A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Week 17

21 January •

Assignment week

• Assessment resources Resource page
  
  

Events

• Assignment: TMA 03 (cut-off date 26 January 

 

Working on first draft. Have about 750 words with the introduction, definition of terms, description of Bentham and Mill's hedonism, going in to the criticisms of both views. Then need to explain why these are not adequate and  write a conclusion.

 

I think I will carry on with this until its sort of finished. Re-read Chapter 2, and the Tutorial Forum regarding hedonism - make sure I haven't missed anything, then edit and re-write as necessary. Hope to finish draft by end of Sunday, then a couple of days for the re-write.

A222 - Exploring Philosophy : End of Week 16

This looked like it was going to be an interesting and challenging week, with regard to discussing the legal and moral implications on abortion. However, the one aspect that I was most interested in  - when does a fetus become a person - was not discussed. Just the fact that a fetus had potential to become a person, but not the point when we should argue that it has.

The thought experiment on the violinist was not that gripping, and all in all, the chapter felt a bit thin.

Now I have 6 days to write the TMA about Bentham and Mill's hedonism, then it is on to book 4 - this course is flying by......

A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Week 16

14 January •

Book 3: ETHICS Chapter 4, The morality of abortion

• Book 3, Chapter 4: The morality of abortion PDF document (374.3KB)
  
  
• Book 3, Reading 4 PDF document (134.7KB)
  
  
• Book 3, Reading 5 PDF document (110.7KB)
  
  
• Abortion discussed on television sound file (6MB)
  
  
• Video extract to accompany 'Abortion discussed on television' file (30.5MB)
• Philosophers on abortion sound file (19.9MB)
  
  
• Book 3 Quiz for Chapter 4 iCMA
  
  
• Optional further material Structured content
• Book 3 discussion

A222 - Exploring Philosophy : The Only Way is Ethics, Bentham & Mills

I had a really good stab at this part of the book, started really well in fact, felt I was getting somewhere and then the rest of my life got in the way.......

I have a presentation to give on  Tuesday which is taking up too much of my time, but on the upside it looks like I will be traveling for about 9 hrs this weekend so maybe some reading time there.

The other problem with this course is that each section seems to have a book of 4 chapters, one a general introduction, the second is the TMA, which makes me think 3 & 4 will be the exam questions. However, all this does at this point is allow you to slide on reading knowing that in the short term for the TMA all you need is to read one chapter thoroughly - but course of action this will come home to roost in June if other chapters have not been covered :-(

A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Study will recommence today..... after the Man City v Man Unt Match

Yesterday was spent carrying out overdue household chores and jobs that had been put off for some time. I think I must have had 6 trips to the trip with car loads of stuff we should have gotten rid of ages ago.

The plan was then to catch up with the study today, but with the football live on terrestrial TV its gonna be pretty difficult to get any reading done with that going on in the background. So with any luck, study will start from about 3PM.

A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Week 15

7 January •

Book 3: ETHICS Chapter 3, Kant: the good will

• Book 3, Chapter 3: Kant: the good will PDF document (355.4KB)
  
  
• Kant's moral philosophy sound file (12.1MB)
  
  
• Book 3 Quiz for Chapter 3 iCMA
  
  
• Optional further material Structured content
• Book 3 discussion

A222 - Exploring Philosophy : End of Week 14 & TMA02 Marked and Returned

I have received my marked TMA02, and it was an encouraging jump, although just to the other end of a Pass 2, so still below the marks for DD101.

I don't think I could have put any more effort in to writing this TMA, possibly it was not an easy subject to approach with an open mind which may have hampered my critical thinking slightly :-)

However, on the up side, my conclusion that the theory of evolution destroyed the argument for a Christian god was accepted and positively commemted on.

So, I'd better get on with Chapter 3, as I am now the best part of two weeks behind where I should be, although Ethics is an interesting subject.

Also, the author of Book 3 is available to discuss his book with students which should be interesting and worthwhile.Shame that the author of Book 2, Timothy Chappell, didn't offer students the same opportunity to discuss his very partisan and biased view of the Philosophy of Religion......

A222 - Exploring Philosophy : Elluminate Tutorial, but TMA02 still not returned.

I experienced the 'Elluminate' on-line tutorial for the first time and it was a bit of a mixed bag. About 6 students logged in and there were the expected connection, audio and punctuality problems, but once it got going it was useful, although we probably got about 20 minutes good discussion from the hour, but better than nothing and some useful pointers for the next TMA.

Although, not having the last TMA marked and returned is severely hampering my motivation to move on and engage with this Chapter. I know the Festive period has gotten in the way, but the submission date was 15th December, and its now the 5th January.

Having written this, it will probably arrive this afternoon :-)