Just arrived back in the modern world of Internet and mobile phones, and so have been able to access the OU website and find out my exam and overall module score.
Well the overall module score was a Pass 2, which I am pleased about although it was pretty predicable as I would have had to have had an almost flawless exam to get a Pass 1 or a disaster for a Pass 3.
I was however slightly disappointed with the exam score, I though I had done better than the mark I got - it was a lot lower than the TMA scores, but I guess this doesn't matter one way or another now as the module is finished.
So now for a month or two of non-study before the Politics course starts in October.
Showing posts with label 5.7 Exam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 5.7 Exam. Show all posts
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Friday, 27 July 2012
A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Looks like its going all the way......
Well just a week to go until the date by which the module result "should be available" and it looks as though it will go right to the wire...... well I'm certainly not expecting any news over this weekend.
So I'll have to be patient and will expect to get my result when back in the UK, and therefore access to internet services, in a week or so :-)
So I'll have to be patient and will expect to get my result when back in the UK, and therefore access to internet services, in a week or so :-)
Thursday, 19 July 2012
A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Still waiting.....
This is agony....... I'm waiting for the exam and module result for A222 and completely separately an exam result for a professional exam and it is 'doing my nut'.
The Open University don't help matters with their imprecise use of the English language. The website says "The module result should be available by the 3rd August".
The use of the word 'by' indicates to me that it could well happened before this date.
The use of the word 'should' however casts doubt on it happening by this date.
Which is it !!!
Why could they not simply have written ""The module result will be available on the 3rd August", and ensure it is so.
Emailing the OU was little use, they were unable to shed light on any timetable at all. It appears that the 3rd August is the date for many courses, so I suspect that this is simply the end of their academic year and then they all go off on holiday.
The problem for me is that unless I get the result in the next week, I will just after then be working on a remote island with no readily available internet and no mobile phone networks - so it could be some time before I get the result.
The Open University don't help matters with their imprecise use of the English language. The website says "The module result should be available by the 3rd August".
The use of the word 'by' indicates to me that it could well happened before this date.
The use of the word 'should' however casts doubt on it happening by this date.
Which is it !!!
Why could they not simply have written ""The module result will be available on the 3rd August", and ensure it is so.
Emailing the OU was little use, they were unable to shed light on any timetable at all. It appears that the 3rd August is the date for many courses, so I suspect that this is simply the end of their academic year and then they all go off on holiday.
The problem for me is that unless I get the result in the next week, I will just after then be working on a remote island with no readily available internet and no mobile phone networks - so it could be some time before I get the result.
Come on Open University - get on with it !!!
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Waiting.........
Well that is pretty much 4 weeks since the exam, and three weeks until the date by which we should have received our module results.
I hope we get them earlier, as the wait is driving me mad.
I hope we get them earlier, as the wait is driving me mad.
Friday, 15 June 2012
A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Well that's that then, exam and course over.
Well that's that then, exam and course over.
The exam went pretty well. Got there in good time, so no stress getting there and in and it was fairly comfortable in the room - there is nothing worse than being too hot or cold.
When the exam started I looked at the questions from Books 1,2, and 6 and 1, 3,and 12 jumped out. Didn't even look at questions 5,6,7,8,9 and 10, and I have no idea what there were or if my backups of abortion or Nagel and his bat came up.
So to the questions.....
Q1. Was am I the same person who started the module.
So obvious questions with Parfit and Locke, although they got everything I had and references to Plutarch, Hobbs, Reid, Hume, Kant, Butler, Mackie & Taylor - I have no idea if this is a good idea, but I don't know what else to do - If I knew it, whoever marks it will now know I knew it. I think I made sense and wrote pretty well for most of the first hour.
Q3. Problem of Evil.
Couldn't have been better - which doesn't mean I had a brilliant answer, but it was a great question. They got it all again - first the reasons to believe, then Epicuras, then the excuses for Evil then a conclusion. Again, wrote for pretty much the hour.
Q12. About Economic equality and self interest.
This was a bit more left field....... Started with Rawls, contrasted with Nozick, added Dworkin, Kymlicka and a touch - just a touch - of Anderson and rambled a bit. Not the best answer but the one I'd revised to give - the other question was obligation and I knew I was better at this one.
I wrote on every other line in an attempt to help the marker read it. Paragraphs would start neat and easy to read and then get gradually worse until I noticed and reset myself. Ended up effectively filling the main answer book and 2 subsidiary books - so 32 pages of double space, roughly 16 pages normal, but big writing, so say 3 to 4 normal persons hand writting per answer.
The website says,
The exam went pretty well. Got there in good time, so no stress getting there and in and it was fairly comfortable in the room - there is nothing worse than being too hot or cold.
When the exam started I looked at the questions from Books 1,2, and 6 and 1, 3,and 12 jumped out. Didn't even look at questions 5,6,7,8,9 and 10, and I have no idea what there were or if my backups of abortion or Nagel and his bat came up.
So to the questions.....
Q1. Was am I the same person who started the module.
So obvious questions with Parfit and Locke, although they got everything I had and references to Plutarch, Hobbs, Reid, Hume, Kant, Butler, Mackie & Taylor - I have no idea if this is a good idea, but I don't know what else to do - If I knew it, whoever marks it will now know I knew it. I think I made sense and wrote pretty well for most of the first hour.
Q3. Problem of Evil.
Couldn't have been better - which doesn't mean I had a brilliant answer, but it was a great question. They got it all again - first the reasons to believe, then Epicuras, then the excuses for Evil then a conclusion. Again, wrote for pretty much the hour.
Q12. About Economic equality and self interest.
This was a bit more left field....... Started with Rawls, contrasted with Nozick, added Dworkin, Kymlicka and a touch - just a touch - of Anderson and rambled a bit. Not the best answer but the one I'd revised to give - the other question was obligation and I knew I was better at this one.
I wrote on every other line in an attempt to help the marker read it. Paragraphs would start neat and easy to read and then get gradually worse until I noticed and reset myself. Ended up effectively filling the main answer book and 2 subsidiary books - so 32 pages of double space, roughly 16 pages normal, but big writing, so say 3 to 4 normal persons hand writting per answer.
The website says,
Overall module result
Your module result should be available by Friday 3 August 2012.
So, I guess that is it until about the 3rd August.
Thursday, 14 June 2012
A222 - Exploring Philosophy - Revision Done for tomorrows exam.
First OU exam tomorrow, and its been quite some time since I sat an exam of any sort that requires 3 hours of hand writing.
So I guess it is now about turning up on time, not panicking, reading the questions properly and hoping the ones I want come up - and if not having a good stab at whatever is there.
If there is one thing I have learned from this experience it is not to leave the revision to the last minute, or even until after the last TMA, but to do a little and often through the year. Easy to say, harder to do, but I'll certainly try and remember this for my next course.
So tomorrow.......
Book 1 'Self' - fairly happy to see any questions about "Is there an inuring self" or "Personal Identity across life" - Locke was in the TMA, so only leaves specific questions on Hume or Parfit and if so I'd take Parfit.
Book 2 'Religion' - bring it on, "Problem of Evil", "Miracles and Experiences" or "Reasons to believe" would all be OK, just got to ensure I answer the question fully and in the way they want.
Book 6 'Politics' - far happier with the second half of the book, so anything about egalitarianism, libertarianism, Rawls, Nozick, Dworkin and Anderson would be great. Less happy with Obligation and political dissent.
But most importantly I must keep reminding myself that I am supposed to be doing this for FUN, nothing disastrous will happen if I do badly and there is no great reward for doing well, so the biggest challenge may be to go there and ENJOY the experience......
So I guess it is now about turning up on time, not panicking, reading the questions properly and hoping the ones I want come up - and if not having a good stab at whatever is there.
If there is one thing I have learned from this experience it is not to leave the revision to the last minute, or even until after the last TMA, but to do a little and often through the year. Easy to say, harder to do, but I'll certainly try and remember this for my next course.
So tomorrow.......
Book 1 'Self' - fairly happy to see any questions about "Is there an inuring self" or "Personal Identity across life" - Locke was in the TMA, so only leaves specific questions on Hume or Parfit and if so I'd take Parfit.
Book 2 'Religion' - bring it on, "Problem of Evil", "Miracles and Experiences" or "Reasons to believe" would all be OK, just got to ensure I answer the question fully and in the way they want.
Book 6 'Politics' - far happier with the second half of the book, so anything about egalitarianism, libertarianism, Rawls, Nozick, Dworkin and Anderson would be great. Less happy with Obligation and political dissent.
But most importantly I must keep reminding myself that I am supposed to be doing this for FUN, nothing disastrous will happen if I do badly and there is no great reward for doing well, so the biggest challenge may be to go there and ENJOY the experience......
So 'Good Luck' to everyone sitting the exam tomorrow,
I hope the questions are kind to you.
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Book 2 'Religion'
Early start this morning, which means I may get to watch some more football this evening....... not sure my priorities are in the right order...... oh well.... on to the last book,
Religion/Delusion
ISMs
polytheism, pantheism, theism, atheism, fideism
Fideism
Blaise Pascal's Wager, William James,
Reasons To Believe in God
1. Personal Experience
2. Hstory
3. The Way the World Is
4. The nature of the idea (ontological argument)
Way The World Is
1. Argument from Design (teleological argument)
2. Fact the world exists at all (cosmological argument)
3. Existence of orders of causes -Aquinas's Second Way.
Cleanthes
World like a machine adjusted to an accuracy that ravishes in to admiration all men who have ever contemplated them. ANALOGY Machines have creators, so must the world.
Paley
Watch on the heath. Precise organisation and function. same basic ANALOGY.
Behe
Discredited creationalist moron. Proof of God within evolution.......
Meyer
Proof of God as a prerequisite to evolution - DNA / RNA.
Swinburne
Proof of God as creator of the world.
If God created the Earth, who created God. Is the God of this creation a God we would recognise?
Problem of Evil - Epicuras
If God is all powerful and all loving, why is there evil.
1. He doesn't interfere with the natural processes.
2. He hides his face to give humans choice
3. To give people a desire to put things right.
i. 2+2=4 God can not change this, so he is not all powerful.
ii.Freewill Defense
iii. Why can't God design humans that do good things.
iv. Future Hope Defense - It will all be OK in the end.... whenever that is.
Acts of God
Arguments for God's existence from miracles.
Miracles "violation of the laws of nature by the immediate interposition of a deity" Hume
Hume - It is never rational to believe a report of a miracle,
i. How many witnesses
ii. Do they have a vested interest in being believed.
iii. Are they of sufficient character.
Proof v. Proof
Confidence in the reporter can be high, but the unlikely event means confidence should be low, so cancels out. Violation of a law of nature - confidence should be non-existant.
Hume - Which is less unlikely, that someone misinterpreted or misrepresented what they experienced ? or that a miracle occurred?
Hume.
i. Past experience not perfect in predicting the future.
ii. More often it happens the more reliable
iii. reliability of reports depends on past reliability
iv. Person's character can be unreliable in many ways.
Miracles - other arguments.
1. Those reporting have in general low credibility
2. Passion of surprise and wonder an agreeable emotion
3. Reports from backward cultures
4. Different religions have miracles - so cancel out.
Sillyness v. Selectiveness.
Religious Experience
1. Not just a sense of God, anything wonderful or morally positive.
2. Should make you a better person.
3. Culturally bound.
4. Comes with interpretations that can differ.
Parallels of argument to Miracles
Miracles Experience
Hume's Argument Should be rejected because it
doesn't fit in to Scientific explanation
selective-ness selective-ness
agreeable emotion it has a scientific and not religious explanation
i. We can explain belief in miracles without supposing they happened.
ii. silly, sentimental and self-serving
iii. Chapman and Suttcliffe experience
iv. Why would God have silly and sinister experiences.
v. Cultural differences show experience are man made.
That has ended up as a bit of a ramble through the book, but it is there in essence, and I'm quite happy for a question on Pascal's Wager 'cos as my son said,
"Well if you apply that sort of slack thinking to everything, the government would be building anti-alien attack missile silos and safety bunkers, and we'd have a dragon trap in the back garden, just in case, you never know, can't be too sure, better safe than sorry and all that......in fact better strengthen the front door there may be a YETI collecting for charity and you know how hard they knock on doors...."
I'm not sure he's helped matters.
Religion/Delusion
ISMs
polytheism, pantheism, theism, atheism, fideism
Fideism
Blaise Pascal's Wager, William James,
Reasons To Believe in God
1. Personal Experience
2. Hstory
3. The Way the World Is
4. The nature of the idea (ontological argument)
Way The World Is
1. Argument from Design (teleological argument)
2. Fact the world exists at all (cosmological argument)
3. Existence of orders of causes -Aquinas's Second Way.
Cleanthes
World like a machine adjusted to an accuracy that ravishes in to admiration all men who have ever contemplated them. ANALOGY Machines have creators, so must the world.
Paley
Watch on the heath. Precise organisation and function. same basic ANALOGY.
Behe
Discredited creationalist moron. Proof of God within evolution.......
Meyer
Proof of God as a prerequisite to evolution - DNA / RNA.
Swinburne
Proof of God as creator of the world.
If God created the Earth, who created God. Is the God of this creation a God we would recognise?
Problem of Evil - Epicuras
If God is all powerful and all loving, why is there evil.
1. He doesn't interfere with the natural processes.
2. He hides his face to give humans choice
3. To give people a desire to put things right.
i. 2+2=4 God can not change this, so he is not all powerful.
ii.Freewill Defense
iii. Why can't God design humans that do good things.
iv. Future Hope Defense - It will all be OK in the end.... whenever that is.
Acts of God
Arguments for God's existence from miracles.
Miracles "violation of the laws of nature by the immediate interposition of a deity" Hume
Hume - It is never rational to believe a report of a miracle,
i. How many witnesses
ii. Do they have a vested interest in being believed.
iii. Are they of sufficient character.
Proof v. Proof
Confidence in the reporter can be high, but the unlikely event means confidence should be low, so cancels out. Violation of a law of nature - confidence should be non-existant.
Hume - Which is less unlikely, that someone misinterpreted or misrepresented what they experienced ? or that a miracle occurred?
Hume.
i. Past experience not perfect in predicting the future.
ii. More often it happens the more reliable
iii. reliability of reports depends on past reliability
iv. Person's character can be unreliable in many ways.
Miracles - other arguments.
1. Those reporting have in general low credibility
2. Passion of surprise and wonder an agreeable emotion
3. Reports from backward cultures
4. Different religions have miracles - so cancel out.
Sillyness v. Selectiveness.
Religious Experience
1. Not just a sense of God, anything wonderful or morally positive.
2. Should make you a better person.
3. Culturally bound.
4. Comes with interpretations that can differ.
Parallels of argument to Miracles
Miracles Experience
Hume's Argument Should be rejected because it
doesn't fit in to Scientific explanation
selective-ness selective-ness
agreeable emotion it has a scientific and not religious explanation
i. We can explain belief in miracles without supposing they happened.
ii. silly, sentimental and self-serving
iii. Chapman and Suttcliffe experience
iv. Why would God have silly and sinister experiences.
v. Cultural differences show experience are man made.
That has ended up as a bit of a ramble through the book, but it is there in essence, and I'm quite happy for a question on Pascal's Wager 'cos as my son said,
"Well if you apply that sort of slack thinking to everything, the government would be building anti-alien attack missile silos and safety bunkers, and we'd have a dragon trap in the back garden, just in case, you never know, can't be too sure, better safe than sorry and all that......in fact better strengthen the front door there may be a YETI collecting for charity and you know how hard they knock on doors...."
I'm not sure he's helped matters.
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Book 1 'The Self'
Today's big decision - just stick to revising three books. I am pretty happy with the three books that I have chosen, so concentrating on them must be better than 'wasting time' on back-up questions...... I don't think this is a gamble, but time will tell :-)
So the theorists to remember from Book 1:
Plutarch & Hobbs
Ship Of Theseus, what is identity anyway ? Qualitatively v. numerically identical.
Locke
Man, Person, Substance, Soul,
Personal identity important in matters of moral responsibility and the day of judgement.
Issues of PRAISE and BLAME, mainly retrospective
5 thought experiments: Prince/Cobbler, DayMan/NightMan, Drunk/Sober Man, Detached Little Finger, Mayor of Quinborough,
Reid's challenge through Boy-YoungOfficer-General,
Mackie says that rather than just being retrospective knowing that we will be a day of judgement in the future should/may influence out behaviour now to make a better life for a future self. How does this change if we are a different person in the future through memory loss ?
Hume
Self is a fiction. No evidence of an enduring self when we reflect on our experience.
Empiricist and skeptic
Ideas and impressions, giving perceptions and experiences.
How could you have the idea of colour or taste without an impression
Bundle Theory of Self
Impressions vivid - ideas faint
Hume's Fork If an idea is neither derived from an impression or true by definition then it is worthless and 'can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion'
Butler said there was an unchanging self and that it was primitive, and we are all conscious of our continued personal identity. We can perceive a continuing soul.
Hume Cont.
Complex ideas can be made from multiple impressions. The idea of a Snowy Mountain having the impression of snow and the impression of a mountain.
The Self is a simple idea, a faint copy of the original impression, but there is no impression.
Impressions, heat, pain, taste, pleasure, grief - no single impression gives the idea of self.
You do not survive death.
Theatre of the Mind - with ideas and impessions passing across it.
Kant - self was a structural notion. There has to be a self to have a thought. There must be an 'I' to have an 'I think'. - Descartes ?
Hume Cont.
The experience of perceiving an unchanging object (a stone) and that of perceiving an object that through a series of linked stages changes somewhat can be very similar. So we describe things that succeed each other as one identical thing, but this is a mistake.
Parfit
Thought experiments, Split Brain, Teletransporter,
Are we the same person as we were when we were 8, or that we shall be when we are 80.
Like Locke psychological continuity matters.
Like Hume has thought experiments that ow the self is an illusion.
Survival is the important thing.
Parfit says we have various successive 'selfs', some of which are so distantly related we should not care for them. Phases of a single life.
Parfit wonders if we should worry about death, as it will not be our present self that dies but a different future self in which, depending on when death happens, some, all or none of the present self will exist.
Taylor's criticism of Parfit - we have to understand ourselves in terms of our WHOLE life's experiences, attitudes,concerns, as a life narrative so that we can make sense of ourselves. We are not like a car..... There is a relationship between our sense of self and questions about the meaning and purpose of our lives.
So, it is a matter now of getting a good question, interpreting and answering it correctly and not panicking and forgetting everything........
So the theorists to remember from Book 1:
Plutarch & Hobbs
Ship Of Theseus, what is identity anyway ? Qualitatively v. numerically identical.
Locke
Man, Person, Substance, Soul,
Personal identity important in matters of moral responsibility and the day of judgement.
Issues of PRAISE and BLAME, mainly retrospective
5 thought experiments: Prince/Cobbler, DayMan/NightMan, Drunk/Sober Man, Detached Little Finger, Mayor of Quinborough,
Reid's challenge through Boy-YoungOfficer-General,
Mackie says that rather than just being retrospective knowing that we will be a day of judgement in the future should/may influence out behaviour now to make a better life for a future self. How does this change if we are a different person in the future through memory loss ?
Hume
Self is a fiction. No evidence of an enduring self when we reflect on our experience.
Empiricist and skeptic
Ideas and impressions, giving perceptions and experiences.
How could you have the idea of colour or taste without an impression
Bundle Theory of Self
Impressions vivid - ideas faint
Hume's Fork If an idea is neither derived from an impression or true by definition then it is worthless and 'can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion'
Butler said there was an unchanging self and that it was primitive, and we are all conscious of our continued personal identity. We can perceive a continuing soul.
Hume Cont.
Complex ideas can be made from multiple impressions. The idea of a Snowy Mountain having the impression of snow and the impression of a mountain.
The Self is a simple idea, a faint copy of the original impression, but there is no impression.
Impressions, heat, pain, taste, pleasure, grief - no single impression gives the idea of self.
You do not survive death.
Theatre of the Mind - with ideas and impessions passing across it.
Kant - self was a structural notion. There has to be a self to have a thought. There must be an 'I' to have an 'I think'. - Descartes ?
Hume Cont.
The experience of perceiving an unchanging object (a stone) and that of perceiving an object that through a series of linked stages changes somewhat can be very similar. So we describe things that succeed each other as one identical thing, but this is a mistake.
Parfit
Thought experiments, Split Brain, Teletransporter,
Are we the same person as we were when we were 8, or that we shall be when we are 80.
Like Locke psychological continuity matters.
Like Hume has thought experiments that ow the self is an illusion.
Survival is the important thing.
Parfit says we have various successive 'selfs', some of which are so distantly related we should not care for them. Phases of a single life.
Parfit wonders if we should worry about death, as it will not be our present self that dies but a different future self in which, depending on when death happens, some, all or none of the present self will exist.
Taylor's criticism of Parfit - we have to understand ourselves in terms of our WHOLE life's experiences, attitudes,concerns, as a life narrative so that we can make sense of ourselves. We are not like a car..... There is a relationship between our sense of self and questions about the meaning and purpose of our lives.
So, it is a matter now of getting a good question, interpreting and answering it correctly and not panicking and forgetting everything........
Monday, 11 June 2012
A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Book 6 Politics
My wife went for an OU exam today and she said there was roughly 30% no-shows. It seems a bit of a waste of money and time not to at least have a stab at the exam.
So with that in mind, it has been a fairly good revision of Book 6.
And the names to remember are :
Plato - Obligation, parental, fairplay, contract,
Nozick - Free-Riding, no obligation through benefits
Locke & Hobbs - consent tacit and implicit
Hume -unconscious man carried aboard a ship
Rawls - original position, veil of ignorance, two principals,
difference principal
Kymlicka - difference principal allows the lazy to get resources
from the productive
Nozick - Re-distribution is forced labour,
Dworkin - Luck Egalitarianism distribution should be
choice-sensitive and luck-insensitive.
Anderson - Democratic Egalitarianism, equal moral worth, judgements
about responsibility are abandoned.
So on to Book 1 again tomorrow.....
So with that in mind, it has been a fairly good revision of Book 6.
And the names to remember are :
Plato - Obligation, parental, fairplay, contract,
Nozick - Free-Riding, no obligation through benefits
Locke & Hobbs - consent tacit and implicit
Hume -unconscious man carried aboard a ship
Rawls - original position, veil of ignorance, two principals,
difference principal
Kymlicka - difference principal allows the lazy to get resources
from the productive
Nozick - Re-distribution is forced labour,
Dworkin - Luck Egalitarianism distribution should be
choice-sensitive and luck-insensitive.
Anderson - Democratic Egalitarianism, equal moral worth, judgements
about responsibility are abandoned.
So on to Book 1 again tomorrow.....
Sunday, 10 June 2012
A222 - Exploring Philosophy - Final Revision Plan.
Well the Spain v. Italy and Ireland v. Croatia matches effectively put a stop to any revision tonight.
Final Exam Revision Plan.
Monday Night:
Watch France - England (miss Ukraine - Sweden) then study Book 6 Politics.
Tuesday Night:
Watch Greece - Czech Rep (miss Poland - Russia) then study Book 1 Self
Wednesday Night:
Watch Denmark - Portugal (miss Holland - Germany) then study Book 2 Religion
Thursday Night:
Watch Italy - Croatia (miss Ireland - Spain) read through all notes so far.
Friday Night:
Euro2012 football viewing schedule returns to normal.
On top of this, I can probably get an hour and a half of listening to the audios to and from work each day, and then to the exam. Plus 4 lunch hours of reading.
Ah, I'm sure this will be plenty - it had better be, its all a bit too late now otherwise :-)
Final Exam Revision Plan.
Monday Night:
Watch France - England (miss Ukraine - Sweden) then study Book 6 Politics.
Tuesday Night:
Watch Greece - Czech Rep (miss Poland - Russia) then study Book 1 Self
Wednesday Night:
Watch Denmark - Portugal (miss Holland - Germany) then study Book 2 Religion
Thursday Night:
Watch Italy - Croatia (miss Ireland - Spain) read through all notes so far.
Friday Night:
Euro2012 football viewing schedule returns to normal.
On top of this, I can probably get an hour and a half of listening to the audios to and from work each day, and then to the exam. Plus 4 lunch hours of reading.
Ah, I'm sure this will be plenty - it had better be, its all a bit too late now otherwise :-)
A222 - Exploring Philosophy - Too many distractions.....
Back from a great week walking the West Highland Way. The weather was great, the scenery was spectacular and I feel mentally refreshed and ready to study.
At least I did fee ready to study until I released that there are 2 football matches a night this week for Euro2012.
So, this is terrible scheduling by the OU, they should keep all exams clear of football tournaments, league games, friendlies, the Jubilee celebrations, school holidays, the Olympics, the Para-Olympics, the Edinburgh Fringe, Wimbledon, my birthday ...... oh... I see their problem.........
At least I did fee ready to study until I released that there are 2 football matches a night this week for Euro2012.
So, this is terrible scheduling by the OU, they should keep all exams clear of football tournaments, league games, friendlies, the Jubilee celebrations, school holidays, the Olympics, the Para-Olympics, the Edinburgh Fringe, Wimbledon, my birthday ...... oh... I see their problem.........
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Revision in chaos
Walking the West Highland Way is a really bad revision tactic. While I have had loads of time to think, i've had very little time to read. Still there is this weekend and all of next week to go .......
Thursday, 31 May 2012
A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Exam Revision & Website Audios
It may seem a bit late in the day to be discovering this, but the website audios are really good revision material.
Going back and re-reading the early books has really brought some aspects of the course to life. I don't know if this is because the first read was really all about getting the TMA written, or if having read it, left it, thought about it and then re-read it's falling in to place and making sense a bit more.
The other observation is that with the books having been re-read, there is probably an awful lot of information in the audios now to get you through most of the exam. They certainly cover a great many of the important philosophers and ideas in an accessible way, and a way that you can engage with while driving, cycling or walking.
So tomorrow all the relevant audios are going on to the iPod shuffle and will be pretty much the only thing I intend to listen to for the next two weeks.
Going back and re-reading the early books has really brought some aspects of the course to life. I don't know if this is because the first read was really all about getting the TMA written, or if having read it, left it, thought about it and then re-read it's falling in to place and making sense a bit more.
The other observation is that with the books having been re-read, there is probably an awful lot of information in the audios now to get you through most of the exam. They certainly cover a great many of the important philosophers and ideas in an accessible way, and a way that you can engage with while driving, cycling or walking.
So tomorrow all the relevant audios are going on to the iPod shuffle and will be pretty much the only thing I intend to listen to for the next two weeks.
A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Last tutorial of the course.
I was unable to attend the tutorial at the weekend, so the on-line tutorial this evening was the last 'official' interaction with this course.
It covered most of what had been done at the weekend, and was all about study and exam technique, so nothing earth-shattering, but worth doing for the odd snippet of new information.
The revision forum on the website seems to have taken off, so that is another good source of ideas, however it doesn't really matter now, it is all about cramming for 3/4 books and hoping that good questions come up.
I am however surprised at some people's study choices, for me, Book 1 is obvious as it was short and had a fairly small number of philosophers and ideas to grasp. Book 2 Religion, bread and butter really, been arguing about this all my life. Book 6, Politics, most recently covered and considering I am aiming for a PPE, fairly obvious, although the more taxing of my choices.
Ethics, Knowledge and the Mind, all seem far more complicated and difficult.
It covered most of what had been done at the weekend, and was all about study and exam technique, so nothing earth-shattering, but worth doing for the odd snippet of new information.
The revision forum on the website seems to have taken off, so that is another good source of ideas, however it doesn't really matter now, it is all about cramming for 3/4 books and hoping that good questions come up.
I am however surprised at some people's study choices, for me, Book 1 is obvious as it was short and had a fairly small number of philosophers and ideas to grasp. Book 2 Religion, bread and butter really, been arguing about this all my life. Book 6, Politics, most recently covered and considering I am aiming for a PPE, fairly obvious, although the more taxing of my choices.
Ethics, Knowledge and the Mind, all seem far more complicated and difficult.
Monday, 28 May 2012
A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Exam Study Continues
The exam revision forum has finally started and a helpful tutor has put some additional example questions on the board. This has been very useful as it has cemented by revision choices.
Knowledge - is just not for me, Descartes Cognito was fine, the rest.......... er no.
Mind - the TMA was pretty unconencted to the rest of the book, so appart from the last paragraph as a back-up, I'll give that a miss also.
Ethics - Bentham and Mill were in the TMA, but this is just too tricky a subject, except maybe the Abortion chapter which seems to sit on its own as a good backup.
So for me the revision will be below, already had a good read of Books 1 & 2 and an pretty usre I have identified the main philosophers, arguments and ideas - just got to get this committed to memory now.
Phone tutorial this week, so lets see what that throws up......
Book 1 The Self
1 What Am I Ship of Thesius, 3 Thought Experiments
2 Locke Self through continuity of memory
3 Hume Bundle Theory
4 Parfit Transporter Thought Experimetns, split Brain.
Book 2 Religion
1 Aquinas First Cause, 3 reasons to belive,
2 Cleanthis & Paley Classic Design
3 Modern Versions Problem of Evil, design in evolution, before evolution and to make the cosmos. Epicurus problem with evil.
4 Acts of God Hume on miracles, parallel with experience.
Book 6 Politics
1 Obligations
2 Consent & Consiquences
3 Distributive Justice
4 Justice and Equality
Book 3 Ethics
4. Abortion IX 9, Reading 4, Reading 5
Book 5 Mind
4 Consciousness IV 12, additional reading
Knowledge - is just not for me, Descartes Cognito was fine, the rest.......... er no.
Mind - the TMA was pretty unconencted to the rest of the book, so appart from the last paragraph as a back-up, I'll give that a miss also.
Ethics - Bentham and Mill were in the TMA, but this is just too tricky a subject, except maybe the Abortion chapter which seems to sit on its own as a good backup.
So for me the revision will be below, already had a good read of Books 1 & 2 and an pretty usre I have identified the main philosophers, arguments and ideas - just got to get this committed to memory now.
Phone tutorial this week, so lets see what that throws up......
Book 1 The Self
1 What Am I Ship of Thesius, 3 Thought Experiments
2 Locke Self through continuity of memory
3 Hume Bundle Theory
4 Parfit Transporter Thought Experimetns, split Brain.
Book 2 Religion
1 Aquinas First Cause, 3 reasons to belive,
2 Cleanthis & Paley Classic Design
3 Modern Versions Problem of Evil, design in evolution, before evolution and to make the cosmos. Epicurus problem with evil.
4 Acts of God Hume on miracles, parallel with experience.
Book 6 Politics
1 Obligations
2 Consent & Consiquences
3 Distributive Justice
4 Justice and Equality
4. Abortion IX 9, Reading 4, Reading 5
Book 5 Mind
4 Consciousness IV 12, additional reading
Sunday, 27 May 2012
Friday, 25 May 2012
A222 -Exploring Philosophy : Exam Revision Book 2 'Religion'
So.... on to revision notes for Book 2 - Religion.
I have also had a look through the Forum discussions and copied the end of book summaries from the tutors, along with some of the more interesting posts, to add to the overall revision reading - different perspectives are always useful.
Now considering that the TMA covered the argument from design with Hume, Paley, Behe and the modern theory of evolution, and the example exam paper has the questions.......
PART II The Philosophy of Religion
Question 3 ‘Religious faith does not need reasoned justification.’ Do you agree?
OR
Question 4 Does the testimony of those who claim to have witnessed miracles show that there is a God?
I am leading towards focusing most of the revision towards the Question of Evil......
It might be a bit of a gamble but I can't see how it won't come up, but I'll also look at miracles and re-read the argument from design just in case..... so somehow now back to studying the whole book...... Doh!!!
I have also had a look through the Forum discussions and copied the end of book summaries from the tutors, along with some of the more interesting posts, to add to the overall revision reading - different perspectives are always useful.
Now considering that the TMA covered the argument from design with Hume, Paley, Behe and the modern theory of evolution, and the example exam paper has the questions.......
PART II The Philosophy of Religion
Question 3 ‘Religious faith does not need reasoned justification.’ Do you agree?
OR
Question 4 Does the testimony of those who claim to have witnessed miracles show that there is a God?
I am leading towards focusing most of the revision towards the Question of Evil......
It might be a bit of a gamble but I can't see how it won't come up, but I'll also look at miracles and re-read the argument from design just in case..... so somehow now back to studying the whole book...... Doh!!!
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Exam Revision Book 1 'The Self'
This should be the easiest book to revise, it is the shortest, and after the introductory chapter in which the only real thing worth discussion was the 'Ship of Theseus', the second chapter was Locke and covered in the TMA, which leaves the chapters on Hume and Parfit.
I have gone over the book and summarised it in to headings which should jog the memory. I will look at the whole book, but you have to think that with two questions on this topic, one of them has to be on Hume or Parfit.
It has not been easy getting motivated to start this revision, at least the last book is still fresh in my mind so that may take some of the pressure off.....
On Line Tutorial next week, so hopefully a bit more of a steer from the tutor then.
I have gone over the book and summarised it in to headings which should jog the memory. I will look at the whole book, but you have to think that with two questions on this topic, one of them has to be on Hume or Parfit.
It has not been easy getting motivated to start this revision, at least the last book is still fresh in my mind so that may take some of the pressure off.....
On Line Tutorial next week, so hopefully a bit more of a steer from the tutor then.
Saturday, 19 May 2012
A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Week 34
19 May •
Revision week
That is the end of the "learning" part of the course, which is a mile stone of sorts, so on with the revision.
Somebody on the Facebook group is having a good go at organising on-line revision groups, so good luck to him, I hope it takes off it seems like a great idea.
If you are interested in the Facebook group and are studying A222 you can request to join the group, they are here.
Examination advice and tips
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Better Exam Revision Information
A fellow A222 student on the Facebook Group has received a very useful set of revision tips from their tutor, there is a link to that post below.
A222 Facebook Group
It does seem however that there is a great deal of variation between what advice is available from tutors which seems a little unfair, as that is surely what a great deal of the course fees are paying for.
Hopefully, mine will come good with similar information shortly.
A222 Facebook Group
It does seem however that there is a great deal of variation between what advice is available from tutors which seems a little unfair, as that is surely what a great deal of the course fees are paying for.
Hopefully, mine will come good with similar information shortly.
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