Black, John
Permanent URI for this collection
See also the Alexandro Malaspina Research Centre. A version has been archived by Vancouver Island University Library.
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item States of mind: Countering eliminative materialism(Lambert Academic Publishing, 2018-09-05) Black, John A.This book examines, from a Wittgensteinian perspective, a version of eliminative materialism formerly propounded by Richard Rorty. The author argues that this view about the nature and existence of minds and mental states, which treats them as proto-scientific theoretical entities, is false, and assumes too crude an understanding of our day-to-day use of mental language. The author also develops positive conclusions in the philosophy of mind from a criticism of these underlying assumptions, setting out an alternative position derived from Wittgenstein's notion of criteria.Item Wittgenstein and empiricism about other minds(Simon Fraser University, 1975-09) Black, John A.; Davis, StevenI compare two approaches to the refutation of skepticism about other minds. One is due to Wittgenstein, the other stems from the writings of such philosophers as Rorty, Putnam and the identity-theorists; the latter view I call empirical realism. The Wittgenstein approach has been taken by its opponents to rest on the claim that psychological terms are governed by criteria, largely because of the writings of such as Malcolm and Strawson. I argue that the Wittgensteinian refutation of skepticism is independent of this claim, and also works as a refutation of some of the central tenets of empirical realism. This requires a reinterpretation or at least a new version of the private language argument, and one which makes no appeal to the notion of "criterion". Here I draw on and attempt to develop a version suggested by Lawrence Resnick. In passing I assess the relevance of this argument to other forms of skepticism. As preliminaries to this major aim I consider in detail an argument in favour of skepticism about other minds and chart the logic of the two approaches under consideration. I then consider a batch of arguments developed by Putnam against the Wittgensteinian position and show that they apply only to some misinterpretations of Wittgenstein by Malcolm. Alongside the main conclusion of the essay I try to develop a notion of "criterion" which will avoid the objections of Putnam and Rorty and enable me to preserve the claim that psychological terms are for the most part governed by criteria. A major element in this attempt is the denial of what I take to be the Malcolmian thesis that terms must be governed by criteria in order for them to have meaning. Instead, I suggest that it is closer to both Wittgenstein and the truth to say that, as a matter of fact, some expressions are governed by criteria and that this is sufficient to guarantee them meaning. I make some speculative remarks about how the distinction between expressions governed by criteria and those not so-governed might be made out. I conclude the essay with a brief adjudication of the dispute between the two approaches, coming out in favour of that of Wittgenstein.Item Malaspina's Meditation on Beauty in Nature(Alexandro Malaspina Research Centre, 2011-02) Black, John A.This paper describes and assesses an essay by navigator-philosopher Alexandro Malaspina on the question of whether beauty resides in nature or in art.Item Teaching hypothetical/deductive reasoning in radiologic technology: Explanation games and other classroom methods(CAMRT, 1992-10) Black, John A.; Dowd, Steven B.Teaching strategies for radiologic technology education can be enhanced by the use of metacognitive techniques which promote real-world critical thinking. The aim of these techniques is to encourage students to develop an awareness of themselves as autonomous thinkers and, ultimately, practitioners. Through an examination of the contributions to this area of medical, scientific and philosophical educators, various approaches are presented and unified under the model of an "explanation game." Both the theoretical underpinnings of these approaches and their practical applications in the classroom are discussed. Introduction This paper will discuss various metacognitive (that is, advanced-level thinking) strategies applicable to teaching in radiologic technology. Such strategies are designed to increase the critical thinking skills of students by teaching them to postpone an immediate search for answers, and to pay attention first to the questions that must be asked to find the answers. This approach is transferable to a variety of settings. A number of strategies will be presented here, all conceptually similar to Black's method entitled the "Explanation Game." Following a general description of explanation games and their metacognitive implications, the use of the concept in science education will be presented. A further analogy will be drawn with the McMaster system of medical education, followed by examples of direct relevance to classroom instruction in radiologic technology.Item Education versus training?(Douglas College, 1997) Black, John A.This paper argues that the division between liberal education and training for employment is a false dilemma.
- «
- 1 (current)
- 2
- 3
- »