sutton, R., Staw, B. M. (1995). What theory is not. Administrative Science Quartely. 40 (3). 371-384.

Weick, E. K. (1995). What theory is not, theorizing is. Administrative Science Quartely. 40 (3). 385-390.

Comments, Theme 1

1// http://denise-theoryandmethod.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-1-theory-of-knowledge-and-theory_12.html?showComment=1442234923392

2// http://mediatechnologybycorinna.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-1-theory-of-knowledge-and-theory_13.html?showComment=1442236481439#c8705583588734298749

3// http://meglia.blogspot.se/2015/09/post-theme-1.html?showComment=1442238337716#c7283945826022966475

4// http://dm2572rberggre.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-1-after.html?showComment=1442411800256

5// http://u1ifqcuc.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-1-theory-of-knowledge-and-theory.html?showComment=1442413183072#c6555735112273807936

6// http://mediatechnologyatkth.blogspot.se/2015/09/reflection-what-ilearnt-during-week-37.html?showComment=1442417232087#c4232010561849193147

7// http://thewind-egg.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-1-reflection-to-be-honest.html?showComment=1442417917164#c8275822832426164306

8// http://bjornsblogggg.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-1-post-reflection.html?showComment=1442418764709

9// http://thetheoryabouteverything.blogspot.se/2015/09/post-theme-1-reflection.html?showComment=1442419443318

10// http://oscarlimback.blogspot.se/2015/09/after-thelecture-and-seminary-last-week.html?showComment=1442420623429#c8387242981254751024

Theme 1: Theory of knowledge and theory of science (Reflection)

After one week filled with discussions about Kant, Plato, epistemology and how everything fits together, I feel like I can finally grasp at least some concepts of knowledge, which were introduced by Kant. 

To prepare for this lecture I first read the German version of "Critique of Pure Reason" by Kant, hoping that the original might be more understandable. Still there were so many terms I didn't know, that I had to look up most of them in philosophical dictionaries. After that I read the English version, as well as Plato's Theaetetus. In total, it was a "step-by-step" progress. During the first lecture I took notes of what we discussed and that helped me during the seminar to follow Johan through the discussion. 

In the seminar we discussed how Kant suggested, that we should climb down from God's point of view and investigate knowledge from our point of view instead. We discussed this in my small group during the seminar, unsure what to make out of this metaphor of God's point of view. Johan explained that everything we observe is tainted by our history, sex, language and knowledge. It's impossible to completely block out this prior knowledge. We cannot make, as in God's sense, untainted observations. Therefore the conception of scientific knowledge is just a dream. 

We also discussed, how we can know anything a priori, if we can't potentially have posteriori knowledge beforehand. To know that all bachelors are unmarried (a typical a priori analytical judgement), we simply know that the word bachelor refers to an unmarried man (a typical posteriori knowledge). However, Kant never discussed this. Instead, he discussed the most basic forms, e.g. space and time. Furthermore the categories structure a priori knowledge and as Kant says, we can only see the world structured through categories. 

Theme 2: Critical Media Studies (Pre-blog)

Dialectic of Enlightenment

What is "Enlightenment"?

According to Kant "Enlightenment" means the liberation of authority. However, Adorno and Horkheimer refer to the liberation of fear and to overthrow myths with knowledge and as an end result, to become the master of nature. 

What is "Dialectic"?

The word "dialectic", which can be traced back to Plato and his dialogues involving Socrates, is nowadays used as a mean to seek the truth. A dialectic method investigates the truth on the basis of arguments.

  

What is "Nominalism" and why is it an important concept in the text?

Nominalism is described to be the prototype of bourgeois thinking. Its furthermore a philosophical way of thinking that excludes all abstract objects. Adorno and Horkheimer use this in a socio-historic context of the national socialism, where Nazis used abstract concepts as arguments. 

What is the meaning and function of "myth" in Adorno and Horkheimer's argument?

Humans tried to explain the world through myth for a very long time; it was a way to understand things the best way they could, before scientific reasoning replaced (or enlightenment) this way of thinking. 

"The Work of Art in the Age of Technical Reproductivity"

In the beginning of the essay, Benjamin talks about the relation between "superstructure" and "substructure" in the capitalist order of production. What do the concepts "superstructure" and "substructure" mean in this context and what is the point of analyzing cultural production from a Marxist perspective?

These concepts have been created by Karl Marx in order to describe the society. Substructure describes everything related to the production, i.e. the resources, the machinery and the people in charge of the machinery. The superstructure includes everything else but the production, meaning art, philosophy, entertainment. It's important to analyze cultural production from this perspective, because according to Marx, the substructure influences the superstructure and this has an effect on our behavior as well. 

Does culture have revolutionary potentials (according to Benjamin)? If so, describe these potentials. Does Benjamin's perspective differ from the perspective of Adorno & Horkheimer in this regard?

According to Benjamin culture does indeed have revolutionary potentials. As he says "photography freed the hand of the most important artistic functions which henceforth devolved only upon the eye looking into a lens" (I, Benjamin). Now that works of art can be reproduced the public sphere will be more aware of them. 

Adorno and Horkheimer disagree on this one. As far as I understand, they don't see culture as having revolutionary potentials, but instead technology does. 

Benjamin discusses how people perceive the world through the senses and argues that this perception can be both naturally and historically determined. What does this mean? Give some examples of historically determined perception (from Benjamin's essay and/or other contexts).

It means, that we do not only perceive our surroundings based on our human nature, but also based on the historical context. Benjamin gives the example of the birth of the late Roman art industry and the Vienna Genesis which was newly interpreted by Riegl and Wieckhoff under the perception of that specific time. Another example might be the evolution women's rights- for a long time it seemed to be quite natural to subordinate women to men. But in the last decades equality has been an important topic in society and culture and therefore it is unthinkable to go back based on our achievements in women's rights through time. 

What does Benjamin mean by the term "aura"? Are there different kinds of aura in natural objects compared to art objects?

Benjamin refers to the term aura when he writes about the uniqueness and permanence of art. Natural objects differ from art objects in the sense that there's a lack of authenticity in the latter. 

Theme 1: Theory of knowledge and theory of science: Before

In the preface to the second edition of "Critique of Pure Reason" (page B xvi) Kant says: "Thus far it has been assumed that all our cognition must conform to objects. On that presupposition, however, all our attempts to establish something about them a priori, by means of concepts through which our cognition would be expanded, have come to nothing. Let us, therefore, try to find out by experiment whether we shall not make better progress in the problems of metaphysics if we assume that objects must conform to our cognition." How are we to understand this?

To understand this short extract from "Critique of Pure Reason" it is essential to know what Kant refers to. He chooses mathematics & natural science as examples to show how changing your way of thinking can revolutionize the field and open new paths (Kant, BXI). The metaphysics had, by the time Kant wrote this, not found the secure path of science (Kant, BXV). Therefore Kant suggests to try to change the way of thinking in metaphysics as well and to imitate the revolution of mathematics and natural science. This is referred as the Copernican Revolution. Copernicus, who had trouble understanding how the sun revolved around the observer (which was the common belief at that time) tried instead to see what happened if he assumed that the observer was revolving and the stars were left at rest (Rabin, 2015). This made him a revolutionist. The same thing can be applied to Kant. He proposes that objects must conform to our cognition and not the other way around. I believe this means that our cognition is the center of knowledge and all objects revolve around it. We see objects in our daily life, but only our mind can put the pieces together and give us an idea of what we are seeing. If there is no prior experience, it's called  a priori knowledge. Kant emphasizes that "we can cognize of things a priori only what we ourselves have put into them" (Kant, BXVIII). The opposite to this is posteriori knowledge. Here, our minds are depending on our prior experience to make sense out of what we see. This will be discussed further in question 2. 

At the end of the discussion of the definition "Knowledge is perception", Socrates argues that we do not see and hear "with" the eyes and the ears, but "through" the eyes and the ears. How are we to understand this? And in what way is it correct to say that Socrates argument is directed towards what we in modern terms call "empiricism"?

I believe that the difference Socrates is making between the wording  "with" and "through" is a reference to how we come to knowledge. If one would see with eyes and ears, this would make the organs eyes and ears a specific final stop. But as Socrates pointed out, this is not correct. Seeing through the eyes and ears, or basically any other organ, makes these organs a gateway to our mind and soul. Only here one can process objects and truly understand them. This leads me to the second question: How is this argument directed towards empiricism? If we look at the definition of empiricism, it says "Empiricism is the philosophical stance according to which the senses are the ultimate source of human knowledge." (Borghini, 2015). Again, the mind (or as Socrates says, the senses) plays the important role of creating knowledge. These ideas of the mind are based on experiences, or as Kant mentioned based on posteriori knowledge. 

Sources

Kant, I. (1787/1997). Critique of Pure Reason, (P. Guyer and A. Wood, Trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge    University Press.

Rabin, S. (Fall, 2015). "Nicolaus Copernicus", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), 

 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/copernicus/

Borghini, A. (2015). Empiricism. In Defense of the Senses.

Retrieved from http://philosophy.about.com/od/Philosophical-Theories-Ideas/a/Empiricism_In_Defence_of_the_Senses.htm