Amanda Ptolomey and Crister Nyberg 24.3 - parnet.fi

Amanda Ptolomey and Crister Nyberg24.3.2015

FinRA 3rd Baltic Sea-17th NordicLiteracy Conference August 2016

} It is the reference to nonexistent objects thatposes most of the problems.

} Traditional answers: we are pretending theexistence of fictional objects or fictionalobjects have some kind of existence(Meinongians)

} Fiction: Based on imagination?} Nonfiction: Based on facts?


} Mathematical fictionalism (philosophicaltheory in philosophy of mathematics) claimsthat entities like numbers do not exist. Theyare merely useful fictions.


} Make believe or pretence is considered asessential in order to understand fiction

} Pretence is defined as acting in a way that iscontrary to how the world is.

} - emerges during the second year of life} conscious activity: knowingly stating a false

proposition in respect to real world


} Like understanding, pretending is also amatter of a degree.

} Different social contexts require pretendingor acting in a sense that we are controllingour feelings and behaviour.

} truth in the ‘scientific’ sense is not always theessential thing to grasp


} Truth is essential in understanding fiction} Pretence is not necessary in understanding

fiction} Understanding is a skill to use words and

better understanding means the ability to usewords differently in different contexts.

} Different uses (contexts, language games)may be present at the same time).


} Minimal theory of truth

} Use theory of meaning


} Traditional attempts to define the concept of truthassume that truth is a central and deep notion inphilosophy with important implications e.g. toquestions on realism and idealism.

} E.g. The Correspondence theory of truth. (Truth isa relation to reality)

} If we take this traditional assumption, thesentences containing fictional objects like“Sherlock Holmes is the world’s most famousdetective” appear as false or meaningless.FinRA 3rd Baltic Sea-17th Nordic

Literacy Conference August 2016

} Calling a sentence ‘true’ is the same thing asrepeating the sentence:

'Snow is white' is true if and only if snow iswhite.} With the concept of truth we may e.g. take

metafictional: It is true that Sherlock Holmessolved more cases than Hercule Poirot.

} We can also make generalizations: All thesentences of the form X are true.

} *Minimalism on truth admits of different versions but I am mostlyfollowing the one of Paul Horwich (Horwich; Truth, 1998).


} the meaning property of a word is reduced toits use regularities.

} understanding is a matter of degree rangingfrom minimal understanding to experts fullknowledge on use of the word

} Language games are meaning constitutingactivities showing the way how words areused in certain context.

*Use theory of meaning and the idea of language games are originallyintroduced by Ludwig Wittgenstein. Mostly I am following PaulHorwich's version of Use theory of meaning (Horwich; Meaning,1998)


} is a practical ability} knowledge in ”knowing that” is implicit knowledge} to fully understand a word = meaning coincides with its

meaning in the language (or ’expert’s knowledge’)} to fully understand a story (not practically possible): is

to recognize relevant contexts and dimensions so thatthey coincide with ’expert’s knowledge.

} Our natural disposition is to consider a sentence true:Claiming a sentence true, is to repeat the sentence.

} ‘Snow is white’ is true if and only if snow is white.


} Gulliver's Travels: Travels Into Several RemoteNations of the World: In Four Parts. By LemuelGulliver. First a Surgeon, and Then a Captainof Several Ships


} pretence is a part of a successful engagement insocial situations stemming from skill to readcontextual cues e.g. social situations and to modifyone’s own behaviour suitable for it

} Recognizing the context precedes pretence. Thebetter understanding the better possibilities toadjust one’s behaviour.


• Children with ASD having difficulties inpretence play can be thought to havedifficulties in adapting to situations wherethings have other than their usual meanings.(people with ASD have difficulties infollowing social cues, nonverbalcommunication etc.)


} People with ASD can engage in mathematicsbecause mathematics is more about reasoning, notabout metarepresentational skills.

} Mathematical terms have rigid meanings andpeople with ASD use all words and terms in a rigidway, in a way they have learnt to use them. Otherthan regular uses of words, like in poetry aredifficult for them.

Crister Nyberg, [email protected] Student, Theoretical Philosophy, University of HelsinkiHead of Support Services, Education Department, Youth and AdultEducation Division, City of Helsinki


mailto:[email protected]

According to MTF better understanding is recognizing intertextuallinks i.e. different dimensions of the issue and connections betweendifferent contexts. This in turn requires metacognitive abilities andskills to use words differently in different contexts.

Integrative Complexity (IC) is about the degree to which thinkingand reasoning involve the recognition and integration of multipleperspectives and possibilities and their interrelated contingencies. Itis a measure of intellectual style showing thus the structure ofthoughts. In measuring IC the content is not relevant. Howevercontents are important in order to do successful interventions.

IC Thinking intervention invites participants to enter into diversecontexts where they encounter a trajectory of meta-cognitivechallenges involving pretend ‘play’ and multiple interpretations atincreasing levels of complexity


} Based on over forty years of research, ‘integrativecomplexity’ (IC) focuses on the less than consciousstructure of thinking (Suedfeld & Tetlock, 2014) andfeatures a measurement frame (Baker-Brown et al., 1992)of increasing complexity in thinking structure.

} IC describes the aperture of the cognitive lens throughwhich we see our social world during conflict, through anarrow and restricted ‘lens’ (low IC) or through a wideangled and expansive ‘lens’ (High IC).

} During times of threat – real or perceived – the cognitivelens restricts (low IC) as blood flows into the limbic systemand it begins to dominate brain processing


What is the IC Thinking Method?•The IC Thinking Method is an educational method developedby the IC Thinking Research Team, Dept of Psychology,University of Cambridge, and has been used in a range of ICThinking interventions.

•16 contact hour interventions that leverage increases inintegrative complexity at a less than conscious level (Liht &Savage, 2013; Savage, Liht, Kahn, 2014; Boyd-MacMillan,2016)

•Develop meta-cognitive skills through a range of ‘true to life’(Boal 1979 and subsequent reprints) challenges salient to theparticipants’ community and life circumstancesAmanda Ptolomey 2016


Key features of the IC Thinking Methodsupportive of individuals with autism•Contentious dilemmas are most helpfullyexplored ‘in role’.

•Participants are invited to be ‘Spect-Actors’ (Boal)

•Participants test out and prototype newapproaches to conflict in a safe highlystructured environment


IC and possible outcomes for individuals with autism as‘scaffolded’ (Vygotsky) by trained Facilitators who embodyand model 3 practices of meaning-making:

•IC and language

•Meta-cognition

•Participants work with words in new ways, expanding themeaning of those words, and thus learn the process of usingknown words in new contexts




} Piloting an IC Thinking intervention aimedspecifically at individuals with autism

} Pre and post test measures tailored forindividuals with autism

} In depth analysis of key autism theories forconnections with the understanding ofintegrative complexity

} Exploration of the connection between therole of the limbic system, the amygdalatheory of autism and IC.


The IC Thinking method part of thispresentation was created with the generousmentoring and supervision of Dr Eolene Boyd-McMillan

For more information on the IC Thinkingmethod

} Ms Amanda Ptolomey, IC Thinking Team [email protected]

} Dr Eolene Boyd-MacMillan, Co-Director, ICThinking Group - [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

Documents

Amanda Ptolomey and Crister Nyberg 24.3 - parnet.fi