Externalism and A Priori Knowledge of the World: Why Privileged Access is Not the Issue

I look at incompatibilist arguments aimed at showing that the conjunction of the thesis that a subject has privileged, a priori access to the contents of her own thoughts, on the one hand, and of semantic externalism, on the other, lead to a putatively absurd conclusion, namely, a priori knowledge of the external world. I focus on arguments involving a variety of externalism resulting from the singularity or object‐dependence of certain terms such as the demonstrative ‘that’. McKinsey argues that incompatibilist arguments employing such externalist theses are at their strongest, and conclusively show that privileged access must be rejected. While I agree on the truth of the relevant externalist theses, I show that all plausible versions of the incompatibilist reductio argument as applied to such theses are fundamentally flawed, for these versions of the argument must make assumptions that lead to putatively absurd knowledge of the external world independently of the thesis of privileged access

SUSTAINABLE CURRICULUM IN TVET

In some European countries, students receive vocationally oriented education as early as at the age of 12. The students transfer to lower secondary school at the age of 10-13, with the youngest entrants found in Germany and Austria and the oldest ones, being at the age of 16, in the Nordic countries. The most thoroughly school-based vocational upper secondary education is provided in Finland, Sweden, Spain, Greece and Portugal. The highest proportion of vocational training delivered at the workplace is to be found in Austria (a little less than half) and the Netherlands (a third), that of training combining the workplace and school in Denmark, Germany, France and the Netherlands. Curriculum denotes the formal specification of what is taught and learnt in educational or training establishments. Curricula are formally specified in such learning and teaching entities as units, courses, clusters, sequences and other specifications. Levels of curricula vary from national to student ones, and types of curricula differ from intended to learned syllabi. The traditions of curriculum vary according to national contexts and to historical periods. Curriculum development in TVET is approached from a broad technological knowledge, activity-oriented theories of learning and from the concept of vocation (Beruf). Ethics of sustainable development gives a global and future perspective to education and training. The first two chapters illustrate the global, regional and national policy context of curriculum in TVET followed by a historical discussion about a curriculum theory and didactics. Then the learning theories focus on work-based learning issues and an activity approach. Next the ethics and implementation of education for sustainable development is analysed. Finally a window to the future is opened by a national practice of workforce anticipation

Area-selective etching of polymers for self-aligned patterning

Modern semiconductor devices require sophisticated patterning techniques that not only offer excellent resolution but also high throughput, low cost, and low number of errors. And because these devices require several patterning steps, even a slight improvement in a patterning technique can have a huge impact. New patterning technique that has a great potential to be used in many of these patterning steps is area-selective etching of polymers by catalytic decomposition. The catalytic effect can either be an intrinsic property of the underlying material, or materials can be catalytically activated/deactivated to achieve the desired pattern. This new technique is self-aligning and extremely simple, and therefore has a potential to significantly reduce the number of errors and cost, while having excellent resolution and throughput. In the literature review part of this thesis, we will have an overview of different aspects that must be considered when using polymers as thermocatalytically decomposable resists. Polymers are already widely used as resists in several patterning techniques due to an immense number of different polymers available, allowing almost endless possibilities to adjust the properties of the resist. Important polymer properties to consider include adequate gas permeability for the etching gases and the decomposition products, decomposition and degradation mechanisms, reflow, integrity during the patterning and the deposition processes, and adhesion to the substrate. Different catalysts and catalytic decomposition mechanisms of polymers as well as other carbon-containing compounds in different atmospheres are reviewed. Because area-selective etching of polymers is a new technique many challenges are still unknown. Therefore, this thesis is mainly aimed to give ideas and directions for the future research. In the experimental part, several metals and metal oxides were tested for their catalytic effect for decomposing poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) in air and H2-atmosphere. Pt, Ti, and CeO2 were confirmed to have a catalytic effect in air, whereas SiO2 and Al2O3 showed no catalytic effect. In the H2-atmosphere, only Ti and Cu showed some promising catalytic effect, whereas SiO2, Al2O3, CeO2, Pt, W, Ni, and Co did not. Additionally, experiments were conducted to find out how thin CeO2 film has an adequate catalytic effect. And finally, the area-selectivity of this patterning technique was tested in the air atmosphere using CeO2 as a catalytic surface and Al2O3 as a non-catalytic surface

Higher-Order Defeat and Evincibility

One of the ambitions of the past decades of epistemology has been to accommodate the view that ‘higher-order evidence’ that a belief one holds is rationally flawed has a systematic kind of defeating force with respect to that belief. Such a view is committed to two claims. First, it is possible to acquire misleading evidence about the normative status of one’s doxastic states: even if one’s belief is perfectly rational, one might acquire deeply misleading evidence that it is irrational. Second, such evidence has defeating force with respect to the belief, zapping its rational status. My aim is to do two things. First, I outline a view I call normative evincibility, according to which one always has a kind of epistemic access – access that can come in different strengths – to the normative status of one’s doxastic states (intentions, actions, etc.). I show how commitment to higher-order defeat in effect incurs a commitment to a form of normative evincibility. Second, I argue that the idea that it is possible to acquire misleading evidence about the normative status of one’s doxastic states is in tension with evincibility. Hence, there is a deep tension inherent in views committed to a systematic phenomenon of defeat by higher-order evidence.One of the ambitions of the past decades of epistemology has been to accommodate the view that ‘higher-order evidence’ that a belief one holds is rationally flawed has a systematic kind of defeating force with respect to that belief. Such a view is committed to two claims. First, it is possible to acquire misleading evidence about the normative status of one’s doxastic states: even if one’s belief is perfectly rational, one might acquire deeply misleading evidence that it is irrational. Second, such evidence has defeating force with respect to the belief, zapping its rational status. My aim is to do two things. First, I outline a view I call normative evincibility, according to which one always has a kind of epistemic access – access that can come in different strengths – to the normative status of one’s doxastic states (intentions, actions, etc.). I show how commitment to higher-order defeat in effect incurs a commitment to a form of normative evincibility. Second, I argue that the idea that it is possible to acquire misleading evidence about the normative status of one’s doxastic states is in tension with evincibility. Hence, there is a deep tension inherent in views committed to a systematic phenomenon of defeat by higher-order evidence.Peer reviewe

Enkrasia or Evidentialism? : Learning to Love Mismatch

I formulate a resilient paradox about epistemic rationality, discuss and reject various solutions, and sketch a way out. The paradox exemplifies a tension between a wide range of views of epistemic justification, on the one hand, and enkratic requirements on rationality, on the other. According to the enkratic requirements, certain mismatched doxastic states are irrational, such as believing p, while believing that it is irrational for one to believe p. I focus on an evidentialist view of justification on which a doxastic state regarding a proposition p is epistemically rational or justified just in case it tracks the degree to which one’s evidence supports p. If it is possible to have certain kinds of misleading evidence (as I argue it is), then evidentialism and the enkratic requirements come into conflict. Yet, both have been defended as platitudinous. After discussing and rejecting three solutions, I sketch an account that rejects the enkratic requirements, while nevertheless explaining our sense that epistemic akrasia is a distinct kind of epistemic failure. Central to the account is distinguishing between two evaluative perspectives, one having to do with the relevant kind of success (proportioning one’s doxastic states to the evidence), the other having to do with manifesting good dispositions. The problem with akratic subjects, I argue, is that they manifest dispositions to fail to correctly respond to a special class of conclusive and conspicuous reasons.Peer reviewe

Guidance and Epistemic Filtering

Peer reviewe

Workplace learning as an investment in human capital

The paper considers, on the basis of the theory of human capital, in what sense the various agents involved in work-based learning perceive the on-the-job learning period in vocational upper secondary education as an investment-like activity driven by expectations of longterm benefits held by individuals, enterprises and society. The focus of the paper is an empirical survey of Finnish students, teachers, company managers and workplace trainers participated in a work-based learning pilot project. Students believe that their stay in working life improves their employment prospects, enterprises do not incur any additional costs, and workplace trainers and teachers are coping with their changing duties and roles