In this thesis, I investigate different Contextualist strategies for responding to the sceptical Argument from Ignorance (AI). Such responses are notable for not challenging the Principle of Epistemic Closure (widely held to be primarily responsible for the argument's conclusion). I am concerned to explore Contextualism's ability to respond to AI in a way which does not result in an uncomfortable concession to scepticism. In Part 1, I discuss Semantic Contextualism; in Part 2, I investigate how AI fares with regards to transmission of warrant when AI utilises either invariantist or Contextualist presuppositions; and in Part 3, I discuss whether Epistemic Contextualism succeeds where Semantic Contextualism fails, arguing that it does. I conclude with an endorsement of Epistemic Contextualism. Part 1: I demonstrate that Semantic Contextualism, of which I will consider three different varieties (externalist, internalist, presuppositionalist), is overly concessive to scepticism because it results in the following four difficulties: (1) knowledge attributions of the form 'I know/S knows that ~B' (where B stands for the sceptical brain-in-a-vat hypothesis) are invariably false; (2) the sceptical context is extremely easy to install; (3) scepticism is said to result from entirely ordinary epistemic practices and; (4) the sceptical context is taken to be an entirely legitimate context of ascription. I conclude Part 1 with the claim that Semantic Contextualism is overly concessive to scepticism. Part 2: Previously, Moore's Proof of an External World has been diagnosed with failing to transmit the warrant on offer for its premises to its conclusion. I argue that it is possible likewise to charge AI with transmission failure but that this cannot be done when some of the conceptual resources of Contextualism are brought to bear on AI. I show that AI can be charged with transmission failure when it is interpreted in support of invariantist (context-unrestricted) scepticism and that only when it is viewed as an argument for a context-restricted form of scepticism does it succeed in transmitting warrant. In this way, the sceptical consequences of AI are considerably reduced. Part 3: The conceptual resources newly deployed in Part 2, which show that a context-restricted, as opposed to invariantist, interpretation of AI can succeed in transmitting warrant, are borrowed from Michael Williams' Epistemic form of Contextualism. But is this form of Contextualism as concessive to scepticism as I showed Semantic Contextualism to be? I argue that it does not represent an overly concessive position vis-a-vis scepticism and therefore represents a superior Contextualist position and response to scepticism. To establish this conclusion, I interrogate the strategy and main elements of Williams' theoretical diagnosis of scepticism and his resultant version of Contextualism so as to determine the extent to which scepticism can be allayed by it. Particular attention is paid to specifying issues that Williams does not discuss, most prominently how the sceptical context has to be understood in order for it to resist his theoretical diagnosis of scepticism and what makes toleration of such resistance by context-bound scepticism reasonable. I conclude my thesis with an endorsement of Williams' Epistemic Contextualism.

Play is one of the effective ways of assisting children to deal with their emotional problems in therapy. There are many methods and techniques that are scientifically proven that are used in play therapy. There are some indigenous types of play that have not yet been scientifically proven to be therapeutically effective. Mmaskitlane is one of these indigenous plays. The motivation of this study was firstly, to make a literature study against which Mmaskitlane was compared to commonly used play techniques. Then an empirical study was done to explore the therapeutic effects of the play. It was used in combination with the Children Apperception Test (CAT), Draw a Person (DAP) and the Rational Emotive Therapy (RET), during play therapy with learners experiencing emotional problems. The findings from this study indicate that the use of Mmaskitlane may be a valuable therapeutic tool in supporting learners with emotional problems. / Psychology / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

A presente dissertação visa avaliar o tratamento que Ludwig Wittgenstein oferece ao tradicional problema cético da existência do mundo exterior. É sobretudo em Sobre a Certeza que encontramos reflexões relevantes sobre o tema, como discussões sobre o sentido da dúvida cética e de alegações de conhecimento. Wittgenstein basicamente rejeita o problema. Contra o ceticismo, Wittgenstein defende que nossas certezas básicas estão fora do âmbito da dúvida e funcionam como condição de possibilidade de qualquer jogo de linguagem (inclusive o da própria dúvida). Contra Moore e a tradição filosófica em geral, denuncia a ausência de sentido não só da própria apresentação de uma resposta ao falso problema do mundo exterior, como da vinculação de nossas certezas básicas a um vocabulário epistêmico. Meu objetivo é o de apontar problemas às críticas de Wittgenstein. Começarei apresentando uma versão forte do ceticismo sobre o mundo exterior, para então mostrar que suas críticas só funcionam contra um ceticismo fraco, que não está em questão. Quanto aos seus ataques contra Moore, defendo que eles só funcionam pagando o preço caro de inconsistência com suas concepções metafilosóficas. A conclusão a que pretendo chegar é a de que o problema do mundo exterior permanece vivo, apesar da tentativa de Wittgenstein de desqualificá-lo. / This thesis aims to evaluate Ludwig Wittgensteins treatment of the traditional skeptical problem of the existence of the external world. It is especially in On Certainty where we find relevant thoughts on the topic, such as discussions about the meaning of skeptical doubt and about knowledge claims. Wittgenstein essentially rejects the problem. Against skepticism, Wittgenstein maintains that our basic certainties are outside the scope of doubt and are also a condition for the possibility of any language game (including that of doubt). Against Moore and the philosophical tradition in general, he intends to show not only that it is meaningless to give a response to the false problem of the external world, but also to associate our basic certainties with an epistemic vocabulary. My goal is to point out problems in Wittgensteins criticisms. I first present a strong version of skepticism about the external world, and then show that his criticisms only work against a weaker version of skepticism. As for his attacks against Moore, I argue that they only work at the high cost of inconsistency with his own metaphilosophical views. The conclusion that I want to reach is that the problem of the external world remains alive, despite Wittgensteins attempts to reject it.

External world skeptics argue that we have no knowledge of the external world. Contextualist theories of knowledge attempt to address the skeptical problem by maintaining that arguments for skepticism are effective only in certain contexts in which the standards for knowledge are so high that we cannot reach them. In ordinary contexts, however, the standards for knowledge fall back down to reachable levels and we again are able to have knowledge of the external world. In order to address the objection that contextualists confuse the standards for knowledge with the standards for warranted assertion, Keith DeRose appeals to the knowledge account of warranted assertion to argue that if one is warranted in asserting p, one also knows p. A skeptic, however, can maintain a context-invariant view of the knowledge account of assertion, in which case such an account would not provide my help to contextualism.

I argue that despite the fact that there can be no strong refutation of skepticism it remains that ignoring skeptical hypotheses and relying on one’s sensory experience are both sound epistemic practices. This argument comes in the form of arguing that we are justified in ignoring skeptical hypotheses on the grounds that (1) they are merely logically possible, and (2) the merely logically possible is rarely relevant in the context of everyday life. I suggest that (2) is true on the grounds that the context of everyday life is one in which our epistemic pursuit of truth is mixed with other pragmatic goals. The result of this mix is that the pursuit of truth can conflict with our goal of avoiding error in such a way that we must choose to prioritize one goal over the other. The above choice implies that skepticism comes at an epistemic cost not acknowledge in the contemporary literature on external world skepticism. This epistemic cost of skepticism means that the relative risk of error involved in relying on sensory experience is not as epistemically problematic as has often been assumed. These considerations allow an anti-skeptical position in which relying on sensory experience is prima-facie justified despite the possibility of being a brain in a vat. In this paper I explore what such a position might look like and what the implications of such a view might be for relevant alternatives positions, the closure debate, and the concept of differing epistemic perspectives in contemporary epistemology.

Play is one of the effective ways of assisting children to deal with their emotional problems in therapy. There are many methods and techniques that are scientifically proven that are used in play therapy. There are some indigenous types of play that have not yet been scientifically proven to be therapeutically effective. Mmaskitlane is one of these indigenous plays. The motivation of this study was firstly, to make a literature study against which Mmaskitlane was compared to commonly used play techniques. Then an empirical study was done to explore the therapeutic effects of the play. It was used in combination with the Children Apperception Test (CAT), Draw a Person (DAP) and the Rational Emotive Therapy (RET), during play therapy with learners experiencing emotional problems. The findings from this study indicate that the use of Mmaskitlane may be a valuable therapeutic tool in supporting learners with emotional problems. / Psychology / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

A presente dissertação visa avaliar o tratamento que Ludwig Wittgenstein oferece ao tradicional problema cético da existência do mundo exterior. É sobretudo em Sobre a Certeza que encontramos reflexões relevantes sobre o tema, como discussões sobre o sentido da dúvida cética e de alegações de conhecimento. Wittgenstein basicamente rejeita o problema. Contra o ceticismo, Wittgenstein defende que nossas certezas básicas estão fora do âmbito da dúvida e funcionam como condição de possibilidade de qualquer jogo de linguagem (inclusive o da própria dúvida). Contra Moore e a tradição filosófica em geral, denuncia a ausência de sentido não só da própria apresentação de uma resposta ao falso problema do mundo exterior, como da vinculação de nossas certezas básicas a um vocabulário epistêmico. Meu objetivo é o de apontar problemas às críticas de Wittgenstein. Começarei apresentando uma versão forte do ceticismo sobre o mundo exterior, para então mostrar que suas críticas só funcionam contra um ceticismo fraco, que não está em questão. Quanto aos seus ataques contra Moore, defendo que eles só funcionam pagando o preço caro de inconsistência com suas concepções metafilosóficas. A conclusão a que pretendo chegar é a de que o problema do mundo exterior permanece vivo, apesar da tentativa de Wittgenstein de desqualificá-lo. / This thesis aims to evaluate Ludwig Wittgensteins treatment of the traditional skeptical problem of the existence of the external world. It is especially in On Certainty where we find relevant thoughts on the topic, such as discussions about the meaning of skeptical doubt and about knowledge claims. Wittgenstein essentially rejects the problem. Against skepticism, Wittgenstein maintains that our basic certainties are outside the scope of doubt and are also a condition for the possibility of any language game (including that of doubt). Against Moore and the philosophical tradition in general, he intends to show not only that it is meaningless to give a response to the false problem of the external world, but also to associate our basic certainties with an epistemic vocabulary. My goal is to point out problems in Wittgensteins criticisms. I first present a strong version of skepticism about the external world, and then show that his criticisms only work against a weaker version of skepticism. As for his attacks against Moore, I argue that they only work at the high cost of inconsistency with his own metaphilosophical views. The conclusion that I want to reach is that the problem of the external world remains alive, despite Wittgensteins attempts to reject it.

[ES] En esta tesis doctoral se aborda el concepto de la visión caleidoscópica con el fin de reflexionar en esta idea, asumiendo esta mirada en un sentido amplio, es decir, más allá de lo que se observa en un caleidoscopio. En concreto, el objeto de estudio determina la repercusión de esta polivisión caleidoscópica en el arte plástico y animación basada en la movilidad, reiteración simétrica, fragmentación y reintegración. De igual manera, asumiendo este principio se profundiza en la dinámica caleidoscópica, al subvertir los órdenes con la variación de algún elemento. De modo que se expone lo significativo de las disposiciones más singulares de los patrones, incorporando elementos de modificación o ruptura en la desintegración del lenguaje caleidoscópico con la finalidad de desestructurar o deconstruir la distribución de la red al alterar la simetría; o algún componente que visibilice estructuras menos lineales como alternativas a los patrones continuos, uniformes y cerrados, y en este caso se plantea un descentramiento y una abertura mayor. Se verificará en los procesos creativos un conjunto de obras en un contexto contemporáneo puede generar diversas lecturas y facetas que estimulen la creatividad. Por lo tanto, esta repercusión se analizará mediante obras plásticas y filmes de animación significativas, además, es relevante precisar que se analizará a través de métodos alternativos que pueden alterar la estructura convencional. Del mismo modo, se hará un recorrido y contextualización de esta visión en un orden conceptual y formal, junto a una exposición de juguetes ópticos vinculados a la imagen refleja entre los que se encuentra el caleidoscopio, con el fin de analizar la evolución del objeto y de la óptica del mismo, pasando por pequeños y grandes artefactos, analizando los elementos comunes que la conforman y también las diferencias, hasta ver en la actualidad la confluencia de esta óptica con los artefactos de gran formato. Este enfoque tiene el propósito de abrir la mirada y permitir una comprensión más amplia, interconectada y diversa, lo cual expresa aspectos de evolución. A la vez, se puede señalar, cómo finalmente esta óptica en la actualidad se lleva hacia la instalación o intervención artística con innovaciones a la par, es posible verificar cómo no es solo una visión en el arte, sino que esta idea de crecimiento se extiende, a la vida, al relacionarse con el entorno como un tejido de patrones en interacción. En este sentido, se sigue el concepto de "extimidad" (extimité), acuñado por Jacques Lacan en el siglo XX ya que, expresa la interrelación entre exterior e interior en un juego de inversión, donde lo íntimo pasa al exterior y viceversa. Esta noción en la tesis se extrapola al arte del caleidoscopio porque exterioriza algo que está en el interior y también en la visión caleidoscópica, donde se determina una sincronía entre el mundo externo e interno que transmite dicha visión. / [CA] En aquesta tesi doctoral s'aborda el concepte de la visió calidoscòpica amb la finalitat de reflexionar-hi, i s'assumeix aquesta mirada en un sentit ampli, és a dir, més enllà del que s'observa en un calidoscopi. En concret, l'objecte d'estudi determina la repercussió d'aquesta polivisió calidoscòpica en l'art plàstic i l'animació basada en la mobilitat, reiteració simètrica, fragmentació i reintegració. D'igual manera, assumint aquest principi s'aprofundeix en la dinàmica calidoscòpica, en subvertir els ordres amb la variació d'algun element; així s'exposa el significatiu de les disposicions més singulars dels patrons, incorporant elements de modificació o ruptura en la desintegració del llenguatge calidoscòpic amb la finalitat de desestructurar o desconstruir la distribució de la xarxa en alterar la simetria; o algun component que visibilitze estructures menys lineals com a alternatives als patrons continus, uniformes i tancats, i en aquest cas es planteja un descentrament i una obertura major. Es verificaran en els processos creatius un conjunt d'obres [que] en un context contemporani poden generar diverses lectures i facetes que estimulen la creativitat. Per tant, aquesta repercussió s'analitzarà mitjançant obres plàstiques i films d'animació significatives. A més, és rellevant precisar que s'analitzarà a través de mètodes alternatius que poden alterar l'estructura convencional. De la mateixa manera, es farà un recorregut i contextualització d'aquesta visió en un ordre conceptual i formal, al costat d'una exposició de joguets òptics vinculats a la imatge reflexa entre els quals hi ha el calidoscopi, amb la finalitat d'analitzar l'evolució de l'objecte i la seua l'òptica. Passarem per petits i grans artefactes i analitzarem els elements comuns que la conformen i també les diferències, fins a veure en l'actualitat la confluència d'aquesta òptica amb els artefactes de gran format. Aquest enfocament té el propòsit d'obrir la mirada i permetre una comprensió més àmplia, interconnectada i diversa, la qual cosa expressa aspectes d'evolució. Així mateix, es pot assenyalar com finalment aquesta òptica en l'actualitat porta cap a la instal·lació o intervenció artística amb innovacions i alhora, i és possible verificar com no és només una visió en l'art, sinó que la idea de creixement s'estén, a la vida, en relacionar-se amb l'entorn com un teixit de patrons en interacció. En aquest sentit, se segueix el concepte d'extimitat" (extimité), encunyat per Jacques Lacan en el segle XX ja que, expressa la interrelació entre exterior/interior i viceversa, en un joc d'inversió, on l'íntim passa a l'exterior i tots dos estan implicats. Aquesta noció en la tesi, s'extrapola a l'art del calidoscopi perquè exterioritza alguna cosa que està a l'interior i també en la visió calidoscòpica, on es determina una sincronia entre el món extern i intern que transmet la visió. / [EN] This doctoral thesis explores and reflects on the concept of the kaleidoscopic view, assuming this gaze in a broad sense; that is, beyond what is observed in a kaleidoscope. Specifically, the object of study determines the repercussions of this kaleidoscopic polyvision in plastic art and animation, with an image shaped by mobility, symmetrical reiteration, fragmentation and reintegration. Moreover, the kaleidoscopic dynamics are intensified by subverting the orders through the variation of certain elements. In this way, the significance of the most unique patterns is exposed, incorporating elements of modification or rupture in the disintegration of the kaleidoscopic language, with the aim of deconstructing the arrangement of the network by altering the symmetry. Similarly, the focus is shifted to less linear structures as alternatives to the continuous, uniform, closed patterns, through a decentring and greater opening. In the creative processes, a set of works in a contemporary context can generate multiple facets and diverse readings that stimulate creativity. Therefore, this repercussion will be analysed through significant works of plastic art and animation films, and applying alternative methods that can alter the conventional structure. Furthermore, there will be a conceptual and formal exploration and contextualisation of this vision, together with a discussion of optical toys linked to the reflex image, including the kaleidoscope. By so doing, the evolution of the object and its optics are analysed, passing through small and large artefacts, examining both the common elements and the differences, until we reach the confluence of these optics in the present-day large-format artefacts. This approach is intended to open the gaze and allow for a broader, interconnected and diverse understanding, incorporating aspects of evolution. At the same time, it is shown how this optic is nowadays is ultimately applied to installations or innovative artistic intervention. At the same time, it can be seen that it is not only a vision in art, but also the idea of growth extends out to life, relating to the environment as a series of woven, interacting patterns. In this sense, the concept of "extimacy" (extimité), a term coined by Jacques Lacan in the 20th century, is applied, as it expresses the interrelationship between exterior/interior in a game of inversion, where the intimate passes to the exterior and vice versa. In the thesis, this notion is extrapolated to the art of the kaleidoscope because it externalises something that is inside, and within the kaleidoscopic view there is a synchrony between the external and internal world that conveys this vision. / Quiero mostrar gratitud a las entidades financiadoras que han dado soporte a esta investigación por la ayuda de una FPI: Ministerio de Economía y Empresa, Gobierno de España y al Fondo Social Europeo por la cofinanciación recibida en la convocatoria: Ayuda para contrato predoctoral para la formación de Doctores. / Rama Sotos, T. (2021). La visión caleidoscópica en el arte plástico y la animación experimental. La movilidad basada en la reiteración simétrica, fragmentación y reintegración [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/175740