Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Student Success Teachers In Ontario Secondary Schools, Robert Andrew Bell

Digitized Theses

Education in Ontario underwent a series of reforms during the 1990’s, including a

reduction from a 5-year to a 4-year secondary program. As a result of these reforms, several studies were commissioned to determine the success of these changes, and the recommendations were to implement a support program to address the holistic, developmental and individual needs of students who are not successful in secondary school—the Student Success Program. Student Success Teachers (SSTs) were hired in every secondary school in Ontario to be the implementer of Student Success initiatives. In this study, 12 SSTs from two coterminous local school boards were …

Plato’S Use Of Attic Oratory, Ashley Erika Skinner

Digitized Theses

The philosophical works o f Plato are characterized by the Socratic dialogue, the dialectical style o f conversation Socrates employs with his interlocutors. However, Plato also occasionally departs from the Socratic dialogue to experiment in genres outside his, own. The Menexenus and the Apology are two o f his works that feature ‘inserted’ genres /o f Attic oratory: the funeral oration and forensic oratory. While these two works are typically characterized as Plato parodying or criticizing oratory, this thesis examines philosophy and oratory in both the Menexenus and the Apology and argues that Plato deliberately uses Attic oratory to communicate …

Alexander Kunitsyn (1783-1840): An Intellectual Biography Of An Early Russian Liberal, Julia Berest

Digitized Theses

Despite the accepted view that the early nineteenth century in Russia was a time of political relaxation and liberal reforms, little is known about the intellectuals who contributed to the development of the Russian liberal thought. Among the many reasons behind this neglect is a long-standing assumption about Russian liberals' indifference to the issues of individual rights and freedoms that comprised the essence of European liberal ideology. The life and writings of Alexander Kunitsyn present a challenge to this assumption. He was one of the first native professors of natural law in Russia who aspired to spread among the educated …

"Er Irrt Der Mensch, Solang Er Strebt:" Critical Studies On The Subject, The Genius Figure And Faust, Matthew James Austin

Digitized Theses

Ultimately my thesis reflects a dedication to a conceit I have labeled teleology without telos, which I have tried to establish in my readings of history, philosophy, and art (literature). Expressive of this conceit is the complex anthropological relationship Kant outlines between Man, as subject, and Nature—as expressed through history and art. In the writing of history and the production of art, the archetypal figures of the philosopher and the genius respectively express Nature’s indeterminate regulation under the compulsion of the Kantian idea. What is ultimately exemplified here is neither natural necessity, nor humanistic freedom. Rather, Kant offers an intriguing …

The Role Of The Concept Of "Showing" In Wittgenstein's Philosophy, Dean Bodo Proessel

Digitized Theses

This dissertation will examine the role of the concept of showing in Wittgenstein's philosophy. In the early writings Wittgenstein drew a sharp distinction between what can be said and what can only be shown. Accordingly, he held that one can use language to represent the world, but one cannot represent the logic of language, since all representations already presuppose an acceptance of logical form. In the later writings this idea lives on. Although Wittgenstein abandoned his early conception of logic, he continued to hold that grammar is the inexpressible background which gives sense to everything one says and does. In …

Knowledge Practices: A Critique Of Scientific Ideology, Kent Donald Hogarth

Digitized Theses

The scientific ideology is identified as that perspective which considers knowledge to consists in propositional truths or representations of reality--knowledge-that--and which grants ultimate epistemic authority to science. A critical alternative view (the "praxical perspective") is presented in which know-how, modeled after simple skills, is epistemologically primary. The view of know-how developed in the context of simple skills is used as a model to re-conceptualize higher-order abilities--such as the achievements of modern science and technology--as forms of skilled practice rather than applied theoretical knowledge. In order to accomplish this, non-representational views of perception and language are presented. Perception is characterised as …

Nonreductive Materialism And The Computational Theory Of Mind, Wayne Ian Henry

Digitized Theses

This dissertation is a project in the philosophical foundations of cognitive science and inquires into the prospects for a materialist theory of mind which is scientifically respectable and realistic about intentional phenomena. This requires at least two things: (1) A materialistic solution to the mind/body problem; and, (2) a naturalistic solution to the problem of intentionality. With respect to the first, I argue that Computationalism holds out what is, at the present juncture, the only prospect for a materialistic theory of mental processes. And, with respect to the naturalization of intentionality, I argue that it is at least possible to …

The Myth Of Cartesian Rationalism: An Examination Of Experience In Le Grand, Desgabets, And Regis, Patricia Ann Easton

Digitized Theses

Recent re-evaluation of the question of the exact role of experience in the Cartesian philosophy has emerged from many quarters. The metaphysical issue of innate ideas has been raised by such scholars as McRae and Miles, and a close examination of the role of empirical enquiry and methodology in Cartesian science have been undertaken by Clarke, Garber, Buchdahl and Laudan, to mention only a few. These recent reappraisals of the role of experience in Descartes's philosophy have been cast mostly in twentieth-century terms with a specific view to concerns of the present.;My research centres on an examination of the philosophical …

A Reassessment Of Locke's Theory Of Cognition Of The External World, Thomas Heyd

Digitized Theses

Locke's Essay concerning Human Understanding has generally been read as primarily concerned with epistemology. In particular, it has been claimed that the Essay attempts to defeat epistemological skepticism, but fails in this enterprise because of the veiling character of Locke's ideas. By way of reexamination of the texts in question I show that epistemological skepticism is not the topic of the Essay, and that there is not sufficient reason to claim that Locke's account of knowledge leads to epistemological skepticism. I argue, moreover, that the motivating topic of the Essay is moral skepticism, and I explain the central role of …

Drugs In Sport, The Straight Dope: A Philosophical Analysis Of The Justification For Banning Performance-Enhancing Substances And Practices In The Olympic Games, Angela Jo-Anne Schneider

Digitized Theses

Many believe that "doping" has no place in sport, especially no place in the Olympic Games. Yet despite, or indeed perhaps because of, this belief remarkably little has been done in the way of attempting to justify those bans.;The arguments that are offered in support of bans fall into four categories: (i) that doping is cheating or unfair, (ii) that it is harmful, (iii) that it perverts the nature of sport, and (iv) that is is dehumanizing or unnatural.;I examine each of these categories of argument in turn. The cheating or unfairness argument is readily dismissed as question-begging. The substances …

Aspects Of Victorian Psychologism, John F. Metcalfe

Digitized Theses

In this essay I present revisionary readings of four Victorian philosophers. I argue that each of them is fundamentally committed to a naturalistic philosophical project called psychologism. The psychologistic readings that this critical stance generates offer resources that may be exploited by contemporary philosophers pursuing their own naturalistic projects.;In the first chapter I sketch the structure and main points of the essay. In the second chapter I suggest that Mansel's Kantian psychologism manages to evade the criticisms of Husserl. This serves to highlight the distance between psychologism and contemporary logic. In the third chapter I argue that Whewell embraces a …

Why Is Observation Important To Science?, Robert G. Hudson

Digitized Theses

I believe observation is valued by scientists because it is an objective source of information. Objective here can mean (at least) two things. First, observation could be objective in that it is an assured source of truths about the world, truths whose meaning is the same for everyone regardless of their personal theoretical vantage points. I criticize this construal of observational objectivity in chapter one. The guilty doctrine, which I entitle 'empiricistic epistemological foundationalism', is shown to be untenable on, in part, historical grounds. The historical episode I deploy for this task is the early stages of quantum theory, an …

Science And The Systematicity Of Nature: A Critique Of Nancy Cartwright's Doctrine Of Nature And Natural Science, Philip Ellery Catton

Digitized Theses

Whether nature is or is not systematic sounds at first like an idle metaphysical question, but considered in relation to (i) the aims of science and (ii) the methods of appraisal of scientific theories, it can be given clear (and quite plainly empirical) content. It is also necessary to ask the question in order to study (iii) the relation of causation, laws of nature, and theoretical structure.;(i) Aims. The doctrines (1) that science aims to provide explanations, (2) that science achieves success in this aim, (3) that explanation involves unification, and (4) that the principles on which explanations, properly so-called, …

Community, Consensus And Progress: Problems In Pragmatism From Peirce And Dewey To Putnam And Rorty, Paul Dickinson Forster

Digitized Theses

This thesis deals with an antinomy in debates among contemporary Pragmatists. Lodging the authority of rationality in the context of evolving traditions raises problems of relativism. Yet attempts to preserve the transcendence of reason raise epistemological problems Pragmatism was designed to circumvent. This thesis adjudicates disputes among contemporary Pragmatists, through a discussion of the historical origins of the issues that divide them.;Chapter I summarizes the structure of the argument. Chapter II describes the cultural context in which Pragmatism emerged. It is argued that even for Peirce, despite his emphasis on formal logic, Pragmatism cannot be understood apart from issues in …

Kant And The Conservation Of Matter, Joel Morris

Digitized Theses

This dissertation is an examination of Kant's rather notorious claim that natural science, or physics, has a priori principles, understood as the claim that physics is constrained by rules warranted by the essential nature of thought. The overall direction of this study is towards examining Kant's claim by close study of a particular principle of physics, the principle of the conservation of matter. If indeed this is a principle of physics, and Kant can successfully show that it is a priori, then it will be reasonable to conclude, in company with Kant, that physics has a priori principles.;Although Kant's proof …

Scaffoldings For Policy Theories: Context Sensitive Rationality, David Naor

Digitized Theses

Which rationality concept is adequate for policy theories? A Received View Rationality (RVR) concept is found in decision and policy theories. RVR is instrumental, formal and analytic (decomposing). The thesis that ideal RVR is adequate for policy theories can be defended either because RVR is context free rationality (CFR) and hence universally applicable, or because it is especially adequate for policy theories. The first defense is rejected as a corollary of an Arrovian Meta-Theoretic Impossibility Theorem (AMTIT). AMTIT claims that a context-free choice theory adequate for finite multi-dimensional choice structures is impossible. If at all, rationality can be theorized by …

On The Social Control Of Science, Glenn Gerard Griener

Digitized Theses

Increases in science's ability to affect individuals' lives bring about calls for more direct social control over scientific research. Defenders of the scientific tradition usually counter these calls by suggesting (a) that any external control would mean the end of scientific enterprise, and (b) that such control would prove impractical. This dissertation investigates whether these suggestions can be developed into conclusive arguments.;One would expect that if sound arguments against social control are to be found, they will be found in the varied methodologies of science which litter the philosophical field. A scrutiny of several prominent methodologists' writings shows that this …

The Promise And Pursuit Of Scientific Theories, Laurie Anne Whitt

Digitized Theses

Recent research in philosophy of science suggests that the relationship which scientists have towards the artifacts of science, i.e. their theories, is considerably richer than many traditional accounts of scientific appraisal would lead us to believe. Problem-solving methodologists, in particular, advocating a pragmatic account of scientific theories, argue that traditional methodologies have tended to focus exclusively on one modality of appraisal--that of theory acceptance, and have advanced normative proposals which provide only for assessments of the empirical well-foundedness of scientific theories. As a result, it is held, these traditional accounts are unable to accommodate certain historical cases in which conceptual …

Unification And Confirmability: The Search For An Understanding Of The Goals Of Science, Si-Wai Man

Digitized Theses

The major concern of this thesis is to provide a plausible argument for the existence of another goal of science--so that van Fraassen's claim that empirical adequacy is the sole aim of science can be countered.;I propose that we should look carefully into why theories are constructed in order to find some clue to the problem of how another goal of science can be established. More specifically, we should examine closely what unification in theories is, in order to see the limitation of treating science as an activity aiming only at empirical adequacy. It is suggested in this thesis that …

Epistemic Complementarity And Scientific Rationality, Arunasalam Balasubramaniam

Digitized Theses

Classical empiricism raised epistemological issues within a framework of dichotomies that were rarely questioned. It was assumed that statements were either normative or descriptive (and analytic or synthetic); terms were either observational or theoretical; meaning is either given atomically or holistically; truth was either radically independent of language (correspondence) or radically dependent upon it (coherence); and the entities postulated by scientific theories are constructed (instrumentalism) or are theory-independent (metaphysical realism). Modern philosophers have questioned the tenability of these distinctions and attempts have been made to relinquish many of them.;I argue that, instead of discarding them, we have to recognize these …

The Emergence Of B F Skinner's Theory Of Operant Behavior: A Case Study In The History And Philosophy Of Science, Kristjan Gudmundsson

Digitized Theses

This thesis is a case study in the history and philosophy of science concerned with the emergence of Skinner's theory of operant behavior. During his graduate work in experimental psychology at Harvard University during 1928-31 Skinner became committed to the reflex tradition by way of an analogical extension of the experimental problem/solutions of Sherrington and Pavlov, in the sense of Kuhn's original concept of the exemplar. The reflex tradition however, is not the monotheoretic entity Kuhn makes the paradigm out to be, but is rather a global theory in the sense of Laudan's research tradition, understood as a succession of …

The Evolution Of Science: A Systems Approach, Kai Hahlweg

Digitized Theses

This thesis is concerned with two interrelated sets of problems: (1) How can we have knowledge in a universe of processes? (2) How can knowledge be improved, and how is scientific progress possible?;To address the epistemological question in conjunction with the ontological is not a common approach in contemporary philosophy of science. I therefore begin the dissertation by arguing that these two areas of philosophy are intimately interrelated, and that the one-sided concentration on epistemological issues has led to an unsatisfactory account of the nature of knowledge. In particular it has led to a conflation of epistemology with methodology. I …

Aspects Of Intentional Explanation, Neil A. Farnsworth

Digitized Theses

A complete cognitive science will include generalizations explanatory of human behavior which refer to certain internal states of human agents. We investigate various issues in the foundations of cognitive science arising from this observation. In particular, it is argued that the taxonomic descriptions of behavior which occur in generalizations over behavioral types are intentional, i.e. such descriptions of behavior must respect the semantic contents of the mental states which produce behavior. This principle provides the basis for an argument for the ineliminability of a semantic component from a completed psychological theory. The concept of intentional explanation is examined and it …

Actions: Their Identification And Explanation An Essay In The Philosophy Of Action And The Epistemology Of The Social Sciences, Robert Joseph Lithown

Digitized Theses

No abstract provided.

Explanation In Science, Brian William Cupples

Digitized Theses

No abstract provided.