The epistemological problem of the external world asks: (1) “How is knowledge of the world possible given certain obstacles which make it look impossible?” This is a “how-possible?” question: it asks how something is possible given certain obstacles which make it look impossible (cf. Cassam 2007; Nozick 1981; Stroud 1984). Now consider the following question, which asks: (2) “How is a philosophically satisfying answer to (1) possible?” Scepticism is the thesis that knowledge of the world is impossible. It therefore represents a negative answer to the first question. Meta-epistemological scepticism is the thesis that a satisfying philosophical explanation of how our knowledge of the world is possible is itself not possible. It therefore represents a negative answer to the second question. In this thesis, I explore the prospects of meta-epistemological scepticism. In particular, I structure the thesis around two master arguments from Stroud (1984, 2000, 2004, and 2009) for meta-epistemological scepticism. The first argument is what I call “Stroud’s puzzle”, and the second argument is “Stroud’s dilemma” (cf. Cassam 2009). I argue that Stroud’s puzzle fails to provide adequate support for meta-epistemological scepticism. However, I also argue that Stroud’s dilemma withstands serious objections (e.g., from Sosa 1994, Williams 1996, and Cassam 2009). In short, while Stroud’s puzzle fails to provide adequate support for meta-epistemological scepticism, Stroud’s dilemma does seem to provide adequate support for meta-epistemological scepticism. This thesis therefore represents a partial defence of meta-epistemological scepticism. Meta-epistemological scepticism is therefore a live option in epistemology. In Chapter 1, I explain what meta-epistemological is, present Stroud’s puzzle and Stroud’s dilemma for meta-epistemological scepticism, and argue that meta-epistemological sceptics are not committed to first-order scepticism. In Chapter 2, I examine what I call the “anti-revisionist” premise of Stroud’s puzzle and argue that it lacks adequate support. In Chapter 3, I examine the “conditional scepticism” premise of Stroud’s puzzle and argue that it lacks adequate support. In Chapter 4, I look at Williams’s (1996) master argument against Stroud’s dilemma, and argue that it fails. In Chapter 5, I look at externalist responses to Stroud’s dilemma, and in particular, Sosa (1994). I argue that Sosa’s objection fails, and therefore Stroud’s dilemma survives serious externalist objections. In Chapter 6, I explain Cassam’s (2009) argument against Stroud’s dilemma, and I argue that it fails. Chapter 7 concludes the thesis, summarising the main results.

This dissertation explores teacher identities as they emerge, recede and collide with one another in the classrooms of four participating English teachers at the Cooperative School, a pseudonymous, single school site that is home to the researcher as well as to the study participants. Focusing first on how these teachers see themselves and how they articulate their roles, the study then turns to an analysis based on Judith Butler's theories of identity formation. The role of normative power in identity formation is exemplified by what the paper calls "The Regime of Teacher Norms," i.e., Teacher as Expert, Teacher as Guide, Teacher as Professional and Teacher as Boss.

Lim Wai-Man Jenifer. / Thesis submitted in: December 2002. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-105). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgements --- p.iii / INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1. --- The Problem of Personal Identity --- p.1 / Chapter 2. --- Personal Identity: A Review --- p.3 / Chapter 3. --- Different Versions of the Theory of Personal Identity --- p.6 / Chapter 3.1 --- Different Versions of the Physical Theory --- p.6 / Chapter 3.2 --- Different Versions of the Memory theory --- p.8 / Chapter 4. --- Cases of Exchanging Bodies --- p.14 / Chapter 5. --- Conclusion --- p.17 / Chapter CHAPTER ONE --- THE REDUPLICATION ARGUMENT --- p.19 / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.19 / Chapter 2. --- Shoemaker's Brownson Case --- p.21 / Chapter 3. --- The Reduplication Argument --- p.22 / Chapter 4. --- "Memory Claims, Bodily Presence and Reincarnation" --- p.27 / Chapter 5. --- Objections to the Reduplication Argument --- p.31 / Chapter 5.1 --- The Two Cases are Different --- p.31 / Chapter 5.2 --- A Counter-Example by Robert Coburn --- p.33 / Chapter 5.3 --- A Too High Standard Set by the Reduplication Argument --- p.36 / Chapter 6. --- Conclusion --- p.38 / Chapter CHAPTER TWO --- THE NONDUPLICATION ARGUMENT --- p.40 / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.40 / Chapter 2. --- Story 1: The Memory Theorist's Understanding of 'Exchanging Bodies' --- p.41 / Chapter 3. --- Story 2: Williams' Analysis of the Experiment --- p.44 / Chapter 4. --- Conventionalist Decision and the Best Candidate Theory --- p.49 / Chapter 5. --- Conceptual Undecidability --- p.51 / Chapter 6. --- The Relationships between Criteria and Perspectives --- p.52 / Chapter 7. --- Conclusion: 'Exchanging Bodies' as an Artificial Neatness --- p.55 / Chapter CHAPTER THREE --- PARFIT'S THEORY --- p.56 / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.56 / Chapter 2. --- The Nature of Personal Identity --- p.57 / Chapter 2.1 --- The Basic Teletransportation Case --- p.60 / Chapter 2.2 --- The Branch-Line Teletransportation Case --- p.62 / Chapter 2.3 --- Physical Spectrum and Combined Spectrum --- p.65 / Chapter 2.4 --- Personal Identity: A Conceptual or Linguistic Issue --- p.68 / Chapter 3. --- The (Un)-Importance of Personal Identity --- p.71 / Chapter 3.1 --- Cases of Brain Operation --- p.71 / Chapter 3.2 --- Cases of Duplication --- p.73 / Chapter 3.3 --- Survival and its Moral Significance --- p.76 / Chapter 4. --- Conclusion --- p.78 / Chapter CHAPTER FOUR --- CONCLUSION: THE IMPORTANCE OF ONE'S IDENTITY --- p.79 / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.79 / Chapter 2. --- The Dependence on External Facts Versus the Principle of Intrinsicness --- p.81 / Chapter 2.1 --- The Non-Branching Memory Theory --- p.81 / Chapter 2.2 --- The Best Candidate Theory --- p.86 / Chapter 3. --- The Importance (or Unimportance) of Personal Identity --- p.92 / Chapter 3.1 --- Unimportance: ´بPersonal Identity' as a Linguistic Issue? --- p.92 / Chapter 3.2 --- Importance: Subjective Linkage of the First Person --- p.94 / Chapter 4. --- Conclusion --- p.98 / References --- p.102

Li Chit-Ning. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-104). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.i / Abstract --- p.ii / 摘要 --- p.iv / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Self in Childhood and Nature --- p.14 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Identification and Self-identity --- p.36 / Chapter Chapter Four --- A Voice and the Nature --- p.60 / Chapter Chapter Five --- Frameworks Dissolving into Uncertainty --- p.79 / Conclusion --- p.99 / Works Cited --- p.101 / Bibliography --- p.103

In the wake of Lynne White's 1967 thesis contending Christianity is the historical root of our environmental crises, theologians have struggled to articulate an environmentally friendly theology. These efforts, while substantive, have proven insufficient to reorient Christian environmental ethics and practice en mass. Pope Francis argues in Laudato Si, that dogma, doctrine, and arguments are always insufficient for redeeming human relations and instead calls for an ecological conversion via a wild spirituality. I answer this call by offering a phenomenological theology of wilderness spirituality that grounds environmental ethics in the experience of encountering God in the wilderness. I use the existential phenomenology of American philosopher Henry Bugbee and Czech phenomenologist Erazim Kohák to map phenomenological practice as spiritual discipline. By engaging in lived, practical, and embodied practices bracketing one's intellectual and physical common-sense attitudes, the practitioner is opened to and made receptive to the redeeming work of God. This topology of phenomenology as spiritual discipline illustrates how wilderness functions in scripture. In conversation with Dietrich Bonhoeffer's reading of the Genesis 3 curse as both curse and promise I argue that wilderness functions by killing sicut-deus-humanity and thereby becomes the site of redemption, healing, and benediction. This spiritual and ethical function of wilderness is also evident in the early desert monks and grounds their praxis and ethical development. Ultimately, it is by being made vulnerable and receptive in the wilderness that the early desert monks were able to participate in the reestablishment of the paradisaical innocence. This suggests that redeemed relations between humanity and the non-human world is dependent upon the sanctifying experience of wilderness deconstruction and encounter and thus the efficacy of environmental ethics depends upon the invitation to practice a wilderness spirituality.

黃浩麒. / "2003年8月". / 論文(哲學碩士)--香港中文大學, 2003. / 參考文獻 (leaves 97-98). / 附中英文摘要. / "2003 nian 8 yue". / Huang Haoqi. / Lun wen (zhe xue shuo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2003. / Can kao wen xian (leaves 97-98). / Fu Zhong Ying wen zhai yao. / 摘要 --- p.4 / Abstract --- p.5 / 康德原著縮寫 --- p.7 / 康德原著引文的翻譯 --- p.8 / 引言 --- p.10 / Chapter 第一章 --- ´ؤ´ؤ簡述反省性判斷力 --- p.18 / Chapter 第二章 --- ´ؤ´ؤ在可能性與現實性之間 --- p.30 / 可能性與現實性 --- p.31 / 曲行的悟性與直觀的悟性 --- p.36 / 實然及應然 --- p.42 / 實在性及其在實踐上的指示 --- p.47 / 人文世界之建立 --- p.56 / Chapter 第三章 --- 吾人的界域 --- p.59 / 康德的界域理論 --- p.59 / 理性的建築術 --- p.62 / 「經驗最大可能的延續及擴展性的原則」 --- p.66 / 「域」、「境」、「界」及實在性之人文意涵 --- p.71 / 「神」所統治下的世界作爲最闊的界域 --- p.74 / Chapter 第四章 --- ´ؤ´ؤ結論：反省性判斷力與人的定位 --- p.83 / 人文世界之闡釋 --- p.84 / 人作爲自然與自由的連結者之意涵 --- p.89 / 參考書目 --- p.97

Recent scholarship has increasingly recognized the unity of Herman Bavinck's (1854-1921) thought, shedding the once-predominant reading that Bavinck was a conflicted thinker caught between modernity and orthodoxy. There were 'two Bavincks', the secondary literature claimed. The catalyst of unity for Bavinck's thinking is located in his deployment of organic language to characterize particular theological loci. The organic motif stems from Bavinck's Trinitarian doctrine of God, according to which God exists as the archetypal and self-existent Three-in-One. Creation, then, is an ectypal reflection of the triune Godhead, and as such can be described as an organism comprising of many unities-in-diversities. This new reading, propelled by James Eglinton, argued that for Bavinck the Trinity ad intra leads to an organic cosmology ad extra. Though this reading has showcased the unity of Bavinck's thought in general, current scholarship on Bavinck's theological epistemology remains fractured along the lines of the 'two Bavinck' thesis, with two sides that emphasize, respectively, the modern strand of Bavinck's thinking or his classical, orthodox, side. This thesis reinvestigates the primary texts in which Bavinck discusses epistemology and argues that the organic motif is also the lens through which his epistemology is to be read. In doing so, this thesis argues that the organic motif allowed Bavinck to utilize both classical (Thomistic) and post-Kantian sources in a way that produces coherence rather than inconsistency. Thus, it is unnecessary to pit Bavinck's use of classical sources against his use of modern sources: particular deployment is not systematic endorsement. The thesis, then, is that a Trinitarian doctrine of God ad intra produces not merely an organic cosmology ad extra, but also an organic epistemology. It then proceeds to demonstrate this in two ways. First, the thesis observes that Bavinck characterizes the sciences (wetenschappen) as a single organism made up of a unity-in-diversity. The specialization and divisions of the sciences mean that each field has its own sphere of existence with unique grounds and methodologies, but there is an underlying theological unity between them that relativizes that diversity precisely because all of the sciences are theological. Second, for Bavinck subjective knowledge can organically correspond with objects because both participate in a larger, organic universe. Mental representations connect with the world because all of creation is primordially interconnected by way of God's organic design. In each of these steps Bavinck's eclectic use of sources and overall creativity and unity are displayed. This thesis also relates his discussion both to his interlocutors and contemporary philosophical and analytic epistemology. Hence, this thesis not only demonstrates the overall coherence of Bavinck's thought, thereby further eradicating ill-conceived notions of there being 'two-Bavincks', but also showcases potentially generative insights concerning the place of theology within the university and the resources theology might provide for philosophical epistemology.

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The primary purpose of this study was to explore how selected elementary school principals described and defined their world in terms of leadership and management. There were three sub-areas of investigation under this primary purpose: (a) exploring the principals' conceptions about the constructs of leadership and management, (b) exploring the principals' beliefs about the role of their personal philosophies, goals, or values in relation to their practice, and (c) using content analysis to explore the language that principals use to describe themselves, their work and their schools. The theoretical perspective adopted for this study was that organizations are constructed human social entities. The focus of this study was to describe the role of the elementary school principal from the perspective and voice of the participants. The data collection was accomplished using semi-structured interviews of eight selected elementary school principals. Results were presented as narrative description, the principals' stories (hermeneutic representation) and analysis (dialectic) where the transcriptions of the interviews were content analyzed for common themes or patterns. Similarities and differences were explored and conceptions and themes generated from this analysis were compared with the existing literature on leadership, management and the elementary school principalship. The descriptions and analysis provided by this study could be used to inform practice, especially for those involved with the training and education of administrators.