A satrean account of the role of social narratives in the identity-formation and self-conception of the queer and intersex subject
- Authors: Phillips, Bianca Jewel
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/41554 , vital:25101
- Description: Successful, fully-fledged identity-formation and positive self-conception are contingent on the availability and sufficiency of social narratives. Following a Sartrean account of the human subject, identity will be shown to depend on externally-derived features (termed facticity). Facticity contains both material and social components. This thesis will show the two to be inextricably interlinked, and in so doing endorse Judith Butler's view that the material comes to us already seeped in social meaning. The interactive relationship between the discursive and the material will be illustrated by examining the phenomenon of intersexuality, in which the prevailing narrative of a dichotomized two-sex system has, through surgical, hormonal, and psychological procedures, become written into the flesh of non-binary individuals. The absence of affirming, diverse, and pluralistic narratives surrounding intersexuality, coupled with the imposition of the two-sex script, has (negatively) affected the material experiences, and subsequent identity-formation, of intersex individuals. Given the reliance of identity on socially-constituted facticities, the pursuit of flourishing, dignity, and an authentic and cohesive sense of self requires inclusive and diverse social scripts. Drawing on Mirander Fricker, I will elucidate how lacunae in the hermeneutical resource have resulted in confusion, unhappiness, and a lack of proper self-conception for individuals belonging to subjugated groups. Conversely, the availability of positive, diverse, and inclusive narratives will be shown to allow for more self-aware, self-determined subjects. I will ground my advocacy of inclusive, diverse social narratives in an examination of the beneficial genesis and development of the identity politics present in LGBTQIA++ movements (such as "Out and Proud", recognition of queer identity, and the development of non-binary gender). Assuming that self-understanding, authenticity, and flourishing are ethical goods that are valued, inclusive and affirming narratives for subjugated groups will be shown to be a normative necessity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Phillips, Bianca Jewel
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/41554 , vital:25101
- Description: Successful, fully-fledged identity-formation and positive self-conception are contingent on the availability and sufficiency of social narratives. Following a Sartrean account of the human subject, identity will be shown to depend on externally-derived features (termed facticity). Facticity contains both material and social components. This thesis will show the two to be inextricably interlinked, and in so doing endorse Judith Butler's view that the material comes to us already seeped in social meaning. The interactive relationship between the discursive and the material will be illustrated by examining the phenomenon of intersexuality, in which the prevailing narrative of a dichotomized two-sex system has, through surgical, hormonal, and psychological procedures, become written into the flesh of non-binary individuals. The absence of affirming, diverse, and pluralistic narratives surrounding intersexuality, coupled with the imposition of the two-sex script, has (negatively) affected the material experiences, and subsequent identity-formation, of intersex individuals. Given the reliance of identity on socially-constituted facticities, the pursuit of flourishing, dignity, and an authentic and cohesive sense of self requires inclusive and diverse social scripts. Drawing on Mirander Fricker, I will elucidate how lacunae in the hermeneutical resource have resulted in confusion, unhappiness, and a lack of proper self-conception for individuals belonging to subjugated groups. Conversely, the availability of positive, diverse, and inclusive narratives will be shown to allow for more self-aware, self-determined subjects. I will ground my advocacy of inclusive, diverse social narratives in an examination of the beneficial genesis and development of the identity politics present in LGBTQIA++ movements (such as "Out and Proud", recognition of queer identity, and the development of non-binary gender). Assuming that self-understanding, authenticity, and flourishing are ethical goods that are valued, inclusive and affirming narratives for subjugated groups will be shown to be a normative necessity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Generating shared interpretive resources in the mathematics classroom: using philosophy of mathematics to teach mathematics better
- Authors: De Lange, Laura
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching , Mathematics -- Philosophy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4293 , vital:20645
- Description: Every student has a unique mathematical lived experience: a unique amalgamation of ideas about mathematics, exposure to mathematical concepts and feelings about mathematics. A student's unique set of circumstances means that not every explanatory account of mathematics will cohere with her previous experiences. For an explanation to have explanatory potential, it must provide an account which coheres with the other beliefs a student has about mathematics. If an explanation has no such coherence, it will not be recognisable as an explanation of the phenomenon of mathematics for the student. Our explanatory accounts of mathematics and mathematical knowledge are our philosophies of mathematics. Different philosophies of mathematics will better explain different sets of mathematical lived experiences. In this thesis I will argue that students should be exposed to a multiplicity of philosophies of mathematics so that they can endorse the philosophy of mathematics which has the most explanatory potential for their particular set of mathematical lived experiences. I argue that this will improve student understanding of mathematics. The claims inherent in any given philosophy of mathematics, when combined with other stereotypes or prejudices, can work to unjustly exclude members of subordinated groups, such as poor, black or female students, from mathematical participation. If we want to avoid reinforcing and reinscribing prejudicial claims about people in the mathematics classroom, we need to be aware of how a certain philosophy of mathematics can exclude certain students. In this thesis I will be defending the idea that, as mathematics educators, we should diversify the way we see mathematics so that we decrease this exclusion from mathematics. In order to diversify the way in which we see mathematics so as to decrease unjust exclusion, members of subordinated groups should be encouraged to share their mathematical experiences in a space sensitive to the power dynamics present in the mathematics classroom. These accounts can then be combined with existing philosophies of mathematics to create new ways of making sense of mathematics which do not unjustly exclude members of subordinated groups.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: De Lange, Laura
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching , Mathematics -- Philosophy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4293 , vital:20645
- Description: Every student has a unique mathematical lived experience: a unique amalgamation of ideas about mathematics, exposure to mathematical concepts and feelings about mathematics. A student's unique set of circumstances means that not every explanatory account of mathematics will cohere with her previous experiences. For an explanation to have explanatory potential, it must provide an account which coheres with the other beliefs a student has about mathematics. If an explanation has no such coherence, it will not be recognisable as an explanation of the phenomenon of mathematics for the student. Our explanatory accounts of mathematics and mathematical knowledge are our philosophies of mathematics. Different philosophies of mathematics will better explain different sets of mathematical lived experiences. In this thesis I will argue that students should be exposed to a multiplicity of philosophies of mathematics so that they can endorse the philosophy of mathematics which has the most explanatory potential for their particular set of mathematical lived experiences. I argue that this will improve student understanding of mathematics. The claims inherent in any given philosophy of mathematics, when combined with other stereotypes or prejudices, can work to unjustly exclude members of subordinated groups, such as poor, black or female students, from mathematical participation. If we want to avoid reinforcing and reinscribing prejudicial claims about people in the mathematics classroom, we need to be aware of how a certain philosophy of mathematics can exclude certain students. In this thesis I will be defending the idea that, as mathematics educators, we should diversify the way we see mathematics so that we decrease this exclusion from mathematics. In order to diversify the way in which we see mathematics so as to decrease unjust exclusion, members of subordinated groups should be encouraged to share their mathematical experiences in a space sensitive to the power dynamics present in the mathematics classroom. These accounts can then be combined with existing philosophies of mathematics to create new ways of making sense of mathematics which do not unjustly exclude members of subordinated groups.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Skewed interactions with evidence: a discussion of fixed sexually prejudiced beliefs
- Authors: Kirkaldy, Hannah Tshirukhwe
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Homophobia , Discrimination , Prejudices , Belief and doubt
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7279 , vital:21238
- Description: In this thesis, I will argue that a challenge to the combatting of sexual prejudice (more commonly known as homophobia) through argument and evidence is that those on both sides of the issue are prone to a phenomenon known in psychology as confirmation bias. While the motivating concern of the thesis is sexual prejudice, and while I do discuss sexual prejudice throughout the thesis, I will focus mostly on confirmation bias, with the understanding that the picture I set out will have implications for combatting sexual prejudice at a later stage. The term confirmation bias refers either to the tendency to look for evidence which confirms one's already-held beliefs, or to engage differently with evidence based on whether or not you agree with its conclusion. After dissecting two paradigmatic experiments which explore these two kinds of confirmation bias, and arguing that they can be further broken down into sub-phenomena, I will focus on the latter kind, as I think it is the more relevant to sexual prejudice. Its essential effect on beliefs is to hold them steady in the face of evidence. In an attempt to explore the motivations we might have for engaging in this form of confirmation bias, I will argue that we can understand the tendency through a combination of a picture of beliefs as forming an interconnected web, and an understanding of the effect of affective elements on belief. Furthermore, given this motivational story, it is sometimes reasonable to hold beliefs steady. I will argue that finding the balance between giving up beliefs too easily in the face of contrary evidence, and holding onto them too rigidly, is an epistemic virtue. Finally, defending my picture from the objection that the mental states I discuss do not count as beliefs, I will argue that confirmation bias is a way of maintaining fixed beliefs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Kirkaldy, Hannah Tshirukhwe
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Homophobia , Discrimination , Prejudices , Belief and doubt
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7279 , vital:21238
- Description: In this thesis, I will argue that a challenge to the combatting of sexual prejudice (more commonly known as homophobia) through argument and evidence is that those on both sides of the issue are prone to a phenomenon known in psychology as confirmation bias. While the motivating concern of the thesis is sexual prejudice, and while I do discuss sexual prejudice throughout the thesis, I will focus mostly on confirmation bias, with the understanding that the picture I set out will have implications for combatting sexual prejudice at a later stage. The term confirmation bias refers either to the tendency to look for evidence which confirms one's already-held beliefs, or to engage differently with evidence based on whether or not you agree with its conclusion. After dissecting two paradigmatic experiments which explore these two kinds of confirmation bias, and arguing that they can be further broken down into sub-phenomena, I will focus on the latter kind, as I think it is the more relevant to sexual prejudice. Its essential effect on beliefs is to hold them steady in the face of evidence. In an attempt to explore the motivations we might have for engaging in this form of confirmation bias, I will argue that we can understand the tendency through a combination of a picture of beliefs as forming an interconnected web, and an understanding of the effect of affective elements on belief. Furthermore, given this motivational story, it is sometimes reasonable to hold beliefs steady. I will argue that finding the balance between giving up beliefs too easily in the face of contrary evidence, and holding onto them too rigidly, is an epistemic virtue. Finally, defending my picture from the objection that the mental states I discuss do not count as beliefs, I will argue that confirmation bias is a way of maintaining fixed beliefs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Understanding as an epistemic virtue : a value-driven non-factive account
- Authors: Rybko, Caitlin
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:21195 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6874
- Description: Understanding has been somewhat undervalued and underexplored in the current literature and often its value is tied into that of either truth or knowledge. This thesis aims to provide an account of understanding that defends its value as an epistemic good that is not contingent on either knowledge or truth. I will aim to construct an account that is value driven rather than nature driven as it seems that this is where the problem lies. In order to do this I will assess two current accounts of understanding and show that they cannot adequately explain the value that we give to understanding, nor do they explain how we understand.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Rybko, Caitlin
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:21195 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6874
- Description: Understanding has been somewhat undervalued and underexplored in the current literature and often its value is tied into that of either truth or knowledge. This thesis aims to provide an account of understanding that defends its value as an epistemic good that is not contingent on either knowledge or truth. I will aim to construct an account that is value driven rather than nature driven as it seems that this is where the problem lies. In order to do this I will assess two current accounts of understanding and show that they cannot adequately explain the value that we give to understanding, nor do they explain how we understand.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
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