Throughout the early Platonic dialogues, Socrates repeatedly tells his interlocutors that if, as they claim, they truly have knowledge concerning some morally significant property, then they should be able to define the nature of that property. Invariably, the interlocutors fail to furnish him with such definitions, leading him to conclude that they, and all humankind, are ignorant of any knowledge about such property. This leads him to encourage his interlocutors, and us, to adopt a sense of intellectual humility and to dedicate their lives to studying these properties in an effort to gain moral insight. Many scholars have cited Socrates' demand for definition as evidence that he accepts a Priority of Definition principle - an epistemological principle asserting that a person must first know the definition of a property before she can know anything else about the property. Many of the scholars who make this ascription also argue, for various reasons, that such a principle is erroneous. If these scholars are correct and Socrates does accept a flawed Priority of Definition principle, then his epistemology, along with his whole philosophy, suffers devastating harm. Students of the early dialogues must consider whether Socrates does, in fact, accept the principle and, if so, whether the principle is incorrect. The thesis will examine the issues that arise from the ascription of a Priority of Definition principle to Socrates. The study will first examine textual evidence supporting the ascription along with texts that bring the ascription into question. It will then outline three general philosophical criticisms of the principle. Finally, this study will examine a number of different understandings of Socrates' conception of knowledge. Hopefully, an understanding can be discovered that preserves his philosophy by effectively showing that either (1) Socrates does not accept the principle, or (2) he does accept the principle but the principle is not philosophically problematic. If such an understanding can be discovered, then Socrates' conception of knowledge is saved from the criticisms raised by scholars. Otherwise, his whole philosophy will be placed in a very troubling light. / Master of Arts

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Research into the teaching of science has suggested that student learning resulted from personal and social processes promoting communication and construction of knowledge. The teacher has an interventionist role. The current research project aims to investigate the process of student involvement during instruction by dialogue and if such involvement has an effect on learning outcomes. Videotapes were made of thirteen biology lessons for year 10 students in a girls independent selective school. Individual student behaviour profiles in relation to answering and asking questions, the psychological cognitive demands made of the students in answering questions, and the teacher's questions and immediate help provided for the students to answer them, added to the picture of the interactions. The evidence suggested that the teacher made the students a resource to learning. Qualitative analysis showed how the teacher's strategies helped students locate and link topic information. Socratic questioning and scaffolding techniques were identified but scaffolding did not involve fading. The students utilised prior and new information, and scaffolded one another. Concept maps were used to represent how teacher and student interaction lead to expanded networks of information. A theoretical analysis of the dialogue illustrated parallel and reciprocal teacher and student activities. This allowed the construction of a model of learning within an integration theory framework. Individual student profiles showed that low participation was associated with low success in answering questions in lessons. Greater participation in the dialogue was linked to greater success. There was not a direct relationship between participation and success. A comparison of students' behaviour during lessons and examinations results showed that the lower rates of participation in the dialogue led to the least successful examination performance. Higher level participation in the lessons led to more successful examination performance, but there was not a simple relationship between the two.

This paper is a study of the pre-Socratic, Milesian philosopher Anaximander, in light of the question concerning the rise of philosophy and its relation to myth in the sixth century B.C. We are restricting our inquiry to Anaximander to make our consideration of the myth/philosophy relation more manageable. Thus we will assume that Anaximander's thought is indicative of the general status of this relationship in his time and milieu. We chose Anaximander also because of the great diversity of interpretations of his thought in current pre-Socratic scholarship. Differences in approach to Anaximander reflect differences concerning the nature of pre-Socratic thought in general. Differences with regard to the pre-Socratics in turn reflect ultimate assumptions as to the nature of philosophy and the historical circumstances in which it arose. Therefore, a considerable part of our study will concern itself with the major Anaximander-interpretations in the literature, their key assumptions and their relationships to existing traditions in pre-Socratic research. This part of the study will be carried out in preparation for our own interpretation of Anaximander and the relation between myth and philosophy visible in his thought. The latter will be conducted in dialogue with the other interpretations and with a conscious awareness of its own hermeneutical assumptions.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This research explores the possibility of a phenomenology of religion that is ontological, founded on Martin Heidegger’s philosophical thought. The research attempts to utilise Heidegger’s formulation of phenomenology as ontology while also engaging in a critical relation with his path of thinking; as a barrier to the phenomenological interpretation of the meaning of Religion. This research formulates Religion as an ontological problem wherein the primary question becomes: how are humans, in our being, able to be religious and thus also able to understand the meaning of ‘religion’ or something like ‘religion’? This study focuses on the problem of foundation; of whether it is possible to provide an adequate foundation for the study of religion(s) via the notion ‘Religion’. Further, this study also aims to explore the problem of methodological foundation; of how preconceptions of the meaning of Religion predetermine how religion(s) and religious phenomena are studied. Finally, this research moves toward the possibility of founding a regional ontological basis for the study of religion(s) insofar as the research explores the ontological ground of Religion as a phenomenon. Due to the exploratory and methodological/foundational emphasis of the research, the thesis is almost entirely preliminary. Herein, the research focuses on three main issues: how the notion of Religion is preconceived, how Heidegger’s phenomenology can be tailored to the phenomenon of Religion, and how philosophical thought (in this case, Pre-Socratic philosophy) discloses indications of the meaning of Religion. Pre-Socratic thought is then utilised as a foundation for a preliminary interpretation of how Religion belongs-to humans in our being. This research provides two interrelated theses: the provision of an interpretation of Religion as an existential phenomenon, and an interpretation of Religion in its ground of being-human. With regard to the former, I argue that Religion signifies a potential relation with the ‘originary ground’ of life as meaningful. Accordingly, the second interpretation discloses the meaning of Religion as grounded in being-human; that for humans in our being, the meaning of life is an intrinsic question/dilemma for us. This being-characteristic, I argue, can be called belief.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This research explores the possibility of a phenomenology of religion that is ontological, founded on Martin Heidegger’s philosophical thought. The research attempts to utilise Heidegger’s formulation of phenomenology as ontology while also engaging in a critical relation with his path of thinking; as a barrier to the phenomenological interpretation of the meaning of Religion. This research formulates Religion as an ontological problem wherein the primary question becomes: how are humans, in our being, able to be religious and thus also able to understand the meaning of ‘religion’ or something like ‘religion’? This study focuses on the problem of foundation; of whether it is possible to provide an adequate foundation for the study of religion(s) via the notion ‘Religion’. Further, this study also aims to explore the problem of methodological foundation; of how preconceptions of the meaning of Religion predetermine how religion(s) and religious phenomena are studied. Finally, this research moves toward the possibility of founding a regional ontological basis for the study of religion(s) insofar as the research explores the ontological ground of Religion as a phenomenon. Due to the exploratory and methodological/foundational emphasis of the research, the thesis is almost entirely preliminary. Herein, the research focuses on three main issues: how the notion of Religion is preconceived, how Heidegger’s phenomenology can be tailored to the phenomenon of Religion, and how philosophical thought (in this case, Pre-Socratic philosophy) discloses indications of the meaning of Religion. Pre-Socratic thought is then utilised as a foundation for a preliminary interpretation of how Religion belongs-to humans in our being. This research provides two interrelated theses: the provision of an interpretation of Religion as an existential phenomenon, and an interpretation of Religion in its ground of being-human. With regard to the former, I argue that Religion signifies a potential relation with the ‘originary ground’ of life as meaningful. Accordingly, the second interpretation discloses the meaning of Religion as grounded in being-human; that for humans in our being, the meaning of life is an intrinsic question/dilemma for us. This being-characteristic, I argue, can be called belief.

<p> In this thesis I attempt to clarify the nature and limits of the Socratic elenchus in order to determine whether or not it is capable of justifying moral knowledge as Socrates understood it. To this end, I first compare and contrast the elenchus with previous philosophical methods. I then argue that Socrates conceived of moral knowledge as expert knowledge of virtue by way of definition. Finally, I analyze the elenchus itself, and I argue: (i) that it is, in principle, capable of adequately justifying positive convictions about virtue, but only in those cases where Socrates makes no use of premises which are either logically unsecured with.in the demonstration or which lack justification from external, nonelenctic sources (ad hoc premises) ; and (ii) that since Socrates often proclaims elenctic success despite using ad hoc premises, I conclude that his lack of epistemological and logical interest led him to habitually overestimate the results of his arguments.</p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Thesis advisor: Robert C. Bartlett / This dissertation is an attempt to understand and assess the presuppositions and methods of classical political science. In the first of its two parts, the dissertation examines the meaning of the traditional view, held by authorities as far removed from one another as Cicero and Hobbes, that Socrates was the founder of political philosophy. It does so by considering the intellectual autobiography that Socrates famously delivers in Plato's Phaedo. Socrates turned to the study of pre-scientific, common-sense moral and political opinions only after he had rejected, as a very young man, both the materialist and the teleological natural science of his philosophic predecessors. It is the task of the dissertation's first part to show how the general revolution in scientific thought presented in the Phaedo, a revolution known as "the Socratic turn," laid the theoretical groundwork for classical political philosophy's characteristic focus on pre-scientific, common-sense moral distinctions. After examining "the Socratic turn," the dissertation then outlines in its second part the approach to the study of politics that Aristotle advanced on the basis of it. In particular, Aristotle's statements on the method of political science in book I of the Ethics are shown to rely on the basic insights obtained through "the turn." / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science.

El camp d'Experiència d'Usuari consta d'una àmplia gamma d'aspectes diferents sobre la interacció amb productes o serveis. L'experiència d'usuari difereix del paradigma objectiu basat en el rendiment, centrant-se en un punt de vista més ampli on les necessitats d'usuaris, els desitjos i les fantasies tenen un paper important en el procés de presa de decisions dels usuaris. L'enfocament d' hipòtesi i validació utilitzant anàlisi quantitatiu té dificultats per tractar, d'una manera estructurada, altres tipus d'informació que aspectes estrictament relacionats amb l'ús dels productes (per exemple les emocions) on els resultats obtinguts són efímers i complexos.Els aspectes d'experiència d'usuari que impliquen sentiments relacionats amb necessitats inherents, desitjos i fantasies s'anomenen informació subjectiva sobre l'experiència. Per obtenir aquesta classe d'informació, l'experiència d'usuari s'analitza segons la relació psicològica entre usuaris i productes o serveis. Aquesta tesi descriu el canvi de paradigme que proposa la psicologia constructivista i la seva pertinència per a l'aplicació en l'obtenenció d'informació subjective sobre l'experiència d'usuari en les primeres fases del disseny de producte. Primerament, una visió de conjunt general del punt de vista proposat presenta les bases de la psicologia constructivista aplicables al camp de l'experiència d'usuari. Després, differents estudis exploratoris il·lustren, amb exemples, com s'haurien d'utilitzar aquestes tècniques com eines d'obtenció d'informació subjectiva:- La tècnica dels paisatges experiencials utilitza la graella cognitive, una aproximació alternativista al constructivisme, per obtenir informació sobre la resposta dels consumidors a un cert grup de productes i els requeriments d'ús.- El procediments de restricció utilitzen tècniques d'escalament (aproximació discursiva al constructivisme) per aconseguir informació nuclear sobre valors que una persona té. Aplicat a disseny de producte serveix per augmentar el nivell de precisió, obtenint informació que relaciona atributs emocionals, funcionals i físics del producte. - El mètode de generació de metàfores sensorials es pot considerar una aproximació retòrica al constructivisme i utilitza productes, objectes i contextos com vehicles per transmetre coneixement tàcit.- La visualització de necessitats i desitjos latents és una aproximació narrativa al constructivisme. Utilitza presentacions de vídeo per desvelar comportaments d'interaccions futures que compleixen els desitjos i les aspiracions dels usuaris.Les tècniques per a l'obteció d'informació subjectiva sobre l'experiencia d'usuari proposades en aquesta tesi doctoral (SEGIT) emergeixen de l'anàlisi de les avantatges i febleses dels estudis exploratoris anteriors. Es poden considerar com un conjunt de tècniques (exploratives i projectives) per ser utilitzades durant el procés de disseny com a eina inspiradora per guiar el procés creatiu (una tècnica de generació d'idees d'experiència per desenvolupar nous conceptes d'interacció) i un model per a la validació de resposta futura dels consumidors. La informació obtinguda amb el mètode de SEGIT s'analitza per a propòsits inspiradors i informatius:- Des d'un punt de vista inspirador, el conjunt de tècniques proporcionen aspectes clau per al procés d'inspiració. Les tècniques exploratòries permeten obtenir idees detallades i justificades i les tècniques projectives conceptes amb un nivell alt d'abstracció i coherència al mateix temps. - Des d'un punt de vista informatiu, aquest conjunt de tècniques es poden utilitzar per obtenir informació sobre la preferència de compra dels consumidors. Alhora que analitza diferents variables que afecten la fiabilitat dels resultats obtinguts.En conclusió, la visió sobre el disseny de la interacció presentat en aquesta tesi doctoral i les tècniques proposades mostren un camí optimista per explorar amb el propòsit de millorar l'acceptació de noves tecnologies en la vida quotidiana. / The field of User Experience (UX) consists of a wide range of different aspects about the interaction with products or services. User experience differs from the performance-based objective paradigm, focusing on a wider point of view where users needs, desires and fantasies have a role in the users decision-making process. Quantitative analysis and hypothesis and validation approaches have difficulties to deal, in a structured way, with information other than that, which is strictly related to aspects regarding product usage (i.e. emotions and affect, social interaction) and the results obtained are ephemeral and complex to measure. The aspects of user experience that involve feelings related to inherent needs, desires and fantasies are called subjective experience information. To obtain this kind of information, user experience analyzes the psychological relationship between users and products or services. This thesis describes constructivist psychology and its relevance for user experience research in early stages of product development. First, a general overview of the proposed point of view introduces constructivist psychology to user experience practitioners. Then several exploratory studies illustrate, with examples, how these techniques should be used as subjective user experience information gathering tools:- The experience landscapes technique use the repertory grid as an alternativist approach to constructivism for gathering information about consumers' response to a certain group of products and extract users' experience requirements. - The tightening procedure uses laddering techniques (discursive approach to constructivism) to get core information, the values a person holds. In order to increase the level of accuracy, obtaining design relevant information that relates emotional, functional and physical product attributes.- The sensory metaphor generation method can be considered a rhetorical approach to constructivism and uses products, objects and contexts as carriers of meaning of subjective experiences.- The visualization of inner needs and desires technique is a narrative approach to constructivism. It uses video presentations to unveil future interactions behaviours that fulfil users' desires and aspirations. The Subjective Experience Gathering and Inspiring Techniques proposed in this PhD thesis (SEGIT) emerges from the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of those exploratory studies. It can be considered a set of techniques (explorative and projective techniques) to be used throughout the design process as an inspirational tool to guide the creative process, a generation technique of experience ideas to develop interaction concepts and a model for consumers' future response validation. The information obtained with the SEGIT method is analyzed for inspirational and informational purposes:- From an inspirational point of view, the set of techniques provide key aspects of the inspiration process in relation to exploratory (detailed and complete ideas) and projective techniques (concepts with high level of abstraction and coherence at the same time). In addition, results show that different aspects like the participants' linguistic abilities and practitioners' guiding skills affect consistency.- From an informational point of view this set of techniques can be used to obtain subjective experience construing profiles about consumers' product preference. At the same time the results show how variables like participants' cognitive complexity of consumers' response and the cognitive structure of the valuation process affect its reliability.In conclusion, the approach to interaction design presented by this research and the proposed techniques for inspirational and informational purposes show an optimistic path to explore with the aim to help designers to bring peoples' sensorial experience and technology closer together.

This thesis analyzes the reasons for Socrates&#039 / being presented as a paradoxical figure in the early dialogues of Plato. Irony as a fundamental philosophical attitude in Socratic philosophy is discussed with reference to some of the major philosophers of the history of philosophy. The thesis also suggests the possibility of seeing philosophy as an ironic activity and it traces the etymology of the concept of irony in terms of its philosophical importance.